Overview#

Learn the high-level architecture of a Flixclusive provider.

What makes a provider?#

At its core, a provider in Flixclusive consists of:

1) Provider entry class#

The entry class is your provider’s main class. It must:

• Extend ProviderPlugin
• Be annotated with @FlixclusiveProvider

ProviderPlugin is responsible for exposing capability APIs via getters such as:

• getCatalogApi(context)
• getSearchApi(context)
• getMetadataApi(context)
• getMediaLinkApi(context)
• getCrossMatchApi(context)
• getTrackerApi(context)

2) Provider metadata (generated by Gradle)#

Provider identity + presentation data is represented by:

• ProviderMetadata (formerly ProviderData)
• ProviderManifest (runtime manifest)

These are generated from your flxProvider { ... } configuration in Gradle.

3) Capability APIs (recommended)#

Instead of a single monolithic API class, modern providers implement focused capability contracts:

• CatalogProviderApi
• SearchProviderApi
• MetadataProviderApi
• MediaLinkProviderApi
• CrossMatchProviderApi
• TrackerProviderApi

These two components work together seamlessly to create a complete provider experience. While the API handles the how of content delivery, the ProviderData manages the what and who of your provider.

How they work together#

Think of it this way:

• ProviderPlugin is the entry point the app loads.
• Capability APIs are the “engines” that do the work (search, catalogs, metadata, links, etc.).
• ProviderMetadata / ProviderManifest describe the provider (name, id, version, repository, etc.).