Manage your library

Browse, filter and sort

Open the player library at /. Search by title or use Browse & filter to browse without a search term. Combine play mode, year, score, genre, developer, publisher, region, language, tag and total file-size filters. Filters apply before pagination, across the library or within the current platform or collection.

Year, score and size have two-ended sliders, exact-value inputs and individual Reset controls. Their limits follow games matching the other filters. Untouched ranges keep games with missing values included; applying a range excludes games missing that value.

Sort by title, date added, release year, rating or total size in either direction. Missing values sort last. Applied filters and sorting stay in the URL through pagination. Newly matched IGDB games include play modes; reapply metadata to older games to populate them. Age classifications are no longer imported or shown.

Create collections

1. In /admin, open Collections and choose Create collection.
2. Enter a name and URL name, such as friday-games.
3. Search and select games across pages, then save. The collection appears on the player home and at /friday-games.

Regular collections require a Teatro account. Enable LAN Party Zone only when you intend to allow anonymous browsing, covers and downloads for that collection's games. Anyone who can reach the URL can use it. The name does not enforce a LAN or subnet restriction.

Changing the URL name breaks the old link. Deleting a collection keeps its games and files. Disabling a zone or removing a game prevents new anonymous requests, but does not recall downloads or revoke already-issued 60-second tickets. Read the access rules before sharing.

Upload your first game

1. Sign in as an administrator and open Import.
2. Choose the target platform and select your game files. For grouped games, include the descriptor, tracks and all discs together.
3. Review the import preview and correct the title if needed.
4. Start the upload. The preparation form clears so you can prepare another batch.
5. Open Jobs to follow the transfer and import result, then check the player library.

For a DRM-free Windows game, upload one prepared .zip or .7z archive under Windows. Ordinary uploads do not turn loose Windows files into an installable package.

Have GOG offline setup files instead? Use the separate GOG importer.

Scan files already on disk

The scanner indexes new files under TEATRO_DEFAULT_LIBRARY_ROOT. Use a platform's filesystem slug for its folder, with a direct game subfolder for grouped titles. This is a synthetic layout:

roms/
  genesis/
    Example Game.bin
  psx/
    Passage/
      Passage.m3u
      Passage (Disc 1).chd
      Passage (Disc 2).chd

Use the platform's fs_slug from /api/platforms, not its display name. Finish copying a complete game before scanning, and avoid other writers while Teatro is managing those files.

Choose Library → Scan library. Review imported, already-indexed and rejected paths in Jobs. Scans are manual: there is no scheduled scan or filesystem watcher.

The scanner rejects symlinks, ignores known sidecars, and does not remove records for missing files or repair existing games. It can generate a playlist and rename a complete game folder to match its playlist; it is not a general-purpose folder reorganizer.

Read the result in Jobs

Uploads, scans and GOG imports share the Jobs view. Each entry shows the observed progress, duration and result. Review warnings and skipped paths even when a job succeeds.

Metadata lookup can fail without failing the game import. A rejected file, on the other hand, was not added to the catalog. Use the reported reason to correct the input before trying again.

Edit metadata and covers

Open a game in the administration interface to change its title, summary, region or other metadata. Configure IGDB to find matches and cache cover artwork.

Imports and scans first search IGDB on the mapped platform, then fall back to all platforms if needed. Review uncertain matches yourself. An absent match does not prevent you from keeping and downloading the game.

Delete deliberately

Library deletion affects managed content, not just its appearance in the browser. Back up the data set before removing a game, platform or full library.

Scanning never deletes sidecars. To remove unindexed sidecars, use Settings → Delete library content → Preview sidecar cleanup. Review the exact paths and type DELETE SIDECARS only if you intend to remove them. A changed preview is refused rather than silently expanded.

Recovery journaling helps finish interrupted file operations. It is not an undo history or a replacement for backups.