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Plex Play Queue API

The playqueue feature within a media providerA play queue represents the current list of media for playback. Although queues are persisted by the server, they should be regarded by the user as a fairly lightweight, an ephemeral list of items queued up for playback in a session. There is generally one active queue for each type of media (music, video, photos) that can be added to or destroyed and replaced with a fresh queue.Play Queues has a region, which we refer to in this doc (partially for historical reasons) as "Up Next". This region is defined by `playQueueLastAddedItemID` existing on the media container. This follows iTunes' terminology. It is a special region after the currently playing item but before the originally-played items. This enables "Party Mode" listening/viewing, where items can be added on-the-fly, and normal queue playback resumed when completed. You can visualize the play queue as a sliding window in the complete list of media queued for playback. This model is important when scaling to larger play queues (e.g. shuffling 40,000 audio tracks). The client only needs visibility into small areas of the queue at any given time, and the server can optimize access in this fashion.All created play queues will have an empty "Up Next" area - unless the item is an album and no `key` is provided. In this case the "Up Next" area will be populated by the contents of the album. This is to allow queueing of multiple albums - since the 'Add to Up Next' will insert after all the tracks. This means that If you're creating a PQ from an album, you can only shuffle it if you set `key`. This is due to the above implicit queueing of albums when no `key` is provided as well as the current limitation that you cannot shuffle a PQ with an "Up Next" area.The play queue window advances as the server receives timeline requests. The client needs to retrieve the play queue as the “now playing” item changes. There is no play queue API to update the playing item.

Plex Play Queue API is one of 31 APIs that Plex publishes on the APIs.io network, described by a machine-readable OpenAPI specification.

Tagged areas include Play Queue. The published artifact set on APIs.io includes an OpenAPI specification, API documentation, and an API reference.

This API exposes 9 operations across 8 paths, and defines 11 schemas. It is described by OpenAPI 3.2.0, at version 1.2.2 .

Requests are made against a single base URL, https://{IP-description}.{identifier}.plex.direct:{port}.

9 operations 8 paths 11 schemas 2 DELETE1 GET1 POST5 PUT

Metadata

The identity and technical contract details declared by the specification.

Specification
OpenAPI 3.2.0
API Version
1.2.2
Base URL
https://1-2-3-4.0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef.plex.direct:32400
Authentication
API Key
License
Resource Areas
1

Authentication & Security 1

Plex Play Queue API declares 1 security scheme for authenticating requests. An API key is passed in the header as X-Plex-Token (user_token). By default, every request must be authenticated.

  • user_token — The token which identifies the user accessing the PMS. This is typically provided to the client by plex.tv. This can be either a traditional access token or a…

Paths & Operations 9

Across 8 paths, the API surfaces 9 operations — 2 DELETE, 1 GET, 1 POST, 5 PUT. Each is listed below with its method, path, parameters, and response codes.

Play Queue 9

The playqueue feature within a media provider A play queue represents the current list of media for playback. Although queues are persisted by the server, they should be regarded…

POST
/playQueues
Create a play queue
playQueuePostSlash 10 params → 200400
GET
/playQueues/{playQueueId}
Retrieve a play queue
playQueueQueueGetSlash 6 params → 200400404
PUT
/playQueues/{playQueueId}
Add a generator or playlist to a play queue
playQueueQueuePutSlash 4 params → 200400404
DELETE
/playQueues/{playQueueId}/items
Clear a play queue
playQueueQueueDeleteItems 1 param → 200
DELETE
/playQueues/{playQueueId}/items/{playQueueItemId}
Delete an item from a play queue
playQueueQueueDeleteItemsItem 2 params → 200400404
PUT
/playQueues/{playQueueId}/items/{playQueueItemId}/move
Move an item in a play queue
playQueueQueuePutItemsMove 3 params → 200400404
PUT
/playQueues/{playQueueId}/reset
Reset a play queue
playQueuePlayQueueReset 1 param → 200400404
PUT
/playQueues/{playQueueId}/shuffle
Shuffle a play queue
playQueueQueuePutItemsShuffle 1 param → 200400404
PUT
/playQueues/{playQueueId}/unshuffle
Unshuffle a play queue
playQueueQueuePutItemsUnshuffle 1 param → 200400404

Schemas 11

The contract defines 11 schemas that model the data the API accepts and returns. The most detailed are metadata (67 properties), stream (29 properties), media (18 properties), directory (15 properties). Each schema is shown below with its type and property counts.

directory
object
15 properties
properties-MediaContainer
object
5 properties
image
object
Images such as movie posters and background artwork are represented by Image elements.
3 properties
part
object
Part represents a particular file or "part" of a media item. The part is the playable unit of the media hierarchy. Suppose that a movie library contains a movi…
11 properties
sort
metadata
object
Items in a library are referred to as "metadata items." These metadata items are distinct from "media items" which represent actual instances of media that can…
67 properties
stream
object
Stream represents a particular stream from a media item, such as the video stream, audio stream, or subtitle stream. The stream may either be part of the file…
29 properties
media
object
Media represents an one or more media files (parts) and is a child of a metadata item. There aren't necessarily any guaranteed attributes on media elements sin…
18 properties
filter
mediaContainerWithPlaylistMetadata
object
1 property
tag
object
A variety of extra information about a metadata item is included as tags. These tags use their own element names such as Genre, Writer, Directory, and Role. In…
10 properties

Specification

The full machine-readable OpenAPI contract behind this narrative.

Source

plex-play-queue-api-openapi.yml Raw ↑

Other APIs Plex publishes across the network.

Plex Account and Authentication API
Plex MCP Server
Plex Activities API
Plex Butler API
Plex Collections API
Plex Content API
Plex Devices API
Plex Download Queue API
Plex DV Rs API
Plex EPG API
Plex Events API
Plex General API
Where this information came from

This is an independent, third-party profile of Plex Play Queue API, published by API Evangelist. We do not operate, host, resell, or support these APIs, and we are not affiliated with or endorsed by the company unless stated above. Everything here is built from publicly available information — the company's own site, developer portal, documentation, public repositories, and the specifications it publishes for public use. Nothing is obtained by breaching a system, defeating an access control, or using credentials.

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