iOS Shortcut using DVR Guide Search API

Channels iOS
#1

I am using Shortcuts on iPadOS to call the Channels server guide search API (dvr/guide/search/groups?q=) and check for a list of upcoming TV shows that are not currently available in the guide. The shortcut is scheduled to run once a day, after the guide data has been refreshed. It loops through each show in my list and if a match is found in the guide, it sends me a local push notification to prompt me to setup a season pass. It works pretty well but I have a couple of issues and would like to make improvements:

  1. Is there anyway when calling the API to specify an exact match only? E.g. when I search for “The Traitors”, only match that show and not “The Traitors Uncloaked” too?

  2. Can I specify only to return guide matches with the ‘New’ tag? So that for returning shows, my shortcut only alerts me when a new season is starting. The guide search API only seems to return show or movie details, not specific episode details, so this may not be possible.

  3. Can I tell the API to only return a specific type of content e.g. only TV shows and not Movies.

I understand that I could probably achieve similar results using an advanced pass, but I prefer using season passes and am also enjoying playing around with Shortcuts and Channels DVR,

Many thanks.

#2

The API you're using is not public. It is private and is not supported under any sort of technical support nor.

That being said, as long as you're ok with that and understand that it can change at any time and we won't really help you with it, we're fine with anyone using it to do whatever you want.

  1. No, you'll need to do this on your end if you chose to use this.
  2. Again, no, you'll need to filter the results yourself.
  3. Again, no.

Sorry for the unfortunate answers, but again, the API is private and built for the apps. Maybe one day the apps will need filters like this and it will get those options, but right now it does not.

#3

Thanks, anyway. Unfortunately it’s impossible to filter the results myself because the data returned by the API doesn’t include any indicators about specific episodes, e.g. whether they’re new. It only returns data about the TV show or movie. Perhaps there’s a different API to get the specific episode data once you have the show ID.

If anybody else has figured out how to do this, please let me know. Many thanks.