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Get listed in Kino

People get your plugin in two ways:

  • By typing its address. In Kino, on Plugins, the + button (on a TV, Agregar), then owner/repo. This always works as long as the repository is public.
  • By finding it in the app, without knowing the address. Kino shows a list, "De la comunidad", of the plugins it finds on GitHub by itself. This page explains how to get into it.

Nobody approves community plugins: the app searches GitHub itself, with the rules below. Follow the five steps and you are in.

The five steps

1. A public repository, created from the template (not a fork)

  • Create the repository with the green Use this template → Create a new repository button of kino-plugin-archive or kino-plugin-own-server, and pick Public. Never use the Fork button: Kino leaves forks out of the list. A fork says "forked from …" under its name; if yours does, create a new one from the template and move your files over.
  • Created it private? In your repository: Settings → General, at the bottom Danger Zone → Change visibility → Change to public. A private repository can be neither found nor installed.

2. kino-plugin.json at the root, and valid

  • Kino reads https://raw.githubusercontent.com/<owner>/<repo>/HEAD/kino-plugin.json: the file must be at the root of the default branch (a plugin in a subfolder can be installed by typing its address, but it is not listed).
  • Check it with the kit: node sdk/validate.mjs . must end in ✓ Kino would accept this plugin and without the line "No aparecerá en la búsqueda de Kino" (printed when the manifest says "discoverable": false).
  • An apiVersion newer than the person's Kino hides it from them. Kino 0.9.50 goes up to 6 (0.9.45 to 0.9.49, up to 5); use the lowest that works for you and older Kino builds see it too.
  • An id of your own: never the template's archive-org, a recommended plugin's (internet-archive, own-server). With someone else's id your plugin is hidden (why).

3. A good name and description, in the manifest

Your plugin's card in Kino shows the name and description of kino-plugin.json, not GitHub's. Write them in Spanish, for the person picking sources on their TV:

  • name: 1 to 40 characters, short and recognizable ("Cine clásico", not "my-plugin-v2").
  • description: up to 300 characters. Say what is there (movies, series, anime, live channels), where it comes from, and whether it asks for anything (an account, a server address). Without a description the card has no text.
"name": "Cine clásico",
"description": "Películas de dominio público de archive.org, con subtítulos en español cuando los hay. No pide cuenta."

Optional, but they make the card look right: color (#RRGGBB) and icon (a square PNG of at most 128 KB).

4. The kino-plugin topic and the GitHub description

The topic is mandatory: it is the only way Kino finds a plugin. Put it on the same repository that holds kino-plugin.json.

By clicking, on your repository's GitHub page:

  1. On the right, in the About box, click the ⚙ gear.
  2. In Description, write one line saying what it is ("Kino plugin: classic films from archive.org").
  3. In Topics, type kino-plugin and press Enter (it becomes a blue tag).
  4. Click Save changes.

From the terminal (with GitHub CLI):

gh repo edit OWNER/REPO --add-topic kino-plugin --description "Kino plugin: classic films from archive.org"

Kino does not read the GitHub description, but set it anyway: it is what people see when they reach your repository from github.com/topics/kino-plugin or a GitHub search, and a clear line gets more people to try it and star it.

5. Check it

  1. Does GitHub see the topic? Open https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO in a browser and find "topics": it must say "kino-plugin". It should also show on github.com/topics/kino-plugin.
  2. Is it in Kino's search? Open this search (exactly the one the app makes) and find your repository in items.
  3. In the app. Open Plugins (on a phone: the ☰ → Plugins menu; on a TV: Ajustes → Plugins), tab Recomendados, scroll down to "De la comunidad" and tap Actualizar. Your card shows your name, your description and "por <your user>". The same list shows in "Elige tus fuentes", the screen Kino shows when there is no source yet.

How long it takes

  • GitHub indexes a new topic (or a repository just made public) on its own schedule: usually minutes, with no promised delay.
  • Kino keeps the list on each device and only asks GitHub again when that copy is older than 12 hours, or when the person taps Actualizar (at most once every 60 seconds).
  • Your repository's files (raw.githubusercontent.com) are cached for about 5 minutes: a manifest change may take that long to show.

The order

Kino sorts by GitHub stars and keeps the top 30 of a single search of 50 results; below that nothing is listed. Plugins that fail the rules still use up their slot, so the list may hold fewer than 30. Ask the people who use your plugin to give the repository a ⭐.

A plugin the Kino team recommends shows under "Recomendados", not "De la comunidad". Installing any plugin from the list goes through the same consent sheet ("Plugin no verificado…"): nothing installs by itself.

If it does not show

Go through Why my plugin does not appear; every exact rule, with its numbers, is in Get found.