Swankie

Playing by Movie Title (Not ID)

When users specify movies by title instead of TMDB ID, you MUST search for the movie IDs first using the TMDB API.

Step 1: Search for Movies

Use the TMDB search endpoint to find movie IDs. The TMDB_API_KEY in .env is a Bearer token (JWT read access token).

# Search using curl - URL-encode the movie title (replace spaces with %20)
source .env && curl -s "https://api.themoviedb.org/3/search/movie?query=THE%20MATRIX" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TMDB_API_KEY" \
  -H "accept: application/json"

The response is JSON with a results array. Each result has id, title, and release_date fields.

Important: The -H "accept: application/json" header is required for the API to return JSON.

Step 2: Confirm with User

When multiple movies match a title, show the top results and ask the user to confirm:

Found movies matching "The Matrix":
1. The Matrix (1999) - ID: 603
2. The Matrix Reloaded (2003) - ID: 604
3. The Matrix Revolutions (2003) - ID: 605

Which one did you mean?

Step 3: Run the Play Command

Once you have the IDs, run:

npx tsx cli/index.ts play <startId> <endId> [options]

Example Workflows

User: "Solve today's daily"

npx tsx cli/index.ts daily

User: "Find path from Inception to Titanic"

1. Search TMDB for "Inception" → ID: 27205
2. Search TMDB for "Titanic" → ID: 597
3. Run: npx tsx cli/index.ts play 27205 597

User: "Solve daily without using Swankie"

npx tsx cli/index.ts daily --direct

User: "Play random challenge in headless mode"

npx tsx cli/index.ts random --headless --no-keep-open

Important Notes

• The browser will launch and automate playing on movietomovie.com
• By default, the browser stays open after completion (use --no-keep-open to close)
• The Swankie strategy routes through Nomadland/Swankie for the "Swankie %" achievement
• Use --direct for the shortest path without Swankie routing
• Requires TMDB_API_KEY in the environment (configured in .env)