Filters

Filters decide which Mediathek entries enter a matching rule. They run before identification — if a filter fails, the rule is skipped and the next rule in priority order is tried.

How Filters Work

Every rule can have a filters object with three sections that act as boolean logic gates:

Section	Logic	Behavior
all	AND	Every condition must match
any	OR	At least one condition must match
not	NOT	None of the conditions may match

All three sections are optional. If filters is omitted entirely, the rule accepts every candidate.

When multiple sections are present, they are evaluated in order: all → any → not. All sections must pass for the filter to succeed.

Fields

Each condition checks one field from the Mediathek entry:

Field	Type	Description	Example value
title	string	The full item title	"Tatort: Borowski und die Kinder"
topic	string	The topic/show name	"Tatort"
channel	string	The broadcaster	"ARD", "ZDF", "ORF", "SRF"
description	string	Item description text	"Kommissar Borowski ermittelt..."
duration	number	Duration in minutes	90
timestamp	number	Broadcast timestamp (Unix epoch)	1726000000

Operators

Operator	Works on	Description
eq	string	Exact string match
contains	string	Substring match (case-sensitive)
notContains	string	Substring must not be present
greaterThan	number	Numeric greater-than comparison
lessThan	number	Numeric less-than comparison
regex	string	Regular expression match

WARNING

Numeric values must be passed as strings in JSON: "value": "60", not "value": 60.

Common Patterns

Exclude short clips

Most Mediathek entries include trailers, teasers, and clip excerpts that are much shorter than full episodes. Filter them out with a duration check:

"filters": {
  "all": [
    { "field": "duration", "op": "greaterThan", "value": "25" }
  ]
}

This is the most common filter — nearly every community ruleset uses it.

Restrict to a specific channel

When a show airs on multiple channels with different title formats, filter by broadcaster:

"filters": {
  "all": [
    { "field": "channel", "op": "eq", "value": "ZDF" }
  ]
}

Exclude trailers and specials

Filter out entries with keywords that indicate non-episode content:

"filters": {
  "not": [
    { "field": "title", "op": "contains", "value": "Trailer" },
    { "field": "title", "op": "contains", "value": "Vorschau" },
    { "field": "title", "op": "contains", "value": "(Audiodeskription)" }
  ]
}

The not section rejects any entry matching any of its conditions.

Match by description keyword

Some shows share a topic name but have different content. Use the description to distinguish:

"filters": {
  "all": [
    { "field": "description", "op": "contains", "value": "Krimi" }
  ]
}

Match by title pattern

Use a regex filter when the title structure matters:

"filters": {
  "all": [
    { "field": "title", "op": "regex", "value": "^Tatort:\\s" }
  ]
}

Combine conditions

Combine duration and channel filters to be precise:

"filters": {
  "all": [
    { "field": "duration", "op": "greaterThan", "value": "35" },
    { "field": "channel", "op": "eq", "value": "ARD" }
  ],
  "not": [
    { "field": "title", "op": "contains", "value": "Trailer" }
  ]
}

This matches only ARD entries longer than 35 minutes that aren't trailers.

Nested Groups

For complex logic, filter nodes can be nested groups instead of simple conditions. Each nested group has its own all/any/not sections.

Example: Match entries from ARD or ZDF, but only if they're longer than 30 minutes:

"filters": {
  "all": [
    { "field": "duration", "op": "greaterThan", "value": "30" },
    {
      "any": [
        { "field": "channel", "op": "eq", "value": "ARD" },
        { "field": "channel", "op": "eq", "value": "ZDF" }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

The outer all requires both conditions to pass: duration > 30 AND (channel = ARD OR channel = ZDF).

TIP

Most rulesets only need flat conditions. Reach for nested groups when you need OR logic inside an AND block, or other combinations that flat sections can't express.

Short-Circuit Evaluation

Filters evaluate with short-circuit logic:

• all: stops at the first failing condition (remaining conditions show as "Skipped" in the debugger)
• any: stops at the first passing condition
• not: stops at the first matching condition (which means the filter fails)

This is visible in the debugger's pipeline trace — skipped conditions appear in gray.