Scheduled Tasks
Norri automatically keeps your libraries up-to-date with scheduled background tasks. These run silently and ensure your media metadata stays fresh without manual intervention.
Task Types
Library Reconciliation Scan
Purpose: Detects new, moved, or deleted media files in your library folders.
When it runs:
- On startup: Automatically runs when Norri starts to catch any changes made while the server was offline
- Daily: Runs at a configurable time (default: 4:00 AM) as a safety net
What it does:
- Walks through all library folders
- Compares files on disk to the database
- Adds new files and fetches their metadata
- Marks removed files as unavailable
Why it’s needed: While Norri monitors folders in real-time, some changes can be missed—especially on network storage (NAS) or if files are added while the server is stopped.
Metadata Sync (TMDB)
Purpose: Keeps your movie and TV show metadata current with the latest from TMDB.
When it runs: Daily at a configurable time (default: 3:00 AM)
What it does:
- Queries TMDB’s Changes API for recently updated movies and TV shows
- Cross-references with items in your library
- Updates metadata only for items you have that changed in TMDB
Why it’s needed: TMDB data is constantly improving—ratings change, artwork gets updated, and information gets corrected. This sync keeps your library metadata fresh.
Configuration
You can configure scheduled tasks in Settings → Scheduled Tasks (admin only).
Available Settings
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Startup Scan | Run a library scan when the server starts | Enabled |
| Daily Library Scan | Run a reconciliation scan daily | Enabled |
| Library Scan Time | Time of day for the daily scan (24-hour format) | 04:00 |
| Daily Metadata Sync | Sync metadata changes from TMDB daily | Enabled |
| Metadata Sync Time | Time of day for the TMDB sync (24-hour format) | 03:00 |
Best Practices
- Stagger the times: Set scans and syncs at different times to reduce wait times. The defaults (3:00 AM for metadata, 4:00 AM for scans) work well. This is recommended but not required—if tasks overlap, the system handles it automatically (see Conflict Prevention below).
- Choose off-peak hours: Schedule tasks when your server is least busy—typically overnight.
- Keep startup scan enabled: This catches any files added while the server was down.
Conflict Prevention
Norri automatically prevents scheduled tasks from interfering with each other:
- Automatic queuing: If two tasks are scheduled to run at the same time, one will wait for the other to finish before starting. You don’t need to manually coordinate task times.
- Timeout protection: Each task has a 4-hour timeout to prevent any single task from blocking others indefinitely. This ensures that even if something goes wrong, other tasks will eventually run.
- No user action required: The system handles all scheduling conflicts automatically. You can schedule tasks whenever is convenient for you without worrying about overlaps.
Manual Refresh
In addition to scheduled tasks, you can manually refresh metadata:
- Go to any library’s edit page
- Click Full Metadata Refresh to re-fetch all metadata from TMDB
This is useful if you suspect metadata is out of date or if you’ve made bulk changes to your library.
Troubleshooting
Tasks not running
Check the server logs for scheduled task activity. You should see log entries like:
- “Next TMDB sync scheduled for…”
- “Starting reconciliation scan…”
- “Completed reconciliation scan for X libraries”
New files not appearing
- Verify the file is in a monitored library folder
- Check that the file extension is supported (.mkv, .mp4, .avi, etc.)
- Try running a manual scan from the library edit page
- Check server logs for scanning errors
Metadata not updating
- Ensure the TMDB API key is configured in server settings
- Check that the item has a valid TMDB match
- Try a manual metadata refresh on the specific item