mkvbot

A simple TUI for ripping Blu-rays and DVDs with MakeMKV. Insert a disc, it picks the best title, looks it up on IMDb, and rips it to a folder named for Plex.

What it does

1. Scans the disc and scores titles using configurable heuristics
2. Searches IMDb for metadata (name, year, ID)
3. Prompts you to confirm the metadata
4. Rips the best title to <output>/<Name> (<Year>) {imdb-ttXXXXXXX}/
5. Ejects the disc and beeps

Since auto-selection isn't perfect, you confirm metadata before it's committed. Use --ask-title to always pick the title manually.

It's single-threaded, single-drive, and single-movie — insert, wait, eject, repeat. No scheduling, no queue. If you need something more powerful, check out automatic-ripping-machine.

One static binary, no runtime deps besides MakeMKV. Runs fine on a Pi over SSH.

Requirements

• MakeMKV with a valid license key (needed for Blu-ray)
• makemkvcon on PATH (Linux/macOS) or in Program Files (x86)\MakeMKV\ (Windows)

Install

Release

Find a package for your OS and architecture on the Releases page (deb, rpm, apk, tarballs).

Homebrew

brew tap curt-hash/homebrew-mkvbot
brew install mkvbot

Go

go install github.com/curt-hash/mkvbot@latest  # or a specific tag, e.g. @v0.3.0

Quick Start

mkvbot --create-config   # writes mkvbot.toml
mkvbot --create-profile  # writes makemkv.xml

Note: Prior versions used profile.xml. Rename it to makemkv.xml or set makemkv_profile_path = "profile.xml" in your config file.

Edit mkvbot.toml and set output_dir_path to where you want rips to go. Everything else has sensible defaults.

Then:

mkvbot                    # reads mkvbot.toml from cwd
mkvbot -o /tmp/rips       # override output dir
mkvbot --ask-title        # always pick the title manually
mkvbot --debug            # verbose logging

Insert a disc and run mkvbot. The TUI shows drive/disc/movie/title info, a log, and input forms when decisions are needed. Ctrl+C exits cleanly.

Beta Key

MakeMKV's beta key expires every few months. To fetch the current key from the MakeMKV forum and register it automatically:

mkvbot update-key

On Windows this writes to the registry; on Linux/macOS it updates ~/.MakeMKV/settings.conf.

Rip Filenames

Follows Plex's naming convention:

Movies/
  Blade Runner (1982) {imdb-tt0083658}/
    Blade Runner (1982) {imdb-tt0083658}.mkv

If the name is missing, uses Unknown Title <timestamp> to avoid collisions and keep Plex happy. If only the IMDb ID is missing, uses Name (Year) without the tag.

Audio and Subtitles

Edit app_DefaultSelectionString in makemkv.xml to change which streams are selected. The default picks English audio and subtitles. makemkvcon doesn't read the GUI preferences, so the profile file is required.

Config

mkvbot.toml is optional — all settings can be CLI flags. Flags override config file values.

Setting	Default
output_dir_path	.	where rips go
makemkv_profile_path	makemkv.xml	profile file
cache_size	1024	read cache (MiB)
min_length	1800	minimum title length (seconds)
quiet	false	suppress beep
ask_for_title	false	prompt for title
best_title_heuristic_weights.*	see below	scoring weights

Title scoring weights (all matched titles accumulate their weight):

Heuristic	Weight
longest	1000	longest title
angle_one	300	has angle 1
most_chapters	200	most chapters
most_streams	100	most streams

Tune them in mkvbot.toml or with flags like --longest-title-weight 2000.

Known Issues

• Only the first optical drive is used if multiples exist
• TV shows aren't supported (no episode mapping)
• IMDb lookup is HTML scraping, so fragile to page structure changes. If it breaks, enter metadata manually at the prompt.
• Rips block until done; no queue or scheduling

License

MIT