Python script to cache the next episode of a TV show playing in Plex using rclone

preCachePlexEpisode.py

#######################################
# This python script should be run
# as a cron job every 15 minutes to
# cache the next episode of a currently
# playing TV show. 
########################################

import requests
import os
import psutil
from plexapi.server import PlexServer, CONFIG
from plexapi.exceptions import NotFound
from plexapi.video import Episode

PLEX_URL = 'http://127.0.0.1:32400'
PLEX_TOKEN = ''

if not PLEX_URL:
    PLEX_URL = CONFIG.data['auth'].get('server_baseurl')
if not PLEX_TOKEN:
    PLEX_TOKEN = CONFIG.data['auth'].get('server_token') 

plex = PlexServer(PLEX_URL, PLEX_TOKEN)
currentlyPlaying = plex.sessions()


for episode in currentlyPlaying:
    if isinstance(episode, Episode):
        show = episode.grandparentTitle
        seasonNumber = episode.parentIndex
        filename = episode.media[0].parts[0].file
        episodeNumber = episode.index
        episodeSection = episode.librarySectionTitle
        print("Show: " + show)
        print("Season: " + str(seasonNumber))
        print("Ep Num: " + str(episodeNumber))

        def nextEpisode(show, seasonNumber, episodeNumber):
            episodes = plex.library.section(episodeSection).get(show).episodes()
            try:
                index = next(i for i, ep in enumerate(episodes) if ep.seasonNumber == seasonNumber and ep.episodeNumber == episodeNumber)
                return episodes[index + 1]
            except StopIteration:
                raise NotFound
            except IndexError:
                # already last episode
                pass

        nextEp = nextEpisode(show, int(seasonNumber), int(episodeNumber))
        
        try:
           fileToCache = nextEp.media[0].parts[0].file
           print("Next ep is " + fileToCache)
           startCache = 1
        except:
            print("No file found to cache. Possibly last available episode?")
            startCache = 0
           
        if startCache == 1 and fileToCache:    
          for proc in psutil.process_iter():
              if proc.name() in 'rclone':
                if proc.cmdline()[1] in 'md5sum':
                 if proc.cmdline()[2] in fileToCache: 
                     print("File is already being cached: " + fileToCache)
                     startCache = 0
                     
        if startCache == 1 and fileToCache:                
          print("Starting cache of " + fileToCache)
          bashCommand = 'nohup rclone md5sum "' + fileToCache + '" &'      
          os.system(bashCommand)

Ok I’ll try it out

what the point of caching next episode?

what the point of caching next episode?

It's mainly for people with a cloud drive and slow internet connections or lots of users. I have another script that caches what is on deck. So when someone watches an episode it is always from the local disk and not streaming from the cloud. If you had 10 users all watching the same show and no cache it would download it from the cloud each time.