The Slot Editor is Tunarr’s most powerful scheduling tool. Rather than pinning programs to a specific clock time the way Time Slots does, the Slot Editor works with duration-based blocks — you define how long each programming block should be, what show fills it, and in what order slots are chosen. The scheduler then assembles those blocks into a complete channel lineup, adding flex time wherever needed to hit your target pad times. This approach gives you fine-grained control over variety, weighting, ordering, and filler behavior, all from a single editor.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/chrisbenincasa/tunarr/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Slot vs. Time Slot: Key Difference
| Slot Editor | Time Slots | |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduling unit | Duration (e.g., 30 min block) | Start time (e.g., 10:00 AM) |
| Order | Random or sequential, chosen by the scheduler | Strictly chronological by clock time |
| Best for | Variety-focused, flexible programming | Recreating a traditional TV program guide |
Opening the Slot Editor
Navigate to your channel, click Tools, then select Slots Editor.Configuring Individual Slots
Each slot is defined by a small set of parameters that together describe what plays, for how long, and in what order.Slot Length
When creating a programming slot, you choose between two length modes:Fixed Length
Fixed Length
The slot runs for an exact wall-clock duration (e.g., exactly 30 minutes). If the assigned content ends before the slot is full, Tunarr adds flex time to fill the remainder, using your configured Flex Style setting.
Dynamic Length
Dynamic Length
The slot runs for an exact count of programs (e.g., exactly 3 episodes). The total duration varies depending on the runtime of the episodes chosen. Dynamic slots are useful when you care more about episode count than clock alignment.
Content and Ordering
After setting the length, you assign content to the slot — a TV show, a movie pool, a custom show, or a smart collection. For content types that have multiple items (like a TV show), you also choose the ordering mode:| Order Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Next | Episodes are played in sequential episode order |
| Shuffle | Episodes are played in a randomized order |
| Chronological | Episodes are ordered by original air date |
Cooldown
The Cooldown parameter controls how often a slot can be chosen when using Random scheduling mode. A slot with a cooldown will not be selected again until the cooldown period has elapsed since it last played. This prevents the same show from dominating a randomly ordered schedule.Season Exclusion
When creating a Show slot, you can filter which seasons participate in scheduling:- Include Seasons — only schedule episodes from the listed seasons. Leave empty to include all seasons.
- Exclude Seasons — skip episodes from the listed seasons without enumerating every other season manually. Useful for skipping a weak first season.
Creating a Slot Schedule
Add a slot
Click Add Slot. In the dialog, choose your length type (Fixed or Dynamic), set the duration or episode count, and select the content to assign.
Set ordering and cooldown
Choose an order mode for the slot’s content. If you’re using Random slot selection, set a cooldown if you want to limit how frequently this slot can be chosen back-to-back.
Configure per-slot filler
Expand the filler options for the slot. Add one or more filler lists and assign each a filler type. See Filler Types below for what each type does.
Add more slots
Repeat for each show or programming block you want in the schedule. You can add as many slots as you need.
Configure scheduling mode
Choose how slots are selected during schedule generation: Random (uniform or weighted) or Sequential. See Slot Selection Mode below.
Set schedule options
Configure Pad Times, Pad Style, Flex Style, and Days to Precalculate to match your scheduling goals.
Slot Selection Mode
The Slot Choice setting controls how the scheduler picks which slot plays next during schedule generation. This is one of the features that makes the Slot Editor especially powerful.- Random (Uniform)
- Random (Weighted)
- Sequential
Every slot has an equal probability of being chosen for each programming block. As scheduling progresses, no slot is inherently favored over another. Cooldowns still apply.
Schedule Options
Pad Times
Padding slots ensures they always finish at a set of target end times (e.g.,:00 and :30). The scheduler adds flex time to round each slot to the nearest selected pad time. This keeps the overall channel aligned to clock boundaries that feel natural on a TV guide.
Pad Style
Controls how Pad Times is applied:| Style | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Pad Slot | Align slot start times to the pad time. The entire slot is shifted so it begins on a target boundary. |
| Pad Episode | Align individual episode start times within a slot to the pad time. This can generate a significant amount of flex if the pad interval is short relative to episode length. |
Flex Style
Determines where leftover time is placed within a fixed-duration slot:| Style | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Between | Flex time is distributed between videos within the slot |
| End | Flex time is added as a single block at the end of the slot |
Days to Precalculate
Tunarr statically precalculates schedules. This setting controls how many days into the future the schedule is calculated before saving the lineup. Longer precalculation windows mean the guide data extends further, but the schedule is fixed until you regenerate it.Per-Slot Filler Types
Each slot can have its own filler configuration, and each filler list you assign to a slot can have one of the following types:| Filler Type | When It Plays |
|---|---|
| Head | At the beginning of the slot, before any programming |
| Pre | Before each individual program within the slot |
| Post | After each individual program within the slot |
| Tail | At the end of the slot, after all programming |
| Mid | Within a program, at mid-roll break intervals (requires mid-roll configuration) |
| Fallback | During flex time within the slot when other filler doesn’t cover the gap |
The Mid filler type unlocks a mid-roll configuration panel within the slot. See Mid-Roll Breaks for full configuration details.
Slot Linking
By default, every slot is isolated — it maintains its own position in its program list independently of all other slots. If you have two slots for the same show, each starts at episode 1 and advances separately, which can produce duplicate episodes. To coordinate episode progression across slots, link them together using the Link to existing slot control in the slot’s edit dialog. Linked slots form an iteration group and share a single episode iterator. Two link modes are available:| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Continue | Each slot picks up where the last linked slot left off. Every episode plays exactly once before the list wraps. |
| Rerun | Every slot in the group plays the same episode before the group advances. Simulates the same episode airing in multiple slots. |
Linkable Slot Types
| Slot Type | Linkable |
|---|---|
| Movie | ✅ |
| Show | ✅ |
| Custom Show | ✅ |
| Smart Collection | ✅ |
| Filler | ❌ |
| Flex | ❌ |
| Redirect | ❌ |
Helper Tools: Replicate and Consolidate
The Slot Editor workflow often benefits from two utility tools that operate on an already-generated lineup:- Replicate creates copies of the current schedule and appends them in sequence. This is useful as an intermediate step before applying another scheduling tool, effectively extending a short schedule to fill more days before reconfiguring it.
- Consolidate merges contiguous flex and redirect blocks into single spans. After schedule generation, flex time can become fragmented across many small blocks; Consolidate cleans this up into fewer, larger flex entries.
Presets
The Slot Editor includes preset configurations based on your channel’s existing content: Cyclic Shuffle — Schedules one block per program group with a dynamic duration of one program per block. This replicates the behavior of the standalone Cyclic Shuffle tool, and is a good starting point if you want balanced variety across all your shows.Time Slots
Use fixed start times instead of durations for a traditional TV guide feel.
Mid-Roll Breaks
Insert commercial breaks within programs using the Mid filler type.