Sonarr + Radarr

intermediate

Automated TV show and movie download management.

Overview

Sonarr is a PVR (Personal Video Recorder) application for Usenet and BitTorrent users that automatically monitors RSS feeds for new TV show episodes, downloading and organizing them with intelligent renaming and quality management. Originally forked from Drone in 2014, Sonarr has become the gold standard for automated television content management, offering sophisticated monitoring capabilities, failed download handling, and extensive integration with popular media servers like Plex and Jellyfin. Radarr serves as Sonarr's movie-focused counterpart, providing identical functionality but optimized for film collection management, including integration with movie databases like IMDb and Trakt for wishlist automation. This dual-application stack creates a comprehensive automated media acquisition system where Sonarr handles episodic content while Radarr manages movie downloads. Both applications share the same codebase foundation and user interface paradigms, making them natural companions that can utilize shared download clients, indexers, and media storage locations. The combination eliminates manual searching and downloading by automatically monitoring release groups, applying quality filters, and organizing content according to established naming conventions that media servers can parse effectively. Home media enthusiasts, cord-cutters, and anyone maintaining substantial digital libraries will find this pairing invaluable for reducing manual intervention in content acquisition. The stack particularly benefits users with Usenet or private torrent access who want professional-grade automation without the complexity of enterprise solutions, offering the perfect balance between powerful features and user-friendly operation for personal media server environments.

Key Features

Automatic episode and movie monitoring with RSS feed integration
Quality profile management with preferred release groups and formats
Failed download handling with automatic re-queuing and blacklisting
Calendar view showing upcoming releases and airing schedules
Manual search capabilities with torrent and NZB preview
Metadata fetching from TVDB, TMDb, and IMDb with poster artwork
Multi-indexer support with Jackett and Prowlarr synchronization
Custom naming templates for organized media library structure

Common Use Cases

1Home media server automation for Plex or Jellyfin libraries
2Cord-cutting households wanting automatic content acquisition
3Private torrent community members seeking efficient ratio management
4Usenet subscribers requiring automated NZB processing workflows
5Multi-user family environments with diverse viewing preferences
6Media enthusiasts maintaining 4K and high-quality release collections
7Remote media management for users accessing content while traveling

Prerequisites

Minimum 1GB RAM allocation for both containers during peak processing
Access to Usenet providers or torrent indexers for content sources
Download client like qBittorrent, Deluge, or SABnzbd properly configured
Properly structured media directories with appropriate permissions (PUID/PGID)
Available ports 8989 and 7878 for web interface access
Understanding of quality profiles and release group preferences

For development & testing. Review security settings, change default credentials, and test thoroughly before production use. See Terms

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  sonarr: 
3    image: linuxserver/sonarr:latest
4    container_name: sonarr
5    restart: unless-stopped
6    environment: 
7      PUID: 1000
8      PGID: 1000
9      TZ: UTC
10    volumes: 
11      - sonarr_config:/config
12      - /path/to/tv:/tv
13      - /path/to/downloads:/downloads
14    ports: 
15      - "8989:8989"
16    networks: 
17      - arr
18
19  radarr: 
20    image: linuxserver/radarr:latest
21    container_name: radarr
22    restart: unless-stopped
23    environment: 
24      PUID: 1000
25      PGID: 1000
26      TZ: UTC
27    volumes: 
28      - radarr_config:/config
29      - /path/to/movies:/movies
30      - /path/to/downloads:/downloads
31    ports: 
32      - "7878:7878"
33    networks: 
34      - arr
35
36volumes: 
37  sonarr_config: 
38  radarr_config: 
39
40networks: 
41  arr: 
42    driver: bridge

.env Template

.env

1# Configure your media and download paths

Usage Notes

1Docs: https://wiki.servarr.com/sonarr and https://wiki.servarr.com/radarr
2Sonarr at http://localhost:8989 (TV), Radarr at http://localhost:7878 (Movies)
3Add indexers via Settings > Indexers (Prowlarr can sync across *arr apps)
4Configure download client: Settings > Download Clients (qBittorrent, SABnzbd)
5Set root folders to match your media library structure
6Use profiles to set quality preferences (1080p, 4K, etc.)

Individual Services(2 services)

Copy individual services to mix and match with your existing compose files.

sonarr

sonarr:
  image: linuxserver/sonarr:latest
  container_name: sonarr
  restart: unless-stopped
  environment:
    PUID: 1000
    PGID: 1000
    TZ: UTC
  volumes:
    - sonarr_config:/config
    - /path/to/tv:/tv
    - /path/to/downloads:/downloads
  ports:
    - "8989:8989"
  networks:
    - arr

radarr

radarr:
  image: linuxserver/radarr:latest
  container_name: radarr
  restart: unless-stopped
  environment:
    PUID: 1000
    PGID: 1000
    TZ: UTC
  volumes:
    - radarr_config:/config
    - /path/to/movies:/movies
    - /path/to/downloads:/downloads
  ports:
    - "7878:7878"
  networks:
    - arr

Quick Start

terminal

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  sonarr:
5    image: linuxserver/sonarr:latest
6    container_name: sonarr
7    restart: unless-stopped
8    environment:
9      PUID: 1000
10      PGID: 1000
11      TZ: UTC
12    volumes:
13      - sonarr_config:/config
14      - /path/to/tv:/tv
15      - /path/to/downloads:/downloads
16    ports:
17      - "8989:8989"
18    networks:
19      - arr
20
21  radarr:
22    image: linuxserver/radarr:latest
23    container_name: radarr
24    restart: unless-stopped
25    environment:
26      PUID: 1000
27      PGID: 1000
28      TZ: UTC
29    volumes:
30      - radarr_config:/config
31      - /path/to/movies:/movies
32      - /path/to/downloads:/downloads
33    ports:
34      - "7878:7878"
35    networks:
36      - arr
37
38volumes:
39  sonarr_config:
40  radarr_config:
41
42networks:
43  arr:
44    driver: bridge
45EOF
46
47# 2. Create the .env file
48cat > .env << 'EOF'
49# Configure your media and download paths
50EOF
51
52# 3. Start the services
53docker compose up -d
54
55# 4. View logs
56docker compose logs -f

One-Liner

Run this command to download and set up the recipe in one step:

terminal

1curl -fsSL https://docker.recipes/api/recipes/sonarr-radarr/run | bash

Troubleshooting

Import failed - Path does not exist or is not accessible: Verify volume mounts match between Sonarr/Radarr and download client container paths
No indexers available, add at least one indexer: Configure indexers in Settings > Indexers or set up Prowlarr for automatic synchronization
Unable to connect to download client: Ensure download client container is on same Docker network and using container name as hostname
Movies/shows not moving from downloads folder: Check that root folder paths are correctly mapped and file permissions allow container access
Health check warnings about mono or sqlite: Update to latest LinuxServer.io image versions which include optimized runtime dependencies
Calendar not loading or showing gaps: Verify TVDB/TMDb API connectivity and refresh series metadata in Mass Editor

Community Notes

Loading notes...

Download Recipe Kit

Get all files in a ready-to-deploy package

Includes docker-compose.yml, .env template, README, and license

Components

sonarrradarr

Related Recipes

Ad Space

Shortcuts: C CopyF FavoriteD Download