libremdb

A FOSS alternative front-end to IMDb.

Inspired by projects like teddit, nitter and many others.

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Features

• No ads or tracking
  Browse any movie info without being tracked or bombarded by annoying ads.
• No connection to IMDb
  All requests go through the backend; client never talks to IMDb except for a bunch of requests to m.media-amazon.com for images.
• No JavaScript required
  Just a few linesof code(~30) to save theme preference, which itself is optional.
• Modern interface
  Modern interface with curated colors supporting both dark and light themes.
• Responsive design
  Be it your small mobile or big computer screen, it's fully responsive.
• Lightweight
  Up movie page

  	libremdb	IMDb
  no. of requests	~35	~280
  data consumed	1.35MB	7.75MB

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Instances

Instance URL	Region	Notes
https://libremdb.herokuapp.com	United States	Official; Hosted on Heroku
https://libremdb.pussthecat.org	Germany	Operated by PussTheCat.org
https://libremdbeu.herokuapp.com	Europe	Operated by toyboatcash
https://lmdb.tokhmi.xyz/	U.S.	Operated by Tokhmi

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FAQs

• Why is it so slow?
  Whenever you request info about a movie/show on libremdb, 4 trips are made(2 between your browser and libremdb's server, and 2 between libremdb's server and IMDb's server) instead of the usual 2 trips when you visit a website. For this reason there's a noticable delay. This is a bit of inconvenience you'll have to face should you wish to use this website.

• It doesn't have all routes.
  I think most of the people just check IMDb to get a quick glimpse of a movie/show. That's why there is just one route for now. However, I will try to implement other important routes if time allows. Keep an eye on To-Do section.

• Why is it connecting to m.media-amazon.com?
  For now, images are directly served from amazon. If I have enough time in the future, I'll implement a way to serve the images from libremdb instead.

• Will amazon track me then?
  They may log your IP address. I'd recommend using a VPN for mitigating this risk.

• Why not just use IMDb?
  Refer to the features section above.

• Why didn't you use other databases like TMDB or OMDb?
  IMDb simply has superior dataset compared to all other alternatives. With that being said, I'd encourage you to check out those alternatives too.

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Privacy

In short: libremdb doesn't collect any data at all.

• Data you directly provide: None.
• Data you passively provide: A stack trace is logged to console on the server if you hit some error route.
• Data stored in your browser: To remember theme preferences, the website stores a key named 'theme' in Local Storage provided by your browser. Apart from that, there is nothing stored in your browser.
• Data collected by other services: libremdb connects to m.media-amazon.com for fetching images. So, Amazon might log your IP address. If you use the official instance which is deployed on Heroku, then Heroku might also log you IP address. You're advised to follow due precaution.

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To-Do

soon

• add advanced search route
• add did you know and reviews on movie info page
• implement routes for reviews, quotes, goofs, trivia and crazy credits

at a later stage

• use redis
• implement a better installation method
• serve images from libremdb itself
• add a way to see trailer and other videos
• implement other trivial routes

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Installation

Manual

1. Install Node.js and Git.
   for Node.js, visit their website.
   for Git, run sudo apt install git if you're on a Debian-based distro. Else visit their website.

2. Clone and set up the repo.

   git clone https://github.com/zyachel/libremdb.git # replace gituhb.com with codeberg.org if you wish so.
   cd libremdb
   cp config.env.template config.env # you can make necessary changes
   # if you use npm, change 'pnpm' to 'npm run' here as well as in package.json
   pnpm install
   pnpm start
   

libremdb will start running at http://localhost:3000.

Docker

There's a docker image made by @TheFrenchGhosty for PussTheCat.org's instance. You can use that in case you wish to use docker.

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Miscellaneous

Automatic redirection

Use any of these extensions to automatically redirect IMDb URLs to libremdb:

• Redirector
  config:

  Description: redirect IMDb to libremdb
  Example URL: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258463/?ref_=tt_sims_tt_t_4
  Include pattern: https?:\/\/(www\.)?imdb\.com\/title\/([^\?]*)
  Redirect to: https://libremdb.herokuapp.com/title/$2
  Pattern type: Regular Expression
  

• LibRedirect

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• full list →

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Contact

[matrix]	email
@ninal:matrix.org	aricla@protonmail.com

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License

Licensed under GNU AGPLv3.
See License for full legalese.