AIOMetadata for Stremio What It Is and Why People Love
Ever opened Stremio and found a blurry poster, a description in the wrong language, or an anime that just won’t match up? Yeah, that gets old fast. AIOMetadata is the addon people reach for to sort all of that out. It pulls info from a bunch of different databases and lets you decide what shows up on your screen. The project is also very much alive. Version 2.13.0 dropped on 16 August 2026 with Simkl Up Next catalogs, a way to import your setup from a link and new TMDB discover filters. So let’s walk through what AIOMetadata actually does, how it works and how you can get it running without losing your weekend.
Wait, It Doesn’t Stream Anything?
Right, and that confuses a lot of newcomers. AIOMetadata doesn’t give you movies or shows. It only handles the stuff you look at: posters, backgrounds, logos, descriptions, cast lists and catalogs. ElfHosted’s guide calls it a look and feel addon, which is a pretty fair way to put it. Five minutes of setup and Stremio honestly looks twice as good.
A developer called cedya77 built it on GitHub. He’s open about the idea coming from MrCanelas, who made the original TMDB addon for Stremio. So it’s a project standing on a community’s shoulders, not something that appeared out of nowhere.
Think of it this way. Stremio is the TV, your streaming addons are the channels, and this addon is the program guide that tells you what’s on and makes it look decent. Without it, the guide still works. With it, the guide actually feels like it was made for you.
Eight Data Sources, One Addon
What makes AIOMetadata different is choice. For each content type you pick the provider you trust most. Movies and series can use TMDB, TVDB, IMDb or TVmaze. Anime can pull from MyAnimeList, AniList, Kitsu or AniDB. Artwork comes from Fanart.tv, TMDB, TVDB, AniList and RPDB, and if a poster is missing in your language it quietly falls back to the next best one.
The part nobody talks about is ID mapping. Every database has its own IDs, and matching them is a pain. The addon links MAL, TMDB, TVDB, IMDb, AniList, AniDB, Kitsu and TVmaze together so titles line up properly. If you watch anime, you already know why that matters, because one show can have three different entries across three different sites.
The latest release even improves this. When the Kitsu to IMDb mapping has no entry for a title, the addon now falls back to an AniDB bridge instead of giving up. It’s a small fix on paper, but it means fewer anime showing up blank.
Build the Home Screen You Actually Want
With the addon you can add, remove and reorder catalogs from TMDB, TVDB, MAL, AniList, MDBList and streaming platforms. Anime fans get catalogs sorted by studio, genre, decade and schedule, which is great for finding something new on a slow weekend.
Personal lists work too, through MDBList, MAL and AniList. The newest release also lifted the cache floor on MDBList watchlist and Up Next, so those lists refresh faster than before. And the setup tab got rebuilt as a guided walkthrough, which should make life easier if you’re new.
Browsing got smarter as well. You can now filter movies by TMDB release type and series by TMDB show type, so finding only theatrical releases or only miniseries takes a couple of taps. There’s even a back to top button on catalogs. Tiny thing, but anyone who has scrolled through a long list knows how nice that is.
Public Instance or Your Own Server?
The easy route is the community public instance that ElfHosted runs. By default it pre-warms catalogs in English, using TMDB for movies, TVDB for series and MAL for anime, so things load quickly from the start. Want your own languages or providers pre-warmed? They also offer a private instance for 9 dollars a month, with a 7-day free trial.
If you like tinkering, you can host AIOMetadata yourself. It comes as a Docker image and listens on port 3232. It’s also listed in the Unraid community apps, which is handy for home server people. Redis is required, and storage can be SQLite by default or PostgreSQL. You’ll also need to set the public address Stremio will use, and most people put it behind a reverse proxy with HTTPS.
Once it’s running, open the configure page, add your TMDB key and other API keys, pick your providers and set your security options. Most of these settings live in that page and get stored in the database, so you don’t have to fiddle with a pile of environment variables.
Last step: save your config and install the addon URL it gives you inside Stremio. Everyone gets their own configuration, and you can lock it with a password, so the whole family can have a different setup. Version 2.13.0 also lets you import a configuration from a link, which makes copying a setup to a friend’s account much less painful.
Can It Help Keep Kids Safe?
Stremio has no parental controls built in. ElfHosted suggests a workaround though: add age rating data in the addon, then filter streams by rating with AIOStreams. It isn’t perfect, but it’s a decent start. The newest update also makes search resolve TVDB certification when an age cap is set, which should help that setup work more smoothly.
A Few Things to Know First
AIOMetadata doesn’t supply content or accounts, and it collects data from third-party sources, so it’s only as accurate as they are. If a database has a wrong poster or a missing description, the addon can’t magically fix it. What it can do is let you switch to a better source.
If you self-host, Redis and updates become your job. That’s fine if you enjoy it, but it’s worth being honest with yourself before you start. The hosted options exist for a reason.
The project is busy, with over 1,700 commits so far. Busy is good, but fast-moving software sometimes ships bugs too, so skim the release notes before you update. The recent notes also mention fixes to caching, like stopping refreshes from recreating entries they shouldn’t, so keep an eye out for that kind of thing if your catalogs ever act strange.
Who Is It Actually For?
Honestly, anyone who’s a little annoyed by default Stremio. If you watch a lot of anime, the mapping and the extra catalogs alone are worth it. If you track everything on Trakt, MDBList or Simkl, the personal lists make your home screen feel connected to your real watching habits.
If you just open the app twice a month and don’t care about posters, you can probably skip it. But if you’ve ever thought Stremio should look nicer and be easier to browse, then AIOMetadata is exactly the sort of upgrade you’ve been looking for.
Quick Questions About AIOMetadata
Is it free? The project is open source and the community public instance is free to use. A private hosted instance is 9 dollars a month on ElfHosted. If you self-host, you just pay for your own hosting.
Does it give me streams? No. It’s metadata only: posters, descriptions, cast details and catalogs.
Do I need API keys? If you self-host, yes. Add keys like TMDB in the configure page. On the hosted instance, default catalogs come pre-warmed, and you can still add your own optional key if you want. The latest release also adds built-in MDBList and Gemini keys, which saves a bit of setup.
Is it good for anime? Yes, and it’s one of its strongest areas thanks to MAL, AniList, Kitsu, AniDB and the ID mapping.
So, Is It Worth Trying?
If you want Stremio to look and feel like yours, then yes. AIOMetadata takes a bit of setup, but the payoff is sharper posters, catalogs that match your taste and anime data that finally lines up. Start with the public instance, and if you end up loving it, move to your own server.