Clarify or fix default IP usage

[FoxxMD]

Almost all of the examples in the readme as well as the API Reference documentation show code examples like

const plexAPI = new PlexAPI({
  accessToken: "<YOUR_API_KEY_HERE>",
  xPlexClientIdentifier: "gcgzw5rz2xovp84b4vha3a40",
});

which implies that it is possible to use this library without specifying a server url. This is somewhat reinforced by the server index being optional.

However, it looks like the actual client library defaults to using a private IP address, 10.10.10.47, when no server url is provided. This leads to the same error shown in #20 if using the client code as shown in all examples because that IP address obviously isn't used by everyone.

Please let me know if this address is supposed to be special to Plex somehow and I just don't understand.

Otherwise, it seems like the documentation should specify that serverURL always needs to be specified and, ideally, that it is NOT optional when initializing a new client.

[JasonLandbridge]

which implies that it is possible to use this library without specifying a server url.

Yes, there is a difference between the central plex.tv API and the Plex Media Server (the app you install on a server to self-host). In the case of plex.tv, the url is hard-coded and with anything else it requires a server url of where the API is hosted.

However, it looks like the actual client library defaults to using a private IP address, 10.10.10.47, when no server url is provided.

This is purely an example ip and means nothing

Otherwise, it seems like the documentation should specify that serverURL always needs to be specified and, ideally, that it is NOT optional when initializing a new client.

That's the tricky thing, it is not always needed. With plex.tv, no but anything else yes. But this single library handles both use-cases so it's "sometimes" needed.

I do agree more clarification is always welcome. If you can give some specific pointers or clarifications then I will see if I can add it to the documentation

[FoxxMD]

It looks like all of the endpoints that require an actual PMS instance displays a prefix protocol://ip:port on the endpoint info in the documentation

and those that are hardcoded for use with plex.tv do not have this

If it's possible to modify the generated SDK docs to the right hand side so that serverURL is present when the prefix is also present that would go a long way to clarifying which endpoints require a PMS instance.

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It would also be helpful to include this clarification at, before, or in the SDK Example Usage section in the readme. The example usage code will fail with connection/timeout error since no serverURL is defined. (Also, I think the example is outdated since it does not show xPlexClientIdentifier ?) As a new user I would expect the example (minimal) usage to work if I substitute the shown variable and since there is no more info shown in the example I'd be at a lost as to why it didn't.

---

If possible it would also be good to get rid of the default IP address in the config so that if a user tries to use a PMS-instance required endpoint without a serverURL they will get an error about host missing or something else other than "connection/timeout error" since that error implies it could work but that's misleading.

The default address makes on-boarding confusing if the user hasn't fully read the docs -- and even then its only mentioned once in the entire readme and zero times in the generated docs site. They will make an assumption that config is valid because they do not know about the default ip which might lead them to try diagnosing the connection issue without realizing a "valid" IP was provided without their knowledge.

[LukasParke]

Triage update:

• Confirmed this looks like a valid issue: docs/examples imply baseUrl is optional, but client defaults to 10.10.10.47 when none is provided, which causes failures for most users.
• Categorized as bug/documentation mismatch (and question if maintainers intended special Plex behavior).
• Not marking duplicate at triage time (references Is this entire library broken? #20 but reports a distinct root cause around default host behavior).
• Applied labels: bug, documentation, question
• This issue appears stale (225 days since last activity).

Could you confirm whether this is still reproducible with the latest version and, if possible, share a minimal repro/config? If no update is provided, maintainers may close this as stale.

[FoxxMD]

I'll be able to confirm this by next week