Start here: the whole thing in order
Everything it takes to go from nothing to watching something, in the order it happens.
Each step links to the page with the detail.
Set aside **about an hour**, most of it waiting. If you have a machine and your accounts
already, it is closer to twenty minutes.
---
What you need before you begin
Three things you buy or sign up for, and nothing else:
1. **A computer that stays on** — a spare PC or a rented server.
2. **A Usenet provider** — a cheap block account is plenty to start.
3. **At least one indexer** — two or three is better.
You also need a free **TMDB key**, which takes two minutes and no money.
Everything else is optional and can be added whenever you feel like it.
---
The order
### 1. Get a machine ready · *15 minutes*
Choose a PC or a VPS, put Ubuntu on it, log in.
→ [Before you install: getting a machine ready](preparing-your-machine.md)
### 2. Run the installer · *10–20 minutes, mostly waiting*
One command. It installs Docker, builds the server, gives you an address that works from
anywhere, and asks you to set an owner password.
→ [The installer, step by step](installer-walkthrough.md)
### 3. Open the dashboard and sign in · *1 minute*
The installer prints the address. Open it in a browser and sign in as the owner.
### 4. Add your three essentials · *10 minutes*
Your Usenet provider, your indexer or indexers, and your TMDB key.
→ [Connections and keys](connections-and-keys.md)
### 5. Tell it where things go · *2 minutes*
Your library folder and your backup folder.
→ [Storage and libraries](storage.md)
### 6. Build your library · *however long it takes*
On **Build Library**, press **Build Film & Series Library**. It reads your sources, matches
what it finds and produces the shelves your television shows. Leave the page; it keeps
working.
→ [Every screen in the dashboard](dashboard-tour.md)
### 7. Pair your television · *2 minutes*
On **Pair Clients**, press **Create pairing code** and enter the code on the television.
→ [Your account, and pairing a television](account-pairing.md)
### 8. Watch something
That is the whole of the required path.
---
Then, whenever you feel like it
None of this is needed to watch. Add them one at a time.
| If you want | Go to |
|---|---|
| Better artwork on the television | **Fanart.tv** key |
| Discover to suggest things | **OpenRouter** key |
| Audiobooks | **Open Library** and a metadata service |
| Music | **Discogs** |
| Comics | **Metron** sign-in |
| Live TV | Your **IPTV** details |
| Separate people in the house | **Profiles** |
| Progress synced with other apps | **History** |
---
The five things people get wrong
Collected from actual setups, in rough order of how much time they cost.
**Starting too wide.** The first library build pulls in everything you point it at. Start
narrow, see it work, then widen. Raising **Minimum TMDB votes** is the single most
effective way to get a library that looks good.
**Quality rules set too strict.** A rule with nothing matching it reports "no sources" on
titles that plainly exist. If a section finds nothing, loosen its quality rule before
suspecting your indexers.
**Indexer budgets left wrong.** Those numbers are how GeekStream avoids getting you
throttled or banned. And watch your **grab** limit, not just your API limit — they are
counted separately, and grabs run out first.
**Expecting the whole library at once.** Building takes time and runs in the background.
It is not stuck.
**Leaving the dashboard open.** Its checks each read your whole library and re-run every
few seconds. If the server seems busy for no reason, close the tab.
---
When something is wrong
1. **Look at the Check strip on that screen.** Most screens carry one, and it names the
specific problem rather than a general complaint. Grey "Normal" findings are not
problems.
2. **Find the symptom in [Troubleshooting](troubleshooting.md).** It is organised by what
you saw, not by what is broken underneath.
3. **If a section finds nothing**, that page has the two tests that tell "your indexers
have nothing" apart from "GeekStream filtered it out" in about thirty seconds.