Wiki / Setup — connections & keys
Which ones do you actually need?
Nothing on this page is required all at once. Kustos runs with Plex alone, and each key switches on the features in its row.
| Credential | Cost | What you lose without it | Get it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plex | Free | Everything. This is the one that is not optional. | Steps |
| Sonarr | Free | TV automation, arr rules, monitoring changes. | Steps |
| Radarr | Free | Movie automation and the same rules for films. | Steps |
| Prowlarr | Free | Indexer health, and searching for a title Kustos does not hold. | Steps |
| qBittorrent | Free | The download queue on the dashboard. | Steps |
| Tautulli | Free | Watch history from before Kustos, and accurate per-person history. | Steps |
| Overseerr / Jellyseerr | Free | The Requests screen, and request rules. | Steps |
| TMDB | Free | Most artwork, matching and metadata. Get this one early. | Steps |
| Fanart.tv | Free | Logos, clearart, and most of what Poster Studio draws with. | Steps |
| TheTVDB | Free | Some TV matching. Skip it unless something is mismatching. | Steps |
| MDBList | Free tier | Ratings overlays, and the rating-based content operations. | Steps |
| Trakt | Free to register · one VIP account | Per-person suggestions and list sending. Optional, and Simkl does the same job with no VIP at all — pick Simkl if you are choosing today. | Steps |
| Simkl | Free | Per-person watch history and watchlists from a second source, with nothing to buy. The one to pick over Trakt. | Steps |
| AI keys | Free tier | Suggestions, the assistant, and artwork text detection. | Steps |
| Telegram | Free | Alerts you can act on, including approving requests from the chat. | Steps |
If you only do three things: Plex, TMDB, Fanart.tv. That is a working Kustos with artwork.