Owner guide

Use this guide after first setup. Every task requires an Owner session unless this page says otherwise. Kinosail exposes the same application operations through its web interface and versioned API.

Choose a task

Manage libraries to add folders, scan media, and refresh metadata.
Configure playback to choose Direct, Automatic, Compatibility, subtitles, and hardware transcoding.
Secure accounts to manage Owners, Viewers, passkeys, authenticators, sessions, and API keys.
Connect browsers and Jellyfin apps to use secure local access or required trusted HTTPS for Jellyfin apps.
Configure remote access to configure public viewing or private Owner management.
Connect integrations to configure metadata, subtitles, identity, webhooks, DLNA, and clients.
Back up and update to protect state and recover from a host or storage failure.

Use Settings safely

Settings is grouped into General, Playback, Access, Migration, Library, System, and Appearance. If a setting comes from YAML or the environment, Kinosail marks it Read-only. Change that external source and restart the Server.

Before a change, note whether it:

signs out Profiles;
needs a restart;
changes which devices can connect;
sends a request to an optional external service; or
changes access to media or recovery material.

Use Settings → System for Recent activity, Recent playback, Diagnostics, and safe metrics. The activity journal records administration and security events without passwords, tokens, request bodies, or media paths.

Keep the privacy boundary

Kinosail is local by default. Library Content, Profiles, credentials, and viewing activity stay on the owner-hosted Server. Optional metadata, subtitle, DNS, identity, notification, or Home Assistant connections receive only the requests required by the setting you enable. Kinosail does not operate a media relay, proxy, tunnel, or cache.

Source of truth

Sources: README.md, internal/server/settings_http.go, internal/server/system_http.go, and docs/research/documentation-information-architecture.md.