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⊠ Catalog · Books · Film · TV · 2026

Your media, on three shelves.

Treat tracking as a 3-layer pipeline, not a single app. Pick a hub per medium, automate capture so you never log manually, then mirror into Obsidian for prose and Dataview dashboards. The shelves below are stocked with the 2026 picks — and the duds to leave on the floor.

Books hub: Hardcover[9] Film/TV hub: Simkl[4] Highlights: Readwise[15] Vault plugins: Media DB · Book Search[1] Reading time: 7 min · 30 citations

01The pipeline

Picking these in the wrong order is the most common failure mode — beautiful Dataview dashboards with nothing flowing in.

1

Hub · source of truth

The Library

Where "what I've read / watched / want to" actually lives. Optimised for big lists, fast search, public-API access. Don't conflate with your vault.

→ Hardcover for books · Simkl for film & TV
2

Capture · auto-detect

The Scrobbler

Detects activity and pushes to the hub. Browser extensions, media-server bridges, mobile listeners. If you're typing it, automation has failed.

→ CrossWatch · Simkl Jellyfin · Readwise
3

Render · prose & query

The Vault

Obsidian renders metadata + your notes for search, linking, and Dataview dashboards[27]. The vault is a mirror, not the master.

→ Media DB · Book Search · Letterboxd RSS

02The Book shelf

Free hubs in 2026. Goodreads is on the floor.

Curator's note. Hardcover is the only free hub with a real public API in 2026[10] — that's what makes it the "Letterboxd for books" backbone. StoryGraph reads better but is a dead-end for automation: solo dev, no API ETA[11]. Goodreads has been closed to new API keys since 2020[26].

Hardcover PICK

Hardcover

Hub · Books · Free GraphQL API

Free, ad-free[14]. Strong Goodreads import[26]. The "Letterboxd for books" community.

FREEGRAPHQL⌥ GOODREADS IMPORT
StoryGraph

StoryGraph

Hub · Books · No API

Best-in-class mood-based recs and reading stats[14]. CSV export only[12]; an unofficial scraper exists[13] but breaks on UI changes.

FREENO API⌥ CSV
Goodreads SKIP 2026

Goodreads

Hub · Books · API closed since 2020

Stagnant; 2026 reading-app reviews unanimously recommend leaving[26].

FREEDEAD-END
Readwise $9.99/mo

Readwise

Highlights · Not a catalog

Kindle / Apple Books / PDF highlights → vault notes via the official Obsidian plugin[15]. Auto-sync on app open or 1/12/24h schedule[16].

★★★★★$9.99/mo Full plan[17]
OFFICIAL API

03The Film & TV shelf

The 2026 inflection: Trakt's 100-item free cap pushed everyone to Simkl.

Curator's note. Pick Simkl as the automation backbone[5]. Trakt's free 100-item watchlist+collection cap[4] is the headline 2026 change — multi-year history is an instant disqualification. Keep Letterboxd alongside for film opinions (reviews, lists), since Simkl's social side is thin.

Simkl PICK

Simkl

Hub · Film/TV · Free REST API

Unlimited free watchlist[4]. Browser extension scrobbles Netflix / Hulu / Crunchyroll. Best anime support via AniDB. Native Plex/Jellyfin add-ons[24].

★★★★★unlimited
FREEREST⌥ ANIME
Trakt 100 ITEM CAP

Trakt

Hub · Film/TV · Free tier capped 2026

Stable, biggest 3rd-party ecosystem. Plex webhook is VIP-only[23]. The 2026 free cap turned a lot of free users into Simkl users[4].

REST
Letterboxd FILM CULT

Letterboxd

Diary · Film community · RSS only

Best film community + reviews on the planet[5]. No public API — public RSS feed exposes the diary[8]. Manual logging only.

FREENO API⌥ RSS
Serializd

Serializd

Diary · TV community · No API

"Letterboxd for TV"[5][30]. Manual logging; reviews and lists are the draw.

FREENO API
TV Time

TV Time

Social · TV · Closed API

Social/discovery; vendor-locked[5]. Manual logging.

FREEVENDOR LOCK

04The Scrobblers

The layer most people skip and then complain "tracking is too much work."

Plex / Jellyfin / Emby→Simkl + Trakt + AniList

CrossWatch ⭐ 568

Self-hosted Docker — ghcr.io/cenodude/crosswatch:latest. v0.9.18 (Apr 2026) deprecated webhooks → "Watcher" sync engine[7]. The 2026 standard for self-hosters.

Jellyfin→Simkl

Simkl Jellyfin add-on

Native; pings the Simkl API once a configured watch-percentage is hit (e.g. 70%)[24].

Plex→Trakt

Trakt Plex Webhook

Trakt's official path. Requires Trakt VIP + Plex Pass[23].

Netflix / Hulu / Crunchyroll→Simkl

Simkl Browser Extension

More reliable than Trakt's Universal Scrobbler equivalent[4].

Mobile (iOS / Android)→Trakt + Simkl

wako

The only mobile app supporting both Trakt and Simkl backends in dual sync[25].

Kindle / Apple Books / Pocket→Obsidian

Readwise plugin ⭐ 335

Auto-syncs highlights from Kindle, Apple Books, Pocket, PDFs[15] on app open or scheduled[16].

Plex→Trakt

trex ⭐ 14

Last commit January 2019[29]. Avoid — use CrossWatch Watcher or Trakt-VIP webhook instead.

05The Vault shelf

Plugins that pull metadata into your notes. All write YAML frontmatter — Dataview reads it.

Curator's note. Media DB wins on coverage (10 APIs, one workflow[18]) and recency. Book Search wins on book-specific polish (cover-image download, mature template variables[3]). Books-only? Book Search. Everything-in-one? Media DB. Layer Dataview + Templater + QuickAdd[27] over either and the vault becomes a queryable dashboard.

Media DB plugin PICK

Media DB

Obsidian plugin · Multi-medium

One search command across movies / series / anime / manga / books / comics / games / music / wiki[1]. Ten APIs[18]. Active (Apr 2026 push).

★★★★★⭐ 448
FREE⌥ TMDB · OMDb · OPENLIBRARY · JIKAN
Book Search plugin 685★

Book Search

Obsidian plugin · Books-only

Books-only, Templater-friendly, downloads covers locally[3]. Last release Oct 2024 — slowing.

★★★★☆⭐ 685
FREE⌥ GOOGLE BOOKS · NAVER
Letterboxd RSS Sync

Letterboxd RSS Sync

Obsidian plugin · Diary mirror

Mirrors last 50 diary entries into one Letterboxd Diary.md note[8]. Active (Nov 2025).

★★★☆☆⭐ 18
FREE⌥ RSS
Obsidian-TV-Tracker

Obsidian-TV-Tracker

Obsidian plugin · Grid view

Grid view of films/shows backed by YAML markdown files[19]. Pulls TMDB metadata. Active.

★★★☆☆⭐ 27
FREE⌥ TMDB
Readwise official plugin

Readwise (official)

Obsidian plugin · Highlights + book metadata

Highlights + book metadata from Kindle / Apple Books / Pocket etc.[16]. Active (Apr 2026).

★★★★☆⭐ 335
OFFICIAL
QuickAdd 2.2k★

QuickAdd

Obsidian plugin · Macro engine

Chains Book Search / Media DB / user scripts behind one hotkey[21]. The glue layer that turns a multi-prompt search into a one-keystroke macro.

★★★★★⭐ 2.2k
FREE⌥ GLUE
Calibre plugin 2023

Calibre plugin

Obsidian plugin · Calibre OPDS browser

Browse a Calibre Content Server inside Obsidian[22]. Unpushed since Sep 2023 — use at own risk.

★★☆☆☆⭐ 190
FREESTALE
media-tracker-obsidian-template

christt105/media-tracker-template

Reference vault · Working starter

A working starter vault wiring Movie Search + Templater + QuickAdd together[28]. Useful as a reference even if you don't fork.

☆☆☆☆☆⭐ 1
FREE⌥ STARTER

06Three concrete 2026 stacks

Pick the row that matches your setup. Don't mix tiers — each is internally consistent.

Tier · Minimalist

Obsidian-only, no external services

Cost: $0 · two free API keys
CaptureMedia DB plugin + QuickAdd macro per medium.
RenderDataview dashboards over the YAML frontmatter[27].
KeysOne free TMDB key + one free OMDb key[18].
TradeNo subscription, no auto-scrobble. You hit a hotkey to log.
★ Tier · Hybrid · Recommended

Hubs do storage, Obsidian mirrors

Cost: $9.99/mo Readwise[17] · rest free
BooksHardcover hub[9] + Readwise highlights[15] → Book Search plugin for vault notes + a custom GraphQL puller from Hardcover.
Film/TVSimkl hub[4] + Simkl browser extension + Letterboxd for opinions → Letterboxd RSS Sync[8]; Media DB for per-title metadata.
WhyThe hub does what Obsidian is bad at — 1,000+ entries with sort/filter — and Obsidian does what hubs are bad at — your prose.
Tier · Power-user

Self-hosted media server

Cost: Plex Pass + $9.99/mo Readwise · everything else free
ServerPlex / Jellyfin running locally + CrossWatch Docker[7] syncing to Simkl + Trakt + AniList simultaneously.
Mobilewako[25] for off-server scrobbles. Hardcover for books, Readwise for highlights.
VaultMedia DB + Letterboxd RSS Sync + Obsidian-TV-Tracker[19] for the in-vault grid view.

07Out of stock for 2026

The stuff to leave on the floor — and why.

⚠ DEAD-END Goodreads as a hub. API closed to new keys since 2020[26]. 2026 reviews unanimously recommend leaving.
⚠ CAPPED Trakt for a fresh free account. The 100-item watchlist+collection cap[4] breaks a multi-year backlog on day one. Existing VIP users are fine; new free users default to Simkl.
⚠ MANUAL Hand-logging Plex/Jellyfin films. CrossWatch[6] takes ~30 minutes to set up and never asks you to type a film title again.
⚠ LAYER MIX Storing the master list in Obsidian. Obsidian is excellent for note-taking, mediocre for "give me my last 200 watched films sorted by rating across 5 services" — let the hub do that.
⚠ ABANDONWARE Unmaintained scrobblers. trex's last commit was Jan 2019[29]; Trakt VIP webhook or CrossWatch Watcher[7] are the live paths.
⚠ MIRAGE Building over the StoryGraph "API". There isn't one[11]; the unofficial scraper[13] can break on any UI change.

About this catalog

One alternate view of the canonical research page. The default page has the full prose and tables. This view foregrounds the picks per medium as a tiled catalog.

Format: catalog (poster grid) · 30 citations · 7 min read

Across the expedition

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