Linking TVmaze as a source
This source is currently in alpha. The interface and available tables may change.
The TVmaze connector syncs the TVmaze TV show catalog – shows, people (cast and crew), and their last-updated timestamps – into PostHog.
Prerequisites
None. TVmaze exposes a free public API, so no account, API key, or other credentials are needed.
TVmaze data is licensed CC BY-SA, which requires attribution to TVmaze and share-alike distribution. Make sure your use of the data complies with the license.
Adding a data source
- In PostHog, go to the Sources tab of the data pipeline section.
- Click + New source and click Link next to this source.
- Enter your credentials (see Configuration below) and click Next.
- Select the tables you want to sync, choose a sync method and frequency, then click Import.
Once the syncs are complete, you can start querying this data in PostHog.
TVmaze needs no credentials – just select the tables you want to sync.
Sync modes
Each table can be synced in one of several modes, depending on what the source supports:
- Webhook (when available) – the source pushes changes to PostHog in real time. Fastest freshness, lowest ongoing cost, and the only mode that reliably captures updates and deletes.
- Incremental – only new or updated rows are synced on each run, using a cursor field (such as an
updated_attimestamp). Cheaper than a full refresh, but deletes aren't captured. - Append only – new rows are appended using a cursor field; existing rows are never updated. Ideal for immutable, append-only tables like event logs.
- Full refresh – the whole table is reloaded on every sync. Use it when a table has no reliable cursor or when you need deletions reflected.
See sync methods for a full explanation of how each mode works and how to choose between them.
TVmaze has no server-side change filter, so every table syncs as a full refresh. The show_updates and person_updates tables hold a last-updated timestamp per record, which you can query to see what changed between syncs.
Configuration
Supported tables
| Table | Description | Sync method | Incremental field | Primary key |
|---|---|---|---|---|
shows | Every TV show in the TVmaze database, from the paginated show index. | Full refresh | — | — |
people | Every person (cast and crew) in the TVmaze database, from the paginated person index. | Full refresh | — | — |
show_updates | Last-modified timestamp for every show, useful to detect which shows changed between syncs. | Full refresh | — | — |
person_updates | Last-modified timestamp for every person, useful to detect which people changed between syncs. | Full refresh | — | — |
The connector doesn't sync per-show child resources like episodes, seasons, or cast: TVmaze allows around 20 requests per 10 seconds, so fetching them for the full catalog of tens of thousands of shows isn't practical.
Troubleshooting
If your sync is failing or data looks wrong, see the Data warehouse troubleshooting guide. If that doesn't help, contact support – we're happy to help.