Administration

Instance operators manage the catalog — games, disc images, manuals — through two surfaces:

• The PSflix admin app at /admin.html — purpose-built screens for uploading games and documents.
• The PocketBase admin UI at /_/ — the full backend: every collection, record, file, user, and setting.

Both sign in with the superuser account created during hosting setup. A superuser is not a player account — it bypasses all access rules, so treat its credentials accordingly.

Adding games

Open /admin.html and go to Upload in the sidebar. The flow is file-first with a review step:

1. Drop your disc images into the dropzone — strictly CHD files (.chd), see Creating CHD images.
2. Identification — the serial number is detected in the browser, and the entry is enriched with metadata and cover artwork.
3. Review — check the identified title, metadata, and artwork before anything is uploaded. Multi-disc games are handled as one game with several discs.
4. Upload — progress is shown per file, followed by a done summary.

Only CHD images are accepted

PSflix's streaming emulator reads CHD v5 images. BIN/CUE, ISO, and other formats are rejected at upload — convert first (below). This is what makes streaming with caching possible: CHD supports the random-access reads the emulator performs over HTTP.

Creating CHD images

The standard tool is chdman from the MAME project. It converts a cue sheet plus binary image pair:

chdman createcd -i "Game (Europe).cue" -o "Game (Europe).chd"

Requirements and tips:

• You need the .cue sheet and its .bin file(s) together — chdman reads the cue to rebuild tracks (including audio) into the CHD.
• Verify the result: chdman verify -i "Game.chd".
• Keep the CHD (you can discard the cue/bin afterwards); the upload flow does not need them.

Authoritative references:

• MAME — commonly used tools — official chdman documentation
• MAME releases — official binaries for Windows/macOS/Linux
• libretro CHD guide — background on the format and conversions

Be careful with "online CHD converters"

Web-based chdman frontends exist, but converting means uploading your disc image to someone else's server. PSflix is a self-hosted, personal-use project — run conversions locally and keep your discs to yourself.

Adding manuals and strategy guides

Open /admin.html → Documents:

1. Pick the PDF — the queue is file-first, so several documents can be lined up.
2. Assign a game — link the document to its game record.
3. Pick the type — manual (shows as Digital Manual) or guide (shows as Strategy Guide). Multiple guides per game are fine; there is one manual slot per game.
4. Upload — sequential, with an optional replace existing for swapping in a better scan.

Once uploaded, players see the document on the game's detail page — readable in-app and downloadable.

Catalog housekeeping

Everything else happens in the PocketBase admin UI at /_/ (see PocketBase's docs — the admin UI and collections behave exactly as documented there):

• Edit game and disc records — titles, descriptions, region (NTSC-U, NTSC-J, PAL), languages/features (JSON fields), screenshots (up to 10 per game). The schema in pb_schema.json (repo root) is the source of truth for what exists.
• Upload the BIOS — open the consoles collection, edit the SCPH1001 record, and attach the BIOS file (SCPH1001.BIN, max 5 MB) to the bios field. Without it, no game boots.
• Manage player accounts — the users collection; reset or remove accounts as needed.
• Backups & logs — Settings → Backups (schedule them; pb_data is the only state) and the request log viewer.

Mind the schema

games.first_disc_serial is the unique natural key for a title, and (game, index) is unique per disc — the UI relies on both. Prefer the Upload flow for adding games; use /_/ for corrections.