---
type: reference
title: Prowlarr
description: "Indexer management for the *arr stack: feed routes, the sync model, the API surface, and verified live gotchas."
tags: [prowlarr, arr-stack, frankbook-pro]
timestamp: 2026-09-03T00:00:00Z
---

# Prowlarr

Prowlarr is the indexer management layer for the *arr stack. It hosts the
indexer definitions and exposes them as Torznab feeds and downloads;
Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, and Readarr query those feeds and receive results.

**Host:** FrankBook-Pro (podman machine) — **Access:** direct port `9696` (no
reverse-proxy vhost; the *arr stack is exempt by construction from the Anubis
guard chain) — **Docs:** https://wiki.servarr.com/prowlarr

## Facts

| Item | Value |
|------|-------|
| Image | `lscr.io/linuxserver/prowlarr:latest` (runs v2.5.2 line) |
| Port | 9696 (host) → 9696 (container) |
| Env | `PUID=0`, `PGID=0`, `TZ=America/Los_Angeles`, `UMASK_SET=022` |
| Config root | `/Volumes/COMPLETE/prowlarr-data:/config` |
| Min RAM | 256 MB |
| Auth | Forms (web UI) + API key (`/api/v1/...` and feed routes) |

## Deployment (current)

Quadlet unit `prowlarr.container` from this repo
(`frankbook-pro/prowlarr/quadlet/`), installed inside the podman machine at
`/home/core/.config/containers/systemd/prowlarr.service` by the frankbook-pro
handler in `scripts/deploy-remote.sh`:

```ini
[Container]
ContainerName=prowlarr
Image=lscr.io/linuxserver/prowlarr:latest
Environment=PUID=0
Environment=PGID=0
Environment=TZ=America/Los_Angeles
Environment=UMASK_SET=022
Volume=/Volumes/COMPLETE/prowlarr-data:/config
PublishPort=9696:9696

[Service]
TimeoutStartSec=900
Restart=always
```

## Live wiring (verified end-to-end 2026-08-30)

Indexer queries flow **through** Prowlarr; a grab hands off to the querying
app's own qBittorrent download client. Feeds are per-indexer:

```
http://prowlarr:9696/{indexerId}/api?apikey={GLOBAL_KEY}&t=caps|search|tvsearch|movie|music|book&...
http://prowlarr:9696/{indexerId}/download?link=...&file=...   (torrent handoff)
```

| App | Indexer row | Prowlarr id | Categories | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radarr | Prowlarr-YTS | 7 | [2000] | ✅ grabbed + imported 2160p Dark Knight 2026-08-30 |
| Sonarr | Prowlarr-Nyaa | 4 | [5000] | ✅ connection validated (202) |
| Lidarr | Prowlarr-Nyaa | 4 | [3000] | ✅ connection validated (202) |
| Readarr | Prowlarr-Byrutor | 3 | [7000] | indexer valid; download client parked |

The global API key is in `config.xml` (`<ApiKey>`); per-application keys are
only used by Prowlarr's own sync calls, NOT by the feeds. The arr download
clients authenticate to qBittorrent with the permanent WebUI password stored
in `/home/dank/.qbpass` (mode 600, owner `dank`) on Dankserver —
[[qBittorrent]] for why that password must be pinned in the conf file.

**Readarr caveat:** Readarr is abandoned upstream; its qBittorrent client
cannot authenticate against newer qB Web-API versions (`Authentication
failure` on the connection test while Sonarr/Lidarr/Radarr pass with the same
credentials — root cause: qB ≥ 5's 204 empty-body login success, fixed fleet-
wide by pinning qB to 4.6.7). The books pipeline is parked pending a Readarr
successor; the indexer row itself is healthy.

## Gotchas (verified live 2026-08-30)

- **The feed route is `/{indexerId}/api`.** There is no `/torznab/{id}/feed`
  — that path (and any other unmatched path) hits the Forms-auth catch-all
  and gets `302 → /login?returnUrl=…`. An arr following the redirect parses
  the login HTML and fails with a cryptic
  `'/' is an unexpected token … Line 54` XML error that looks like an auth
  problem. It is a path typo. Source: `NewznabController`
  (`[HttpGet("{id:int}/api")]` + absolute
  `/api/v1/indexer/{id}/newznab`).
- **The arr's Torznab joiner is `TrimEnd(baseUrl,'/') + apiPath` with NO
  separator.** `baseUrl="…/7/" + apiPath="api"` silently becomes `…/7api`.
  Either keep the leading slash on `apiPath` (`"/api"`) or end the baseUrl
  with `/api`.
- Categories in the indexer row must be a subset of what the feed's `caps`
  advertises; extras log "does not support the following categories" and
  some feeds reject them.
- **A freshly created indexer row defaults to all-off.** If `enableRss`
  `enableAutomaticSearch`, or `enableInteractiveSearch` aren't set, the
  app logs `Searching indexers for [X]. 0 active indexers` (Lidarr,
  verified). Search proves TV + music chains 2026-08-30: Sonarr returned
  76 live releases for an anime term, Lidarr 18 for YOASOBI – THE BOOK,
  all via the Prowlarr-Nyaa feed.
- The v1 API collection is `/api/v1/applications` (not `/api/v1/app`)
  GET responses carry `fields: []` — real settings values live in
  `prowlarr.db` → `Applications.Settings` JSON (read-only inspection).
- Instance name/`InstanceName=Prowlarr` in `config.xml` does NOT prefix the
  API/feed routes on this build (they answer at root; the `/Prowlarr/...`
  prefix 302s to the SPA).
- **Application auto-sync model (v2):** Applications are first-class rows in
  the `Applications` table; each of the four app rows (sonarr/radarr/lidarr/
  readarr) carries the real baseUrl+apiKey with `SyncLevel=FullSync`. The
  earlier v1-era failure where `POST /api/v1/applications/test` threw
  `Unable to cast object of type 'NzbDrone.Core.Thing…'` (v1 could not
  deserialize Radarr 6.3's newer response types) is historical — it was the
  reason the manual Torznab rows were created in the first place.
- Prowlarr runs `AuthenticationMethod=Forms` + `AuthenticationRequired=Enabled`
  healthily — the DryIoc crash combo was `None`+`Enabled` only (see
  [[radarr]] auth notes).

## See Also

- [[ARR-Stack]] — full *arr stack documentation
- [[Radarr]] · [[Sonarr]] · [[Lidarr]] · [[Readarr]] · [[qBittorrent]]