Feature overview
Out of the box, Cove is simple: install it, scan a folder, browse. This page covers a bit of what's underneath for when your library gets bigger, more detailed, or shared with other people.
Your library
Cove isn't limited to video. Videos, images, galleries, audio, and text all live in the same library, connected by people, studios, tags, groups, and faces.
Global search
When you remember a person, a tag, a title, or a studio but not where it lives, global search takes you straight there from the top bar.
Search and filters
Every media page can be searched, sorted, and filtered by details like tags and people. If there's a filter or sort you run all the time, save it and come back with one click.
Tagging and occurrence tagging
Some tags describe a whole video. Others only fit one performer or when that performer occurs in a video. Cove supports both, so a tag can stay attached to the right person and the right moment instead of vaguely describing the whole file.
Segments and sub-videos
A segment is a time range inside a video that Cove remembers, with its own tags, people, and notes. No duplicate files, no editing software. The part you care about becomes something you can find, play, and reuse.
Groups and compilations
Groups work for collections, playlists, projects, and compilations. They sit on top of your library, so you can organize things any number of ways without ever touching the folders on disk.
Feed browsing
Sometimes you're organizing, and sometimes you're just watching. Feed view moves through your filtered library the way you'd scroll a social app, with all your tags, people, and search still attached.
Vertical browsing
Vertical view shows one item at a time in a full-height page, which suits some media much better than a grid. It's the same local library underneath, with the same search and details.
Watch later, history, and continue watching
Cove remembers what you started, what you opened recently, and what you saved for later, the same way a streaming app would. Your half-watched videos and "save this for tonight" finds stop living in browser tabs.
Metadata and downloaders
Downloaders bring media in, and scrapers and metadata servers identify it and add details. Nothing is applied blindly: you can review changes, and Cove records where each detail came from.
Facial recognition
Cove includes facial recognition that identifies the unknown performers in your content. It finds faces across your videos and images, groups each person's appearances together, and suggests which performer they are so you can confirm with a click — and the facial recognition extension is free to use.
Users, roles, and permissions
Everyone on your network can have their own account instead of sharing one login. Roles, permissions, and content rules control what each person can see and do, and share links let someone view selected content with no account at all.
Themes and customization
Cove can look quiet, neon, glassy, high-contrast, or cinematic without you writing any CSS. Pick from 20 built-in themes, and install or build more through extensions.
Default 
Dark Midnight 
Dark Emerald 
Dark Rose 
Copper Noir 
Golden Hour 
Signal Dark 
Liquid Glass 
Sunset Gradient 
Cyberpunk 
Deep Space 
Synthwave 
Ember 
Cinema Dark 
Dark Ocean 
Rainbow Extensions
The extension system goes well past one small plugin hook. Extensions can add new pages, background jobs, settings, APIs, themes, scrapers, and downloaders, and you can see what each one does before enabling it.
Multiple libraries
The instance manager creates, starts, and switches between fully separate Cove libraries. Keep one for private use and one for sharing, or spin one up just for testing, without juggling the setup yourself.
Speed and scale
Cove is built for libraries that stop being small. Search and filtering stay responsive, and preview and thumbnail generation can use your graphics card instead of grinding on the CPU.