Frank
8212d4451a
Mechanical identity rename across the knowledge base, AGENTS.md, README, the
hermes config example, and homepage services.json. No behavior change; served
aliases on the LLM endpoints change with the deploy of commit 69f87c8.
151 lines
8.3 KiB
Markdown
151 lines
8.3 KiB
Markdown
---
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type: reference
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title: *arr Stack
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description: The *arr automation stack (Prowlarr, Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, Readarr, qBittorrent) on FrankBook-Pro — topology, wiring, auth posture, and gotchas.
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tags: [arr-stack, prowlarr, sonarr, radarr, lidarr, readarr, qbittorrent, frankbook-pro]
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timestamp: 2026-09-03T00:00:00Z
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---
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# *arr Stack
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The *arr suite is a collection of automated media management tools for Usenet
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and BitTorrent. The stack runs on **FrankBook-Pro** — the Mac mini that fronts
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this household's downloads — as quadlet units inside its podman machine, not on
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Dankserver. It provides automatic downloading and library management that
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Copyparty alone does not cover: quality profile enforcement, series/movie
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discovery, metadata enrichment, and automated file organization.
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The core chain is: **Prowlarr** (indexer API aggregator) →
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**Sonarr/Radarr/Lidarr/Readarr** (media-specific managers) → **qBittorrent**
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(download client, sharing the [[Gluetun]] WireGuard tunnel netns) →
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**Jellyfin** (media server scan → auto-refresh).
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## Service Overview
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| Service | Role | Image | Port | Min RAM |
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|---------|------|-------|------|---------|
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| Prowlarr | Indexer management | `lscr.io/linuxserver/prowlarr:latest` | 9696 | 256 MB |
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| Radarr | Movie management | `lscr.io/linuxserver/radarr:latest` | 7878 | 512 MB |
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| Sonarr | TV show management | `lscr.io/linuxserver/sonarr:latest` | 8989 | 512 MB |
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| Lidarr | Music management | `lscr.io/linuxserver/lidarr:latest` | 8686 | 256 MB |
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| Readarr | Ebook/audiobook management | `lscr.io/linuxserver/readarr:amd64-1.0.980` (pinned — LSIO ships no untagged `latest` for readarr) | 8787 | 256 MB |
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| qBittorrent | Torrent download client | `lscr.io/linuxserver/qbittorrent:4.6.7` (pinned; see [[qBittorrent]]) | 8080 (published by the gluetun unit) | 512 MB |
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Jackett and Whisparr were evaluated as optional extras but never deployed
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(no unit, no vhost, no live container).
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## Deployment shape (current)
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Each service is a quadlet `.container` unit in this repo under
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`frankbook-pro/<svc>/quadlet/`, installed inside the podman machine at
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`/home/core/.config/containers/systemd/<svc>.service` by the frankbook-pro
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handler in `scripts/deploy-remote.sh`. Every unit runs with
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`PUID=0 PGID=0 TZ=America/Los_Angeles UMASK_SET=022`, mounts its config root at
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`/Volumes/COMPLETE/<svc>-data:/config`, publishes its API port on the host, and
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runs `Restart=always` with `TimeoutStartSec=900`.
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qBittorrent is special: it shares the [[Gluetun]] container's network namespace
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(`Network=gluetun.container`) so torrent egress never touches the residential
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IP. A netns-sharer publishes no ports of its own — qB's WebUI (8080) and
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BitTorrent port (6881 TCP+UDP) are published on the gluetun unit instead.
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## Historical design-era compose (retired)
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The original design deployed the stack on Dankserver via
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`dankserver/compose.yaml` with `/opt/<svc>/config` data roots and
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`TZ=America/New_York`. That layout is retired; `dankserver/compose.yaml` is
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kept as reference only. Reality (unit files above) wins: data roots are the
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Mac's `/Volumes/COMPLETE` (completed media) and `/Volumes/INCOMPLETE`
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(in-flight downloads) volumes, mounted into qB at identical paths, and every
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unit runs `TZ=America/Los_Angeles`.
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## Access / auth posture
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There is **no Caddy vhost for any arr app** — the *arr stack is exempt by
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construction from the Anubis guard chain (its own auth). The stack is reached
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directly by IP:port on the LAN (`http://<frankbook-pro>:8989` etc.).
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Auth-config history (verified live 2026-08-29): all five arrs shipped with
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`AuthenticationMethod=None` **plus** `AuthenticationRequired=Enabled`. On the
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v1 (.NET) apps that combo is self-contradictory — UI Save is permanently
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disabled and any settings save throws `DryIoc.ScopedItemException` inside
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`AuthorizationMiddleware` (500 sprawl on every page after restart). The valid
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representation of "no auth" in v1 is **absence of the `<AuthenticationRequired>`
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key**, not the literal string `Disabled` — readarr's config (key absent) booted
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clean while its three siblings (key=`Disabled`) 500-sprawled, which is how it
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was caught. Fix applied live: key deleted on sonarr/radarr/lidarr/prowlarr,
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containers restarted, all five verified serving. Posture = zero-auth arrs on
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LAN and WAN; the Anubis wall guards homepage/search/hermes/prometheus/romm/files
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but **not** the arrs — first-account-wins is the current race condition if that
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ever flips to `External` auth (needs an IdP first; auth method choice remains an
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operator decision).
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## Chain wiring (verified live 2026-08-30)
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The download chain is wired and test-first verified: **indexers → Prowlarr →
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per-arr qBittorrent clients (category = app name) → import**.
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- qB webUI auth is ON (`admin` + generated password; verify before writing it
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into any config — it was generated at first boot, not a default).
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- Per-arr QBittorrent download clients exist on sonarr/radarr/lidarr
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(enabled) and readarr (**parked**: its qB proxy fails auth live even with
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correct creds — known defect of the abandoned upstream; do not enable until
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the image changes). Each was **tested before enabling**; failures stay parked
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with a reason, never enabled blind.
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- Prowlarr runs v2.5.2 where apps are first-class rows (`Applications` table):
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four Application rows (sonarr/radarr/lidarr/readarr) now carry each arr's
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real baseUrl+apiKey with `SyncLevel=FullSync`. Before this, the table was
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empty and every sync attempt threw `NullConfig` in `GetIndexerMappings()` —
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visible in `podman logs prowlarr`, not in any UI.
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- Indexers are **test-before-enable**: EZTV and 1337x stay disabled with reason
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"blocked by CloudFlare Protection" (this host's egress ASN is CF-blocked at
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those trackers); Nyaa.si, sukebei, RuTor, Byrutor, YTS passed live tests and
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are enabled. A failed test = parked with reason, never enabled blind.
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- Prowlarr v2 sync model: indexers stay in Prowlarr; arrs search *through* it
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and hand off to their own qB download client (category routing). Mappings
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materialize at grab time — zero mappings right after wiring is expected,
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not a fault.
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## Disk layout (current)
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```
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/Volumes/COMPLETE <- completed-media volume (Mac volume)
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├── sonarr-data:/config <- per-app config roots, one per unit
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├── radarr-data:/config
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├── lidarr-data:/config
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├── readarr-data:/config
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├── qbittorrent-data:/config
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└── <movie/tv/music/books roots> <- arr import roots live here
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/Volumes/INCOMPLETE <- qB in-flight downloads (same path inside qB)
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```
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qB mounts both volumes at their identical host paths
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(`Volume=/Volumes/COMPLETE:/Volumes/COMPLETE`,
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`Volume=/Volumes/INCOMPLETE:/Volumes/INCOMPLETE`), so a category's download path
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is the same string on every container that touches it — no remapping between
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download and import.
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## Gotchas
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- **Timezone:** every unit runs `TZ=America/Los_Angeles`; Sonarr's scheduler is timezone-sensitive — keep them uniform.
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- **File permissions:** `UMASK_SET=022` on qBittorrent; arr apps run PUID=0 so they can read/move qB downloads.
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- **Network conflicts:** *arr apps use many ports. On the machine VM, only the API ports (8989/7878/8686/8787/9696) and gluetun's published 8080 + 6881 are host-published; netns-sharers (qB) publish none of their own.
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- **Prowlarr API key rotation:** If rotated, update it in every arr app (`Applications` table rows carry the real keys).
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- **qBittorrent WebUI password:** generated at first boot, not a default — persist it via the PBKDF2 conf recipe in [[qBittorrent]] before any restart.
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- **Readarr stability:** abandoned upstream (retired May 2026); its qB download client is parked pending a successor image. Do not rely on it for mission-critical collections.
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## Best Practices
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1. Use tags to route content to specific download clients or categories.
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2. Enable the Blocklist in arr apps to prevent re-downloading failed torrents.
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3. Set download limits in qBittorrent to avoid bandwidth saturation.
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4. Back up arr configs regularly (they are small SQLite DBs + JSON) — each lives at `/Volumes/COMPLETE/<svc>-data/config`.
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5. Monitor Prowlarr indexer health — broken indexers hide new content.
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6. Start with default quality profiles. Add custom formats gradually.
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## See Also
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- [[Sonarr]] · [[Radarr]] · [[Lidarr]] · [[Readarr]] · [[Prowlarr]] · [[qBittorrent]] — per-service pages
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- [[Jellyfin]] — media server that consumes *arr downloads
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- [[Copyparty]] — alternative file viewer
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