Identify Command¶

The identify command allows you to search for and identify movies or TV shows in media databases (TMDB, TVDB, IMDb). It can also write identified metadata back to Matroska files as tags.

Usage¶

parsec identify [path...] [flags]

If filenames or directories are provided, parsec will process each one. Directories will be scanned recursively for Matroska (.mkv) files. Each file will be automatically parsed to extract initial metadata like title, year, season, and episode to seed the search.

Moving Tagged Files¶

The identify command can automatically move files that were tagged into a destination directory. This is useful for separating processed files during intake or staging pipelines.

# Move all files that were tagged to a destination folder
parsec identify /path/to/media --move-tagged /path/to/completed

# Preview which files would be moved without modifying anything
parsec identify /path/to/media --move-tagged /path/to/completed --dry-run

# Move tagged files unattended without interactive confirmation prompts
parsec identify /path/to/media --move-tagged /path/to/completed -u

--move-tagged <dir>: Target folder for tagged files. The directory will be created if it does not already exist. In interactive mode, parsec prompts for confirmation (Move N tagged file(s) to <dir>? [y/N]) before moving.
--dry-run / -d: Simulates moving files and prints what would be relocated without touching the filesystem.

Features¶

Batch Processing: Identify multiple files or entire directories in one command.
Recursive Scanning: Automatically finds all Matroska files within provided directories.
Flexible Search: Fuzzy search by title/year or direct lookup via IMDb, TMDB, or TVDB IDs.
Automatic Parsing: Tries to extract Title, Year, Season, Episode from filenames to seed searches.
Matroska Tags: Writes Title, IMDb ID, TMDB ID, TVDB ID, and Episode/Movie Title as Matroska tags.
Episode Search: Finds episode details via Season/Episode numbers, Episode Title, or Air Date.
Release Search: Search for existing releases on your indexers via Prowlarr.
ID Verification: If a file already contains metadata tags, parsec will warn you if the selected search result differs from the existing tags.
Relocate Tagged Files: Automatically relocate files that were successfully tagged to a destination directory.

Flags¶

Metadata Flags¶

These flags override or provide information that might be missing from the filename.

Flag	Shorthand	Type	Description
`--title`	`-t`	string	Title of the movie or TV show.
`--year`	`-y`	integer	Release year.
`--season`	`-s`	integer	Season number.
`--episode`	`-e`	integer	Episode number.
`--date`	`-D`	string	Episode air date (YYYY-MM-DD).
`--episode-title`		string	Title of the episode.

ID Flags¶

Force identification using specific database IDs.

Flag	Shorthand	Type	Description
`--tv`	`-T`	boolean	Identify as a TV show.
`--movie`	`-M`	boolean	Identify as a movie.
`--imdb`		string	IMDb ID (e.g., `tt1234567`).
`--tmdb`		integer	TMDB ID.
`--tvdb`		integer	TVDB ID.
`--tvdb-order`		string	TVDB episode ordering for identification (`default`, `official`, `dvd`, `absolute`, `alternate`, `regional`).

Other Flags¶

Flag	Shorthand	Type	Description
`--move-tagged`		string	Move files that were tagged to destination folder.
`--write-tags`		boolean	DEPRECATED. Use `--unattended` instead.
`--comment`		string	Comment exposed to tag templates (e.g. for use with `{{.Comment}}`).
`--unattended`	`-u`	boolean	Run in unattended mode (selects the first search result, and implies writing tags).
`--dry-run`	`-d`	boolean	Simulate the identification and display a tag preview without writing anything to the file.
`--releases`	`-r`	boolean	Search for releases via Prowlarr for the identified entity.
`--best-release`	`-b`	boolean	Only show the best release (same resolution and most seeders) when searching for releases.

Examples¶

Identify a file and write tags interactively:

parsec identify "Loki.S01E01.mkv"

Identify multiple files in unattended mode:

parsec identify Series.S01E*.mkv -u

Preview tags without writing to the file:

parsec identify "Loki.S01E01.mkv" --dry-run

Search for releases for a specific movie:

parsec identify --imdb tt0111161 --releases

Identify a specific episode by date:

parsec identify "The.Daily.Show.mkv" --date 2023-10-24