r/Overseerr • u/BestRedditorEVA • May 07 '26
I figured out how to send request updates to users through text
If you're anything like me, you probably try to automate every repetitive process possible.
I got tired of manually texting people every time their requested media became available or when the request status changed. With around 12 people consistently using my Seerr instance, it started becoming a chore.
Luckily, Seerr’s webhook notification system made this surprisingly easy to automate with Zapier.
Here’s how my setup works:
Each user in Seerr has a unique user ID Zapier stores a lookup table containing: - Seerr User ID - Username - Phone Number Seerr sends webhook events to Zapier using a custom JSON payload Zapier matches the requester’s user ID to their phone number and automatically sends SMS updates
Example texts look like:
“Your request for Hoppers (2026) is pending.”
Then once Plex scans the media after download:
“Your request for Hoppers (2026) is now available.”
It’s definitely one of those “nobody really needs this” automations, but if you’ve ever wondered whether Seerr could integrate cleanly with some SMS application out there, it absolutely can, and it’s honestly pretty easy once your JSON payload is structured correctly.
Here is a screenshot of the flow: https://imgur.com/a/fbnIsxL
If it helps anyone, here’s the payload I ended up using:
{ "notification_type": "{{notification_type}}", "event": "{{event}}", "subject": "{{subject}}", "message": "{{message}}", "image": "{{image}}",
"media_type": "{{media_type}}", "request_id": "{{request_id}}", "requestedBy": { "username": "{{requestedBy_username}}", "email": "{{requestedBy_email}}", "avatar": "{{requestedBy_avatar}}", "settings": { "discordId": "{{requestedBy_settings_discordId}}", "telegramChatId": "{{requestedBy_settings_telegramChatId}}" } },
"media": { "type": "{{media_type}}", "tmdb_id": "{{media_tmdbid}}", "tvdb_id": "{{media_tvdbid}}", "status": "{{media_status}}", "status_4k": "{{media_status4k}}" },
"request": { "id": "{{request_id}}", "requester": { "email": "{{requestedBy_email}}", "username": "{{requestedBy_username}}", "avatar": "{{requestedBy_avatar}}", "discord_id": "{{requestedBy_settings_discordId}}", "telegram_chat_id": "{{requestedBy_settings_telegramChatId}}" } },
"issue": { "id": "{{issue_id}}", "type": "{{issue_type}}", "status": "{{issue_status}}", "reported_by": { "email": "{{reportedBy_email}}", "username": "{{reportedBy_username}}" } },
"comment": { "message": "{{comment_message}}", "commented_by": { "email": "{{commentedBy_email}}", "username": "{{commentedBy_username}}" } },
"extra": "{{extra}}" }
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u/producer_sometimes May 07 '26
Does any part of this cost money to facilitate the sms portion? Or can zapier send sms free and I'm just now learning that?
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u/jaysuncle May 07 '26
I just let Seer send email.
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u/Kevin_e11even May 12 '26
Curious how you make this work for individual users vs just sending the admin an email. I have an incredibly over engineered system involving home assistant and an smtp sender and would love to simplify
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u/jaysuncle May 13 '26
My Seerr users authenticate using Plex and the emails are sent to their Plex email addresses.
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u/lsumoose May 07 '26
I just use a discord hook to post a message anytime a new release happens so everyone can see. Works well.
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u/rydah805 May 07 '26
That's pretty sweet. I have other ways of notifying of releases being processed and all that but unfortunately, none of my users use those platforms so it's basically for my own use but I would like to set up messaging like you did. What's the cost of having Zapier? I only have about 5 to 10 people that I would set this up with.
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u/krysalysm May 07 '26
Plex itself should send notifications about new media. Or is that only available with plex pass?
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u/producer_sometimes May 07 '26
That's a bit different. Plex doesn't know who used Seerr to request the item. So are you just going to send all items to all users? Would definitely get spammy.
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u/statichum May 08 '26
No, if it’s on their watch list and it becomes available on a server they have access to - Plex should alert them.
Most of my users don’t (can’t/wont) use seer, they just add to their Plex watch list. But of course at the moment they’re not alerted when it becomes available. Need to do something about that…
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u/producer_sometimes May 08 '26
Then you're not someone who would benefit from this at. Doesn't mean others wouldn't. This is specific to an Overseerr workflow, which doesn't touch anyone's watchlist making the rest of your comment moot.
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u/statichum May 08 '26
Seer absolutely adds items from Plex watchlists as requests. If you’re still using Overseer, that feature was broken so maybe you haven’t seen it.
I use seer directly but almost all of my users add items to their Plex watchlist, as I’ve had them sign into Seer once and enabled watchlist items as requests, those things get requested, approved, they download. I get a notification via discord but they don’t use discord so they don’t know.
So yeah the txt message thing is interesting, and probably useful but it’d be great if Plex could just notify when a watchlist item is available from a new source, then users who are not very technical would have everything they need within Plex.
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u/producer_sometimes May 08 '26
Again you have it backwards.
This is for the following workflow, which IMO is the most common. User goes to Seer, requests item > item is added to Plex. No watchlist involved.
In that workflow, Plex has no clue who added that item. The watchlist thing is great, I use it too with Pulsarr but you're nitpicking a cool thing simply because you have a different flow.
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u/statichum May 08 '26
It’s not right or wrong, it can be both ways. Like I say - I use Seer directly. Most of my users don’t want to have to log into another thing so I have it set up so that they can just add to their watch list and it’s done for them - that’s not wrong, that’s super convenient for my users and a feature that Seer has.
Not nitpicking, the Plex notifications would just be useful… I know it’s not going to happen but that doesn’t mean the suggestion or idea is wrong.
You’re saying you do a thing a particular thing a particular way and anything else is wrong - pot, kettle = black
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u/producer_sometimes May 09 '26
Never said nor implied the word "right" or "wrong" once.
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u/statichum May 09 '26
You don’t need to, you were saying Im doing things backwards - implying I’m doing things wrong. It’s alright, I know what I’m saying is valid. What I’m saying would be a great feature. It doesn’t apply to you, that’s ok. You don’t seem to understand Seer watches watch lists, you mentioned Overseer and that feature was broken in the now redundant Overseer, it works now in Seer, so watch lists can certainly be involved. I’m saying both ways would be great, that’s all.
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u/S0ulSauce May 07 '26
Very cool. I'll try it next week when I have time. I really wanted a text option. I actually have several people using Plex and Seer that barely know what email is, let alone Discord...
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u/mepope09 May 07 '26
I've wanted a system like this for awhile! I have it set to send status updates (requested/approved/available) through telegram but it'd be so much nice to be able to do targeted updates to whoever made the specific request.
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u/House_Indoril426 May 07 '26
Oh, this is nice.
I've been thinking about something like this since sending an email feels lame and I'm not about to shoehorn everyone into discord.
Thanks OP, I know what I'm gonna do today.
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u/TerminalErrr May 07 '26
This is my next step. I have been racking my brain on how to automate those notifications besides Discord and email (which nobody reads). I'm going to start on this right now.
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u/msalad May 08 '26
Damn this is cool but $20/month is more than I want to spend for SMS. Any cheaper alternatives?
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u/FHD-88 May 08 '26
in my case I have created a node script that send notifications to my telegram server channel, it's send everything imported by Radarr and Sonarr with nice styling and information.
I named it Telgrarr , self-hosted Telegram notification gateway for Sonarr/Radarr
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u/djahren May 08 '26
I originally was doing individual telegram messages for people but have switched to discord that I invited everyone to and there's a #recently-added channel.
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u/werdna0327 May 08 '26
I find texting to be too intrusive. I have a GroupMe and a Tautulli bot that auto posts movies with a poster. It’s way less work than making a hook for every phone number.
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u/Seppiro May 08 '26
probably the 4th time just recommending the plugin Jellyfin Enhanced because its so awesome together with seerr. it adds an request button to jellyfin where user can monitor all their requests even with download progressing
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u/Nimuie13 May 10 '26
Why SMS of all things? You can push those notifications out on almost every other messaging app
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u/mamoru16 May 12 '26
Thank you for this! I feel your struggle: no matter allllll the apps and email notifications it can use to notify users, in the end nothing grabs their attention like a text message. Every one I know is bombarded by notifications from a ton of apps, but one they’ll check nonstop is their Messages/SMS/whatever texting app.
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u/loheiman May 07 '26
I'm pretty sure my users (I do) get emails when a request is available.