iptv/CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing Guide

• How to?
• Stream Description Scheme
• Project Structure
• Scripts
• Workflows

How to?

How to add a new stream link to a playlists?

You have several options:

1. Create a new issue and provide all the required information. If the request is approved, the link will be added to the playlist in the next update.

2. Add the link to the playlist directly using a pull request.

Regardless of which option you choose, before posting your request please do the following:

• Make sure the link you want to add works stably. To check this, open it in one of the players (for example, VLC player) and watch the broadcast for at least a minute (some test streams are interrupted after 15-30 seconds).
• Make sure the link is not already in the playlist. This can be done by searching the repository.
• Find the ID of the channel you want to add in our database. If this particular channel is not in the database, then leave a request to add it here and wait until it is approved before continuing.
• Make sure the channel is not blocklisted. This can be done by checking the blocklist.csv file.
• The link does not lead to the Xtream Codes server. Why don't you accept links to Xtream Codes server?
• If you know that the broadcast only works in certain countries or it is periodically interrupted, do not forget to indicate this in the request.

A requests without a valid channel ID or working link to the stream will be closed immediately.

Note all links in playlists are sorted automatically by scripts so there is no need to sort them manually. For more info, see Scripts.

How to add a link to YouTube live?

You can use one of the services like abskmj/youtube-hls-m3u8 that allow you to create permanent link to the broadcast that can be opened in most players.

How to distinguish a link to an Xtream Codes server from a regular one?

Most of them have this form:

http(s)://{hostname}:{port}/{username}/{password}/{channelID} (port is often 25461)

To make sure that the link leads to the Xtream Codes server, copy the hostname, port, username and password into the link below and try to open it in a browser:

http(s)://{hostname}:{port}/panel_api.php?username={username}&password={password}

If the link answers, you're with an Xtream Codes server.

How to report a broken stream?

Fill out this form and as soon as a working replacement appears, we will add it to the playlist or at least remove the non-working one.

The only thing before publishing your report is to make sure that:

• The link is still in our playlists. You can verify this by searching the repository.
• The link really doesn't work and is not just geo-blocked. To check this, you can either use a VPN or services such as streamtest.in.

An issue without a valid link will be closed immediately.

How do I remove my channel from playlist?

To request removal of a link to a channel from the repository, you need to fill out this form and wait for the request to be reviewed (this usually takes no more than 1 business day). And if the request is approved, links to the channel will be immediately removed from the repository.

The channel will also be added to our blocklist to avoid its appearance in our playlists in the future.

Please note that we only accept removal requests from channel owners and their official representatives, all other requests will be closed immediately.

Stream Description Scheme

For a stream to be approved, its description must follow this template:

#EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="CHANNEL_ID" tvg-shift="TIMESHIFT",CHANNEL_NAME (RESOLUTION) [LABEL]
STREAM_URL

Attribute	Description	Required	Valid values
CHANNEL_ID	Channel ID.	Optional	Full list of supported channels with corresponding ID could be found on iptv-org.github.io.
TIMESHIFT	Indicates the shift of the program schedule.	Optional	-2, -1, 1, 2 etc
CHANNEL_NAME	Full name of the channel. May contain any characters except: ,, [, ].	Required	-
RESOLUTION	Maximum stream resolution.	Optional	2160p, 1080p, 720p, 480p, 360p etc
LABEL	Specified in cases where the broadcast for some reason may not be available to some users.	Optional	Geo-blocked or Not 24/7
STREAM_URL	Stream URL.	Required	-

Example:

#EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="ExampleTV.ua" tvg-shift="4",Example TV (720p) [Not 24/7]
https://example.com/playlist.m3u8

Also, if necessary, you can specify custom HTTP User-Agent and Referrer via the #EXTVLCOPT tag:

#EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="ExampleTV.us",Example TV
#EXTVLCOPT:http-referrer=http://example.com/
#EXTVLCOPT:http-user-agent=Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64)
http://example.com/stream.m3u8

Project Structure

• .github/
  • ISSUE_TEMPLATE/: issue templates for the repository.
  • workflows: contains GitHub actions workflows.
  • CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md: rules you shouldn't break if you don't want to get banned.
• .readme/
  • config.json: config for the markdown-include package, which is used to compile everything into one README.md file.
  • preview.png: image displayed in the README.md.
  • supported-categories.md: list of supported categories.
  • supported-regions.md: list of supported regions.
  • template.md: template for README.md.
• scripts/: contains all scripts used in the repository.
• streams/: contains all streams broken down by the country from which they are broadcast.
• tests/: contains tests to check the scripts.
• CONTRIBUTING.md: file you are currently reading.
• README.md: project description generated from the contents of the .readme/ folder.

Scripts

These scripts are created to automate routine processes in the repository and make it a bit easier to maintain.

For scripts to work, you must have Node.js installed on your computer.

To run scripts use the npm run <script-name> command.

• act:check: allows to run the check workflow locally. Depends on nektos/act.
• act:format: allows to test the format workflow locally. Depends on nektos/act.
• act:update: allows to test the update workflow locally. Depends on nektos/act.
• api:load: downloads the latest channel and stream data from the iptv-org/api.
• api:generate: generates a JSON file with all streams for the iptv-org/api repository.
• api:deploy: allows to manually upload a JSON file created via api:generate to the iptv-org/api repository. To run the script you must provide your personal access token with write access to the repository.
• playlist:format: formats internal playlists. The process includes URL normalization, duplicate removal, removing invalid id's and sorting links by channel name, quality, and label.
• playlist:update: triggers an update of internal playlists. The process involves processing approved requests from issues.
• playlist:generate: generates all public playlists.
• playlist:validate: сhecks ids and links in internal playlists for errors.
• playlist:lint: сhecks internal playlists for syntax errors.
• playlist:deploy: allows to manually publish all generated via playlist:generate playlists. To run the script you must provide your personal access token with write access to the repository.
• readme:update: updates the list of playlists in README.md.
• report:create: shows a list of all current requests and their status.
• check: (shorthand) sequentially runs the playlist:lint and playlist:validate scripts.
• format: (shorthand) runs the playlist:format script.
• update: (shorthand) sequentially runs the playlist:generate, api:generate and readme:update scripts.
• deploy: (shorthand) sequentially runs the playlist:deploy and api:deploy scripts.
• lint: сhecks the scripts for syntax errors.
• test: runs a test of all the scripts described above.

Workflows

To automate the run of the scripts described above, we use the GitHub Actions workflows.

Each workflow includes its own set of scripts that can be run either manually or in response to an event.

• check: sequentially runs the api:load, playlist:check and playlist:validate scripts when a new pull request appears, and blocks the merge if it detects an error in it.
• format: sequentially runs api:load, playlist:format, playlist:lint and playlist:validate scripts.
• update: every day at 0:00 UTC sequentially runs api:load, playlist:update, playlist:lint, playlist:validate, playlist:generate, api:generate and readme:update scripts and deploys the output files if successful.