UnPlex

A side-loadable Roku channel that serves as a custom Plex Media Server client. UnPlex replaces the official Plex Roku app with a clean, fast, grid-based UI inspired by the classic "Plex Classic" Roku client — sidebar navigation, poster grids, and direct access to your media without fighting the interface.

Built with BrightScript and Roku SceneGraph for FHD (1920×1080)+ displays.

What UnPlex Is

UnPlex is a lightweight, general-purpose Plex client that covers the essential bases without overhead. It focuses on the core media experience — browsing, searching, and playing your library content — with a fast, grid-based UI designed for Roku's remote control.

• Browse movies, TV shows, and music with poster grids and hub rows
• Direct play with automatic transcode fallback
• Resume playback, track selection, skip intro/credits, auto-play next episode
• PIN-based authentication via plex.tv/link with managed user switching
• Customizable Hub and Sidebar — choose which libraries appear and in what order

What UnPlex Is Not

• Not a full-featured Plex client replacement. UnPlex covers the core browsing and playback experience. Advanced Plex features like live TV, DVR, Discover, Watchlist, shared libraries from other users, and Plex-hosted streaming content (Movies & TV, Music) are not supported.
• Not a channel store app. UnPlex is side-loaded onto your Roku in developer mode. It is not published to the Roku Channel Store and there are no plans to submit it.
• Not a multi-server client. UnPlex connects to a single Plex Media Server. If you have multiple servers, it will use the first one it discovers.

Disclaimer

UnPlex is provided as-is. It has not been broadly tested across Roku hardware models, Plex library configurations, or media formats. You may encounter bugs, playback failures, or unexpected behavior. If you find an issue, please open a bug report — reports that include your Roku model, firmware version, and steps to reproduce are especially helpful.

Screenshots

Hub View

Movies Library

Movie Detail

TV Library

TV Seasons & Episodes

Episode Detail

Search

Settings

Features

UI

• Classic Plex sidebar menu
• Sectional sidebar that separates pinned libraries from system items
• Easy hub and sidebar pin management and reordering
• Roku TrickPlay bar for familiar fast-forward/rewind controls
• Streamlined and de-bloated for fast loading and navigation
• Pages that prioritize content over graphics

Library Browsing

• Browse movies, TV shows, and music libraries with poster grid layouts
• Hub rows: Continue Watching, Recently Added, On Deck
• Collections and playlists browsing
• Filter and sort by genre, year, unwatched status, and sort order
• Sidebar navigation for quick library switching

Media Management

• Delete media items from your library (with confirmation dialog)
• Get Info — view detailed technical metadata (codecs, resolution, bitrate, file size) via the MediaInfoScreen
• Watched/unwatched badges and progress bar overlays on poster items

Playback

• Direct play with automatic transcode fallback (HLS)
• Resume from last playback position
• Audio track selection during playback
• Subtitle track selection (SRT sidecar + PGS burn-in)
• Track preference persistence across sessions
• Skip Intro and Skip Credits buttons
• Auto-play next episode with countdown

User Management

• PIN-based OAuth authentication via plex.tv/link
• Managed user switching with PIN entry
• Persistent authentication across sessions

Search

• Debounced search queries across all libraries
• Results displayed by media type

Settings

• Customize Hub Libraries — choose which libraries contribute Continue Watching, Recently Added, and On Deck rows
• Customize Sidebar Libraries — pin, unpin, and reorder libraries in the sidebar
• App version displayed in Settings (About row)

Installation

UnPlex is installed by side-loading it onto a Roku device in developer mode. No channel store submission is required.

1. Enable Developer Mode on Your Roku

1. Using your Roku remote, press: Home (3×), Up (2×), Right, Left, Right, Left, Right
2. The Developer Settings screen will appear
3. Enable the installer and set a developer password
4. Note your Roku's IP address (Settings → Network → About)

2. Build the Channel Package

Note: If you prefer to keep it simple just download the desired UnPlex[version].zip from the repo root and skip to manual upload below.

Make sure you have Node.js installed, then:

git clone https://github.com/pdxred/UnPlex.git
cd UnPlex
npm install
npm run build

3. Side-Load to Your Roku

Option A — Automated deploy:

npm run deploy

This uses roku-deploy to build, package, and install to your Roku in one step. Configure the target Roku IP and password in bsconfig.json.

Option B — Manual upload:

1. Open a web browser and navigate to http://<your-roku-ip> (the Roku developer web installer on port 80)
2. Log in with the developer password you set in step 1
3. Upload the UnPlex.zip file through the installer page
4. The channel will install and launch automatically

4. Authenticate with Plex

1. On first launch, UnPlex displays a PIN code
2. Visit plex.tv/link on any device and enter the PIN
3. UnPlex automatically discovers your Plex Media Server and begins loading your libraries

5. Verify It Works

After authentication, you should see the Hub view with Continue Watching, Recently Added, and On Deck rows populated from your pinned libraries. Navigate to a library using the Sidebar to confirm library browsing works, and try playing a media item to verify playback.

Usage

Remote Control

Button	Action
OK	Select / Confirm
Back	Go to previous screen
Left/Right	Navigate sidebar / grid columns
Up/Down	Navigate grid rows / lists
Play/Pause	Toggle playback
Options (*)	Context menu — mark watched/unwatched, get info, delete (varies by item type); audio/subtitle selection during playback

The Hub View

The Hub is the home screen you see after authentication. It displays media rows drawn from your pinned libraries:

• Continue Watching — media you've started but not finished
• Recently Added — newly added items across your libraries
• On Deck — next episodes to watch in shows you're following

By default, all libraries contribute to the Hub. To customize which libraries appear:

1. Navigate to Settings from the Sidebar
2. Select Hub Libraries
3. Use the list to pin or unpin libraries — only pinned libraries will contribute rows to the Hub
4. Reorder pinned libraries to control the display order

The Sidebar (The entire reason I made this)

Press Left from any screen to open the Sidebar. It contains:

• Home — returns to the Hub view
• Your pinned libraries — quick access to each library's poster grid
• On Deck — jump to your On Deck items
• Search — search across all libraries
• Settings — app settings and customization

To customize which libraries appear in the Sidebar and their order:

1. Navigate to Settings from the Sidebar
2. Select Sidebar Libraries
3. Pin or unpin libraries to control which appear in the Sidebar
4. Reorder pinned libraries to set the navigation order

Library Browsing

Select a library from the Sidebar to view its content in a poster grid. From any library screen:

• Use filter/sort options to narrow results by genre, year, or watched status
• For TV shows, click a show to see season posters in a scrollable row, then select a season to browse episodes as landscape thumbnail cards in an episode grid below
• For movies and episodes, select an item to view its detail screen showing tagline, cast, director, studio, and other metadata

Detail Screens

Detail screens show full metadata for a media item and provide these actions:

• Play — start playback (resumes from last position if applicable)
• Get Info — open the MediaInfoScreen showing technical metadata (codecs, resolution, bitrate, file size, audio channels, subtitle streams)
• Delete — remove the media item from your library (with a confirmation dialog)

Playback

• Select any movie or episode to view its detail screen, then press Play or OK to start playback
• Playback resumes from your last position automatically
• Press Options (*) during playback to select audio tracks or subtitles
• Skip Intro and Skip Credits buttons appear automatically when markers are available
• For TV shows, the next episode plays automatically after a countdown at the end of the current episode

Search

Select Search from the Sidebar. Type to search across all libraries — results are grouped by media type (movies, shows, episodes) with debounced queries so results update as you type.

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• Node.js (LTS recommended)
• A Roku device in developer mode (for testing)

Setup

git clone https://github.com/pdxred/UnPlex.git
cd UnPlex
npm install

Available Scripts

Command	Description
npm run build	Compile BrighterScript source via bsc
npm run deploy	Compile and deploy to a Roku device via bsc --deploy
npm run lint	Run BrighterScript linter (no output) via bsc --noEmit

Project Structure

UnPlex/
├── manifest                 # Roku app manifest (version, icons, settings)
├── source/                  # Main BrightScript source files
│   ├── main.brs            # Entry point — screen creation and message loop
│   ├── utils.brs           # Shared helpers (auth, URLs, HTTP, formatting)
│   └── constants.brs       # Colors, sizes, API constants
├── components/              # SceneGraph components
│   ├── MainScene.xml/.brs  # Root scene and screen stack management
│   ├── screens/            # Full-screen views (Home, Detail, Show, Search, Settings, PostPlay, Playlist, PIN, UserPicker, MediaInfo)
│   ├── widgets/            # Reusable UI (Sidebar, PosterGrid, VideoPlayer, EpisodeGrid)
│   └── tasks/              # Background Task nodes for HTTP requests
├── fonts/                   # Bundled fonts (Inter Bold)
└── images/                  # App icons, splash screen, placeholders

Build Configuration

The BrighterScript compiler is configured via bsconfig.json:

• Input: UnPlex/manifest, UnPlex/source/**/*.brs, UnPlex/components/**/*
• Output: out/staging (generated at build time, not committed)
• Source maps are enabled for debugging

Architecture

UnPlex is built on Roku's SceneGraph framework. Each UI component is a pair of files: an .xml file defining layout and interface fields, and a .brs file containing the component's logic.

Key architectural patterns:

• Screen stack — MainScene maintains an array of screen nodes. The Back button pops the stack, preserving focus position when returning to previous screens.
• Task-based HTTP — All network requests run in background Task nodes (PlexAuthTask, PlexApiTask, PlexSearchTask, PlexSessionTask) to avoid render-thread blocking.
• Observer pattern — Task nodes communicate results to UI components via field observers, enabling asynchronous data flow.
• ContentNode trees — All lists and grids are populated through Roku's ContentNode data model.
• Registry persistence — User settings and authentication tokens are stored in roRegistrySection("UnPlex").

For a detailed technical breakdown, see docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Whether it's a bug fix, a new feature, or a documentation improvement, we'd love your help. See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, coding conventions, and how to submit a pull request.

Bug Reports

Found a bug? Open an issue on GitHub. Including your Roku model, firmware version, and steps to reproduce helps us fix it faster. If the issue involves playback or UI glitches, see docs/DEBUG-LOGS.md for how to collect debug logs from your device.

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for a history of releases and notable changes.

Roadmap

Planned future work (see .gsd/QUEUE.md for details):

1. Transcoded Playback Resilience — Audio/video sync recovery and stall handling during transcoded playback
2. Subtitle Support — Subtitle selection and display for movies and TV episodes
3. UI polish and information display improvements

Note: I do take requests and, of course, you are encouraged to contribute.

License

UnPlex is released under the MIT License.

This project includes Inter Bold font by Rasmus Andersson, licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

Acknowledgments

• Plex — Media server platform and API
• Inter by Rasmus Andersson — UI typeface (SIL Open Font License)
• Roku Developer Platform — SceneGraph framework and documentation
• BrighterScript — Enhanced BrightScript compiler
• roku-deploy — Deployment tooling