The catalog

Excellent! Your add-on is installed and working. Now it's time to make it actually useful by adding content. This step introduces catalogs - the heart of content discovery in EMET Surf.

A catalog is a collection of content organized by type. Think of it as a playlist or library - like "Action Movies," "Popular TV Shows," or "Documentaries." Users browse these catalogs to find content they want to watch.

Understanding content types

Before creating your catalog, you need to decide what types of content you'll provide. Each type is presented differently in the app:

movie - Individual films

Each movie is a single item
No episodes or seasons
Streams are linked directly to the movie

series - TV shows and episodic content

Organized into seasons and episodes
Each episode is a separate video
Perfect for TV shows, web series, etc.

tv - Live television

Real-time streaming content
No duration (live broadcasts)
News, sports, live events

For this tutorial, we'll start with movies since they're the simplest.

Updating your manifest

To add a catalog, you need to tell EMET Surf about it in your manifest. Here's what to add:

{
    "id": "my.first.emet.addon",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "name": "Hello, World",
    "description": "My first EMET Surf add-on",
    "logo": "https://example.com/logo-256.png",
    "resources": ["catalog"],
    "types": ["movie"],
    "catalogs": [
        {"id": "movieCatalog", "type": "movie", "name": "Hello, Movies"}
    ]
}

What changed:

resources: Added "catalog" to tell EMET Surf this add-on provides catalogs
types: Added "movie" to specify what content types we support
catalogs: New array describing our catalogs

Catalog description:

id: Unique identifier for this catalog within your add-on
type: Must match one of the types in your types array
name: What users will see as the catalog title

Creating your catalog structure

EMET Surf expects catalogs to be organized in a specific folder structure. Create these directories:

On Windows:

mkdir catalog
mkdir catalog\movie

On Mac/Linux:

mkdir -p catalog/movie

Your file structure should look like this:

my-emet-addon/
├── manifest.json
└── catalog/
    └── movie/
        └── movieCatalog.json

The filename movieCatalog.json must match the id you specified in your manifest.

Adding content to your catalog

Now create your catalog file with some sample movies:

{
    "metas": [
        {
            "type": "movie",
            "id": "tt0032138",
            "name": "The Wizard of Oz",
            "poster": "https://images.metahub.space/poster/medium/tt0032138/img",
            "genres": ["Adventure", "Family", "Fantasy", "Musical"]
        },
        {
            "type": "movie",
            "id": "tt0017136",
            "name": "Metropolis",
            "poster": "https://images.metahub.space/poster/medium/tt0017136/img",
            "genres": ["Drama", "Sci-Fi"]
        }
    ]
}

Understanding the fields:

type: Must match your catalog type (movie)
id: Unique identifier for this item (we're using IMDb IDs here)
name: The title users will see
poster: URL to the movie's poster image (should be square, around 300×300 pixels)
genres: Array of genres for filtering and organization

About IMDb IDs: We're using IMDb IDs (like tt0032138) because EMET Surf has built-in metadata support for movies with valid IMDb IDs. This means you get detailed information (cast, plot, ratings) automatically.

External database IDs: You can also include external database identifiers to help connect your content with other add-ons and services:

{
    "metas": [
        {
            "type": "movie",
            "id": "tt0032138",
            "name": "The Wizard of Oz",
            "poster": "https://images.metahub.space/poster/medium/tt0032138/img",
            "genres": ["Adventure", "Family", "Fantasy", "Musical"],
            "imdb_id": "tt0032138",
            "tmdb_id": "630"
        }
    ]
}

Available external IDs:

imdb_id: IMDb identifier (e.g., "tt0032138")
tmdb_id: The Movie Database identifier (e.g., "630")

Providing these IDs helps EMET Surf connect metadata between different add-ons and provides better content discovery and organization.

Advanced catalog features

EMET Surf supports several advanced catalog features to make your content more discoverable:

Catalog types

{
    "catalogs": [
        {
            "id": "movieCatalog",
            "type": "movie",
            "name": "Hello, Movies",
            "resource": "catalog"  // default
        },
        {
            "id": "recommendations",
            "type": "movie",
            "name": "Recommended",
            "resource": "recommendation"
        },
        {
            "id": "collections",
            "type": "movie",
            "name": "Collections",
            "resource": "collection"
        }
    ]
}

Catalog types:

catalog (default): Regular content collections
collection: Static lists that rarely change
index: Main source for metadata and search
recommendation: Suggests related content

Localized names

{
    "catalogs": [
        {
            "id": "movieCatalog",
            "type": "movie",
            "name": "Hello, Movies",
            "localizedName": {
                "en": "Hello, Movies",
                "es": "Hola, Películas",
                "ru": "Привет, Фильмы"
            }
        }
    ]
}

Advanced filtering

{
    "extraSupported": ["genreMulti", "genreExclude", "releaseYear", "pagination"],
    "catalogs": [
        {
            "id": "movieCatalog",
            "type": "movie",
            "name": "Hello, Movies",
            "extraSupported": ["pagination"]
        }
    ]
}

Genre-based filtering

You can specify which genres a catalog contains by adding a genreIds field. This allows EMET Surf to filter catalogs by genre and provide better content organization:

{
    "catalogs": [
        {
            "id": "action-movies",
            "type": "movie",
            "name": "Action Movies",
            "genreIds": [28, 12]
        },
        {
            "id": "drama-series",
            "type": "series", 
            "name": "Drama Series",
            "genreIds": [18, 80]
        }
    ]
}

Genre IDs:

genreIds: Array of numeric genre IDs that match the genres defined in your manifest
These IDs correspond to the id field in your manifest's genres array
Users can filter catalogs by these genres for better content discovery
Catalogs with genreIds can be automatically categorized and filtered

Example with manifest genres:

// manifest.json
{
    "genres": [
        {
            "id": 28,
            "localizedName": {
                "en": "Action",
                "es": "Acción",
                "ru": "Боевик"
            },
            "name": "Action"
        },
        {
            "id": 12,
            "localizedName": {
                "en": "Adventures", 
                "es": "Aventuras",
                "ru": "Приключения"
            },
            "name": "Adventures"
        }
    ],
    "catalogs": [
        {
            "id": "action-adventure",
            "type": "movie",
            "name": "Action & Adventure",
            "genreIds": [28, 12]
        }
    ]
}

Testing your catalog

Update your manifest with the new catalog information
Create the catalog file with your movie data
Reinstall your add-on in EMET Surf (paste the manifest URL again)
Browse the app - you should see your "Hello, Movies" catalog!

Your catalog will appear in the main interface, showing the movie posters in a grid. Users can click on movies to see more details (which we'll add in the next step).

What you've accomplished

Created your first content catalog
Learned about different content types
Understood the file structure for catalogs
Added sample movies with proper metadata
Discovered advanced catalog features

What's next?

Your add-on now shows content! But when users click on a movie, they'll see limited information. In the next step, we'll add detailed metadata - descriptions, cast information, ratings, and more.

Summary

Catalogs are collections of content organized by type
Update your manifest to declare catalog support
Create the proper folder structure: catalog/type/catalogId.json
Include essential fields: type, id, name, poster, genres
Use IMDb IDs for automatic metadata support
EMET Surf supports advanced features like recommendations and localization
Your add-on now provides browseable content!

Understanding content types​

Updating your manifest​

Creating your catalog structure​

Adding content to your catalog​

Advanced catalog features​

Catalog types​

Localized names​

Advanced filtering​

Genre-based filtering​

Testing your catalog​

What you've accomplished​

What's next?​

Summary​