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Add the First Provider

A provider is an upstream source you configure — a playlist URL, a local file, or an Xtream Codes account. See Concepts > Providers for how providers relate to profiles and published output.

Open the web UI, go to Providers, and select Add Provider. The dialog has four tabs: From URL, From File, Xtream Codes, and Import.

URL or file playlist — no extra setup

On From URL, enter a name and an http:// or https:// playlist URL. On From File, enter a name and use Browse to select an .m3u or .m3u8 file on the server. Both tabs also offer an optional XMLTV URL.

To keep credentials out of the database, put them in /config/.env and reference them with %VAR_NAME% placeholders in the URL:

# /config/.env
MY_PASSWORD=supersecret

http://my.server:8080/get.php?username=alice&password=%MY_PASSWORD%

Optional quick test with IPTV.org

If you want to evaluate M3Undle before entering provider credentials, IPTV.org publishes playlists of publicly available streams that require no account. They are useful for confirming that M3Undle can fetch a remote playlist, import channels, build a lineup, and proxy playback.

Choose a smaller playlist for your country, language, category, or region from the official IPTV.org playlist directory. For example, the United States country playlist is:

https://iptv-org.github.io/iptv/countries/us.m3u

In M3Undle:

  1. Open Providers, select Add Provider, then choose From URL.
  2. Enter IPTV.org test as the name and paste the selected playlist URL.
  3. Add the provider and wait for its first refresh to finish.
  4. Continue to Create the First Lineup/Profile, map a few channels, and select Build Output.
  5. Play a published channel to exercise the complete path through M3Undle.

Avoid the global index.m3u playlist for a first test; a smaller playlist imports faster and is easier to explore. IPTV.org is an independent third-party project, not part of M3Undle. Individual public streams may be offline, geo-blocked, intermittent, or not available 24/7, so one failed channel does not necessarily indicate a problem with your installation.

Xtream Codes — requires an encryption key

Xtream Codes providers store the password encrypted in the database (AES-256-GCM), which requires M3UNDLE_ENCRYPTION_KEY to be set (see Install with Docker).

If you paste an M3U URL that happens to embed Xtream-style credentials, M3Undle can detect this automatically and offer to upgrade the provider to native Xtream mode without re-entering credentials.

Import from config.yaml

If you have a config.yaml in M3UNDLE_CONFIG_DIR (normally /config in the Docker setup), the Import tab lists providers discovered in that file. Select an existing provider from the list to import it.

What happens after you add a provider

  • M3Undle auto-creates a profile with the same name, so the provider is immediately functional without extra steps.
  • Provider groups appear as unmapped until you decide how they should be handled. Nothing publishes until channels are mapped and you build the output. See Build a Lineup.
  • Optional settings on the provider include a per-provider stream limit, a fetch timeout, and a relay policy for how M3Undle handles unstable upstreams — most installs can leave these at their defaults for now.

Next step

Create the First Lineup/Profile →