Lidarr Settings

From Servarr

Lidarr Settings


Media Management

Note: Some of these settings are only visible through 'show advanced' settings which is on the top bar under the search bar


Naming

  • Rename Tracks - If this is toggled off (no check in the box) Lidarr will use the existing file name if renaming is disabled
  • Replace Illegal Characters - If this is toggled off (no check in the box) Lidarr will replace illegal characters.
Example: \ # / $ * < > just to name a few
Standard Track Format

Here you will select the naming convention for the actual audio files

  • Dropdown Box (upper right corner)
    • Left Box - Space Handling
      • Space ( ) - Use spaces in naming (Default)
      • Period (.) - Use periods in lieu of spaces in naming
      • Underscore (_) - Use underscores in lieu of spaces in naming
      • Dash (-) - Use dashes in lieu of spaces in naming
    • Right Box - Case Handling
      • Default Case - Make title uppercase and lowercase (~camelcase) (Default)
      • Uppercase - Make title all uppercase
      • Lowercase - Make title all lowercase
Artist Naming
Input Result
{Artist Name} Artist Name
{Artist CleanName} Artist Name
{Artist NameThe} Artist Name, The
{Artist Disambiguation} Disambiguation
Album
Input Result
{Album Title} Album Title
{Album CleanTitle} Album Title
{Album Disambiguation} Disambiguation
{Album TitleThe} Album Title, The
{Album Type} Album Type
Release Date
Input Result
{Release Year} 2020
Medium
Input Result
{medium:0} 1
{medium:00} 01
Medium Format
Input Result
{Medium Format} CD
Track
Input Result
{track:0} 1
{track:00} 01
Track Title
Input Result
{Track Title} Track Title
{Track CleanTitle} Track Title
Quality
Input Result
{Quality Full} FLAC Proper
{Quality Title} FLAC
Media Info
Input Result
{MediaInfo AudioCodec} FLAC
{MediaInfo AudioBitRate} 320kbps
{MediaInfo AudioSampleRate} 44.1kHz
{MediaInfo AudioChannels} 2.0
{MediaInfo AudioBitsPerSample} 24bit
Other
Input Result
{Release Group} Rls Grp
{Preferred Words} iNTERNAL
  • Preferred words will be the word or words that were the literal matches of any preferred words you have. The above example would be a preferred word of iNTERNAL or similarly a preferred word of /\b(amzn|amazon)\b(?=[ ._-]web[ ._-]?(dl|rip)\b)/i would return AMZN or Amazon
Original
Input Result
{Original Title} Artist.Name.Album.Name.2020.FLAC.EVOLVE
{Original Filename} 01-track name
  • Original Filename is not recommended. It is the literal original filename and may be obfuscated t1i0p3s7i8yuti.
  • Original Title is the release name is is what is suggested to be used.
Multi Disc Track Format

See Standard Track Format

Artist Folder Format
Input Result
{Artist Name} Artist Name
{Artist CleanName} Artist Name
{Artist NameThe} Artist Name, The
{Artist Disambiguation} Disambiguation
Album Folder Format
Artist
Input Result
{Artist Name} Artist Name
{Artist CleanName} Artist Name
{Artist NameThe} Artist Name, The
{Artist Disambiguation} Disambiguation
Album
Input Result
{Album Title} Album Title
{Album CleanTitle} Album Title
{Artist Disambiguation} Disambiguation
{Album TitleThe} Album Title, The
{Album Type} Album Type
Release Date
Input Result
{Release Year} 2020


Folders

  • Create Empty Media folders - This will create an empty folder during disk scan
  • Delete Empty Folders - This will remove any empty folders during disk scan

Importing

  • Skip Free Space Check - Use when Lidarr is unable to detect free space from your aritist root folder
  • Use Hard links instead of Copy - Use Hard links when trying to copy files from torrents that are still being seeded (for more information on this click here)
  • Import Extra Files - Import matching extra files (subtitles, nfo, etc) after importing a file

File Management

  • Ignore Deleted Tracks - Tracks deleted from disk, detected by a scheduled or manual rescan, are automatically unmonitored in Lidarr
  • Download Proper & Repacks - Should Lidarr automatically upgrade to propers when available? (see link for explanation on Proper and Repack)
    • Prefer and Upgrade - will prefer proper/repack if one is available (gives it a higher rating)
    • Do not upgrade automatically - This will not allow it to upgrade automatically but will still be rated accordingly.
  • Rescan Artist Folder after Refresh
    • Always - This will rescan artist folder based upon Tasks Schedule
    • After Manual Refresh - You will have to manually rescan the disk
    • Never - Just as it says, never rescan the artist folder.
  • Allow Fingerprinting - Use fingerprinting to improve accuracy of track matching
    • Always - This will analyze the file when matching
    • For New Imports Only - This will analyze only new imports
    • Never - just as it says, never fingerprint the track
  • Change File Date
    • None - Lidarr will not change the date that shows in your given file browser
    • Album Release Date - The date the album was released
  • Recycling Bin - Designate a location for deleted files to go to (just in case you want to retrieve them before the bin is taken out)
  • Recycling Bin Cleanup - This is how old a given file can be before it is deleted permanently

Permissions

  • Set Permissions - This will allow Lidarr to set the given file permission when a given file is imported or renamed
  • chmod folder - This is the permission level that Lidarr will set for a given file on import or rename (more information HERE)
    • The drop down box has a preset list of very commonly used permissions that can be used. However, you can manually enter a folder octal if you wish.
  • chmod Group - This only works if the user running Lidarr is the owner of the file. It's better to ensure the download client uses the same group as Lidarr.

Root Folders

  • Path - This shows the path to your media / organized library
  • Free Space - This is the free space being reported to Lidarr from the system
  • Unmapped Folders - These are folders that do not have a artist associated to it
  • The X at the end - This will remove this given root path
  • Add folder - This allows you to select a root path for a place to either place new imported downloads into this folder or to allow Lidarr to scan existing media.

Profiles


Quality Profiles

  • Here you'll be allowed to set profiles for which you can have for the quality of series you're looking to download.
  • When selecting an existing profile or adding an additional profile a new window will appear
    Note: The quality with the green box will be the quality that is set for Upgrade Until (basically the cutoff)
    • Name - Here you'll select a UNIQUE name for the profile to which you are creating
    • Upgrades allowed - If you tell Lidarr to download a MP3-160 (Poor Quality Lossy) file as it is the first release of a specific episode then later somebody is able to upload a FLAC (Lossless) then with this selected Lidarr will automatically upgrade to the better quality
      Note: This is only if you have FLAC (Lossless) higher than MP3-160 (Poor Quality Lossy) within the Qualities section
    • Qualities - For definitions for qualities please click HERE
    • Edit Groups - Some qualities are grouped together to reduce the size of the list as well grouping like releases, Prime example of this is MP3-160 and MP-96 as these are very similar and typically have similar bitrates. When editing the groups you can change the preference within each of the groups.
      • Qualities higher in the list are more preferred. Qualities within the same group are equal. Only checked qualities are wanted
        Note: By default the qualities are set from lowest (bottom) to highest (top)


Metadata Profiles

  • Here you'll be allowed to set profiles for which you can have for the releases of a given artist
  • When selecting an existing profile or adding an additional profile a new window will appear
    • Name - Here you'll select a UNIQUE name for the profile to which you are creating
    • Primary Types - These are typically the most common types of releases from an artist
    • Secondary Types - Less common types of releases however some artists will have them
    • Release Statuses - How did the artist release their material?

Note: If you're not seeing a release from a given artist then you might then you might want to create more profiles. A prime example of this is Metallica. They have 10 primary Album releases that show up under the "Standard" profile, however, if you're looking for S&M. Then you'll need to ensure that EP is selected in order to see it. Note: Be careful with with selecting everything long running artists or artists with a lot of different types of releases can make loading up a specific artist for the first time quite slow as Lidarr is pulling all the information down an example of this is if you select everything for Metallica over 600 album releases are pulled as possible downloads


Delay Profiles

  • Delay profiles allow you to reduce the number of releases that will be downloaded for an Track, by adding a delay while Lidarr will continue to watch for releases that better match your preferences.
    • Protocol - This will either be Usenet or Torrent depending on which download protocol you're using
    • Usenet Delay - Set by the number of minutes you'll want to wait before the download to start
    • Torrent Delay - Set by the number of minutes you'll want to wait before the download to start
    • Bypass if Highest Quality - Bypass the delay profile if the highest quality for that Track is found and grab once the first instance of the highest ranked quality is found. Otherwise wait for the best quality release until the end of the delay period.
    • Tags - This is where you'll select any relevant tags that you'll be using for this scheme
  • Wrench icon - This will allow you to edit the delay profile
  • Plus icon - Create a new profile

Example: Some media will receive half a dozen different releases of varying quality in the hours after a release, and without delay profiles Lidarr might try to download all of them. With delay profiles, Lidarr can be configured to ignore the first few hours of releases.

Delay profiles are also helpful if you want to emphasize one protocol (Usenet or BitTorrent) over the other. (See Example 3)

How Delay Profiles Work

The timer begins as soon as Lidarr detects an Track has a release available. This release will show up in your Queue with a clock icon to indicate that it is under a delay. Please note that the clock starts from the releases uploaded time and not from the time Lidarr sees it.

During the delay period, any new releases that become available will be noted by Lidarr. When the delay timer expires, Lidarr will download the single release which best matches your quality preferences.

The timer period can be different for Usenet and Torrents. Each profile can be associated with one or more tags to allow you to customize which shows have which profiles. A delay profile with no tag is considered the default and applies to all shows that do not have a specific tag.

NOTE: Delay profiles start from the timestamp that the indexer reports the release was uploaded. This means that any content older than the number of minutes you have set are not impacted in any way by your delay profile, and will be downloaded immediately. In addition, any manual searches for content (non-RSS feed searches) will ignore delay profile settings.

Examples

For each example, assume the user has the follow quality profile active: MP3-320 and above are allowed OGG Vorbis Q7 is the quality cutoff * FLAC is the highest ranked quality

Example 1:

In this simple example, the profile is set with a 120 minute (two hour) delay for both Usenet and Torrent.

At 11:00pm the first release for an Track is detected by Lidarr and it was uploaded at 10:50pm and the 120 minute clock begins. At 12:50am, Lidarr will evaluate any releases it has found in the past two hours, and download the best one, which is OGG Vorbis Q7.

At 3:00am another release is found, which is OGG Vorbis Q7 that was added to your indexer at 2:46am. Another 120 minute clock begins. At 4:46am the best-available release is downloaded. Since the quality cutoff is now reached, the Track no longer is upgradable and Lidarr will stop looking for new releases.

At any point, if a FLAC release is found, it will be downloaded immediately because it is the highest-ranking quality. If there is a delay timer currently active it will be cancelled.

Example 2:

This example has different timers for Usenet and Torrents. Assume a 120 minute timer for Usenet and a 180 minute timer for BitTorrent.

At 11:00pm the first release for an Track is detected by Lidarr and both timers begin. The release was added to the indexer at 10:15pm At 12:15am, Lidarr will evaluate any releases, and if there are any acceptable Usenet releases, the best one will be downloaded and both timers will end. If not, Lidarr will wait until 12:15am and download the best release, regardless of which source it came from.

Example 3:

A common use for delay profiles is to emphasize one protocol over another. For example, you might only want to download a BitTorrent release if nothing has been uploaded to Usenet after a certain amount of time.

You could set a 60 minute timer for BitTorrent, and a 0 minute timer for Usenet.

If the first release that is detected is from Usenet, Lidarr will download it immediately.

If the first release is from BitTorrent, Lidarr will set a 60 minute timer. If any qualifying Usenet release is detected during that timer, the BitTorrent release will be ignored and the Usenet release will be grabbed.

Release Profiles

  • Not all releases are created equal, each release group has their own way of packaging and encoding their material. Here you'll be able to select the preferred releases you're looking for
  • Enable Profile - Toggling this given profile on or off
  • Must Contain - The release must contain at least one of these terms (case insensitive)
  • Must Not Contain - The release will be rejected if it contains one or more of terms (case insensitive)
  • Preferred - Here you can select a given term and give it a score.
  • Include Preferred when Renaming - When utilizing the {Preferred Words} tag in the naming scheme
  • Tags - With giving this release profile a tag you'll be able to tag a given series to have it play by the rules set here. If you leave this field blank these rules will apply to all series


Quality


Quality Table Meanings

  • Title - The name of the Quality in the GUI (configurable)
  • Max - The maximum Kilobytes per second (KB/s) a quality can have.
  • Kilobytes Per Second - Self Explanatory
  • Min - The minimum Kilobytes per second (KB/s) a quality can have.
  • Preferred - The preferred Kilobytes per second (KB/s) a quality can have.
  • Quality - The scene quality name (hardcoded)
  • Size Limit - Self Explanatory


Quality Definitions

  • AAC-192 - An AAC file with a 192 kbps bitrate
  • AAC-256 - An AAC file with a 256 kbps bitrate
  • AAC-320 - An AAC file with a 320 kbps bitrate
  • AAC-VBR - An AAC file with a variable bitrate
  • ALAC - Audio file created with the Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC); used for storing digital music losslessly without losing any sound quality from the original audio data; differs from lossy audio codecs such as AAC.
  • APE - Audio file compressed using Monkey's Audio lossless compression algorithm; includes error detection and support for tags that store information about audio files; sometimes created with .CUE files to comprise an audio CD image.
  • FLAC - A FLAC file is an audio file compressed in the Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) format, which is an open source lossless audio compression format. It is similar to a .MP3 file, but is compressed without any loss in quality or loss of any original audio data.
  • FLAC 24bit - A FLAC file with 24-bit encoding, allowing a much wider dynamic range than CD, and sampling rates all the way up to 192kHz
  • MP3-8 - A MP3 file with a 8 kbps bitrate
  • MP3-16 - A MP3 file with a 16 kbps bitrate
  • MP3-24 - A MP3 file with a 24 kbps bitrate
  • MP3-32 - A MP3 file with a 32 kbps bitrate
  • MP3-40 - A MP3 file with a 40 kbps bitrate
  • MP3-48 - A MP3 file with a 48 kbps bitrate
  • MP3-56 - A MP3 file with a 56 kbps bitrate
  • MP3-64 - A MP3 file with a 64 kbps bitrate
  • MP3-80 - A MP3 file with a 80 kbps bitrate
  • MP3-96 - A MP3 file with a 96 kbps bitrate
  • MP3-112 - A MP3 file with a 112 kbps bitrate
  • MP3-128 - A MP3 file with a 128 kbps bitrate
  • MP3-160 - A MP3 file with a 160 kbps bitrate
  • MP3-192 - A MP3 file with a 192 kbps bitrate
  • MP3-224 - A MP3 file with a 224 kbps bitrate
  • MP3-256 - A MP3 file with a 256 kbps bitrate
  • MP3-320 - An MP3 file with a 320 kbps bitrate
  • MP3-VBR-V0 - An MP3 file with a variable bitrate (version 0)
  • MP3-VBR-V2 - An MP3 file with a variable bitrate (version 2)
  • OGG Vorbis Q5 - An OOG file with an 160 kbps bitrate
  • OGG Vorbis Q6 - An OOG file with a 192 kbps bitrate
  • OGG Vorbis Q7 - An OOG file with a 224 kbps bitrate
  • OGG Vorbis Q8 - An OOG file with a 256 kbps bitrate
  • OGG Vorbis Q9 - An OOG file with a 320 kbps bitrate
  • OGG Vorbis Q10 - An OOG file with a 500 kbps bitrate
  • Unknown - Self Explanatory
  • WavPack - WavPack compresses high-quality audio to between thirty and seventy percent and supports both mono and stereo audio ranging from 8 to 32 bits. Typically these are audio files in an .WV container
  • WAV - A WAV file is an audio file saved in the WAVE format, which is a standard digital audio file format utilized for storing waveform data. WAV files may contain audio recordings with different sampling rates and bitrates but are often saved in a 44.1 KHz, 16-bit, stereo format, which is the standard format used for CD audio.
  • WMA - A WMA file is an audio file saved in the Advanced Systems Format (ASF) proprietary format developed by Microsoft. It contains Windows Media Audio and metadata objects such as the title, artist, album, and genre of the track. WMA files are similar to .MP3 files and primarily used for streaming music from the web.


Indexers


Once you're here you'll be adding the indexer/tracker that you'll be using to actually download any of your files. If you're curious on how Lidarr works with your indexer/tracker click here

Supported Indexers
  • Usenet
    • Headphones VIP
    • Newznab
      • Newznab is a standardized API used by many usenet indexing sites.
      • Many presets are available, but most require an API key to be accessible.
    • Omgwtfnzbs
      • This indexer also supports newznab and is available as one of the above presets.
      • Website: https://omgwtfnzbs.me/
  • Torrents
    • filelist.io
    • Gazelle API
    • IP Torrents
    • Rarbg
    • Redacted
    • Torrent RSS Feed
      • Generic torrent RSS feed parser.
      • NOTE: The RSS feed must contain a pubdate. The release size is recommended as well.
    • Torrentleech
    • Torznab
      • Known indexers: Anime Tosho and Nyaa Pantsu as well as Jackett.
      • Torznab is a wordplay on Torrent and Newznab. It uses the same structure and syntax as the Newznab API specification, but exposing torrent-specific attributes and .torrent files. Thus supports a recent rss feed AND backlog searching capabilities. The specification is not maintained nor supported by the Newznab organization. (The same api specification is shared with nZEDb)
      • At this point it’s unlikely your favorite tracker supports this. We’ll update this post once we become aware of other trackers supporting it. Additionally you can use Jackett. It acts as a Torznab proxy adding Torznab support for more than 100 torrent trackers, but uses website scraping instead of APIs.
      • Important/Disclaimer: Many torrent trackers thrive on the community and may have rules in place that mandate site visits, karma, votes, comments and all. Please review your tracker rules and etiquette, keep your community alive.
    • We’re not responsible if your account is banned for disobeying rules or accruing HnRs/low-ratio.

Indexer Settings

Once you've clicked the + button to add a new indexer you'll be presented with a new window with many different options. For the purposes of this wiki Readarr considers both Usenet Indexers and Torrent Trackers as "Indexers".

There are two sections here: Usenet and Torrents. Based upon what download client you'll be using you'll want to select the type of indexer you'll be going with.

More information on Indexers and Trackers can be found here

Usenet Indexer Configuration
  • Newznab - Here you'll find presets of popular usenet indexers (that are pre-filled out, all you'll need is your API key which is provided by the usenet indexer of your choice) along with the ability to create a custom Indexer
  • An excellent software that works with usenet and integrates quite well with Lidarr is NZBHydra2
    • Regardless of if you select a pre filled out indexer or a custom indexer setup you'll be presented with a new window to input all your settings
    • Choose from the presets or add a custom indexer (such as NZBHydra2)
    • Name - The name of the indexer in Lidarr
    • Enable RSS - If enabled, use this indexer to watch for files that are wanted and missing or have not yet reached their cutoff.
    • Enable Automatic Search - If enabled, use this indexer for automatic searches including Search on Add
    • Enable Interactive Search - If enabled, use this indexer for manual interactive searches.
    • URL - The indexer provided URL of the indexer such as https://api.nzbgeek.info.
    • API Path - The indexer provided path to the api. This is typically /api
    • Multiple Languages - Define what MULTI means for this indexer.
    • API Key - The indexer provided key to access the API.
    • Categories - Default categories will be used unless edited. It is likely these default categories are suboptimal. Upon editing this setting, Lidarr queries the indexer for its available categories and displays them in a selectable a list. The stale defaults will clear as soon as a category is toggled.
    • Additional Parameters - Additional Newznab parameters to add to the query link
    • Remove year from search string - Should Lidarr remove the year after the title when searching this indexer.
    • Indexer Priority - Priority of this indexer to prefer one indexer over another in release tiebreaker scenarios. 1 is highest priority and 50 is lowest priority.
Torrent Tracker Configuration
  • As with Usenet there are an assortment of prefilled out Torrent tracker information. If you are not a member of any of these these specific trackers they will not do you any good.
  • One of the best and simplest ways to utilize Torrent trackers with Sonarr is to utilize a second program called Jackett. This software pairs well with Sonarr as a search indexer that houses all your information and sends it to Sonarr.
  • Torznab - This option will set you up with a Jackett preset, if you utilize multiple trackers you'll need to have each entry have a unique name
  • Torznab Indexer
    • Choose from the presets or add a custom indexer (such as Jackett)
    • Name - The name of the indexer in Lidarr
    • Enable RSS - If enabled, use this indexer to watch for files that are wanted and missing or have not yet reached their cutoff.
    • Enable Automatic Search - If enabled, use this indexer for automatic searches including Search on Add
    • Enable Interactive Search - If enabled, use this indexer for manual interactive searches.
    • URL - The indexer provided URL of the indexer such as https://api.nzbgeek.info.
    • API Path - The indexer provided path to the api. This is typically /api
    • Multiple Languages - Define what MULTI means for this indexer.
    • API Key - The indexer provided key to access the API.
    • Categories - Default categories will be used unless edited. It is likely these default categories are suboptimal. Upon editing this setting, Lidarr queries the indexer for its available categories and displays them in a selectable a list. The stale defaults will clear as soon as a category is toggled.
    • Additional Parameters - Additional Newznab parameters to add to the query link
    • Remove year from search string - Should Lidarr remove the year after the title when searching this indexer.
    • Minimum Seeders - The minimum number of seeders required for a release from this tracker to be grabbed.
    • Seed Ratio - If empty, use the download client default. Otherwise, the minimum seed ratio required for your download client to meet for releases from this indexer prior to it being paused by your client and removed by Sonarr (Requires Completed Download Handling - Remove enabled)
    • Seed Time - If empty, use the download client default. Otherwise, the minimum seed time in minutes required for your download client to meet for releases from this indexer prior to it being paused by your client and removed by Sonarr (Requires Completed Download Handling - Remove enabled)
    • Required Flags - What indexer flags are required for this indexer?
    • Indexer Priority - Priority of this indexer to prefer one indexer over another in release tiebreaker scenarios. 1 is highest priority and 50 is lowest priority.

Options

  • Minimum Age - Usenet only: Minimum age in minutes of NZBs before they are grabbed. Use this to give new releases time to propagate to your usenet provider.
  • Maximum Size - Maximum size for a release to be grabbed in MB. Set to zero to set to unlimited
  • Retention - Usenet only: Set to zero to set for unlimited retention
  • RSS Sync interval - Interval in minutes. Set to zero to disable (this will stop all automatic release grabbing) Minimum: 10 minutes Maximum: 120 minutes
    • Please see How does Lidarr work? for a better understanding of how RSS Sync will help you
    • Note: If Lidarr has been offline for an extended period of time, Lidarr will attempt to page back to find the last release it processed in an attempt to avoid missing a release. As long as your indexer supports paging and it hasn’t been too long will be able to process the releases it would have missed and avoid you needing to perform a search for the missed releases.

Restrictions

Not in Lidarr


Download Clients


Overview

Downloading and importing is where most people experience issues. From a high level perspective, the software needs to be able to communicate with your download client and have access to the files it downloads. There is a large variety of supported download clients and an even bigger variety of setups. This means that while there are some common setups there isn't one right setup and everyone's setup can be a little different. But there are many wrong setups.

Download Clients

Usenet Process
  1. Lidarr will send a download request to your client, and associate it with a label or category name that you have configured in the download client settings. Examples: movies, tv, series, music, ect.
  2. Lidarr will monitor your download clients active downloads that use that category name. It monitors this via your download client's API.
  3. When the download is completed, Lidarr will know the final file location as reported by your download client. This file location can be almost anywhere, as long as it is somewhere separate from your media folder and accessible by Lidarr
  4. Lidarr will scan that completed file location for files that Lidarr can use. It will parse the file name to match it against the requested media. If it can do that, it will rename the file according to your specifications, and move it to the specified media location.
    • Atomic Moves (instant moves) are enabled by default. The file system and mounts must be the same for your completed download directory and your media library. If the the atomic move fails or your setup does not support hardlinks and atomic moves then Lidarr will fall back and copy the file then delete from the source which is IO intensive.
Usenet Client Settings
  • Name - The name of the download client within Lidarr
  • Enable - Enable this Download Client
  • Host - The URL of your download client
  • Port - The port of your download client
  • Use SSL - Use a secure connection with your download client. Please be aware of this common mistake.
  • URL Base - Add a prefix to the url; this is commonly needed for reverse proxies.
  • API Key - the API key to authenticate to your client
  • Username - the username to authenticate to your client (typically not needed)
  • Password- the password to authenticate to your client (typically not needed)
  • Category - the category within your download client that Lidarr will use
  • Recent Priority - download client priority for recently released media
  • Older Priority - download client priority for media released not recently
  • Client Priority - Priority of the download Client. Round-Robin is used for clients of the same type (torrent/usenet) that have the same priority.
Torrent Process
  1. Lidarr will send a download request to your client, and associate it with a label or category name that you have configured in the download client settings. Examples: movies, tv, series, music, ect.
  2. Lidarr will monitor your download clients active downloads that use that category name. This monitoring occurs via your download client's API.
  3. Completed files are left in their original location to allow you to seed the file (ratio or time can be adjusted in the download client or from within Lidarr under the specific download client). When files are imported to your media folder Lidarr will hardlink the file if supported by your setup or copy if not hardlinks are not supported.
    • Hardlinks are enabled by default. A hardlink will allow not use any additional disk space. The file system and mounts must be the same for your completed download directory and your media library. If the hardlink creation fails or your setup does not support hardlinks then Lidarr will fall back and copy the file.
  4. If the "Completed Download Handling - Remove" option is enabled in Lidarr's settings, Lidarr will delete the original file and torrent from your client, but only if the client reports that seeding is complete and torrent is stopped.
Torrent Client Settings
  • Name - The name of the download client within Lidarr
  • Enable - Enable this Download Client
  • Host - The URL of your download client
  • Port - The port of your download client
  • Use SSL - Use a secure connection with your download client. Please be aware of this common mistake.
  • URL Base - Add a prefix to the url; this is commonly needed for reverse proxies.
  • Username - the username to authenticate to your client
  • Password- the password to authenticate to your client
  • Category - the category within your download client that Lidarr will use
  • Post-Import Category - the category to set after the release is downloaded and imported. Please note that this breaks completed download handling removal.
  • Recent Priority - download client priority for recently released media
  • Older Priority - download client priority for media released not recently
  • Initial State - Initial state for torrents
  • Client Priority - Priority of the download Client. Round-Robin is used for clients of the same type (torrent/usenet) that have the same priority.

Supported Clients

  • Sabnzbd
  • Nzbget
  • NZBVortex
  • Pneumatic
    • Website: None at this time
    • Streaming Add-on for XBMC.
  • DownloadStation
  • UsenetBlackhole
    • Puts NZB into a folder to be picked up by an external tool. Will watch another folder to check for completed downloads.
  • Deluge
  • TorrentBlackhole
    • Puts .torrent files into a folder, to be picked up by an external tool. Will watch another folder to check for completed downloads.
  • Transmission
  • uTorrent
    • Version 3.0 or newer required. Requires Web UI (located in Preferences -> Advanced) enabled.
    • Website: uTorrent
  • rTorrent
    • Requires rTorrent version 0.9.0 or newer compiled with XML-RPC support, and a SCGI to HTTP proxy (usually Lighttpd, Nginx, or Apache; ruTorrent can also provide this on on the URL plugins/rpc/rpc.php). Look for ruTorrent instructions for how to set up rTorrent.
    • Website: rTorrent
  • qBittorrent
    • Requires qBittorrent 3.2.4 or higher.
    • Website: qBittorrent
  • Vuze
    • Requires Vuze 5.0.0.0 or higher
    • Website: Vuze
  • DownloadStation
  • Hadouken

Compatibility

  • Lidarr is only able to set the seed ratio/time on clients that support setting this value via their API when the torrent is added. See the table below for client compatibility.
Client Ratio Time
Deluge Yes -
Hadouken - -
qBittorrent Yes Yes
rTorrent - -
Torrent Blackhole - -
Download Station - -
Transmission Yes Idle Limit [1]
uTorrent Yes Yes
Vuze Yes Yes

[1] Transmission internally has an Idle Time check, but Lidarr compares it with the seeding time if the idle limit is set on a per-torrent basis. This is done as workaround to Transmission’s api limitations.

Completed Download Handling

Completed Download Handling is how Lidarr imports media from your download client to your series folders. Many common issues are related to bad Docker paths and/or other Docker permissions issues.

  • Enable - Automatically import completed downloads from the download client
  • Remove - Remove completed downloads when finished (usenet) or stopped/complete (torrents)

Remove Completed Downloads

  1. Lidarr will send a download request to your client, and associate it with a label or category name that you have configured in the download client settings.
  2. Lidarr will monitor your download clients active downloads that use that category name. It monitors this via your download client's API.
  3. When the download is completed, Lidarr will know the final file location as reported by your download client. This file location can be almost anywhere, as long as it is somewhere separate from your media folder.
  4. Lidarr will scan that completed file location for audio files. It will parse the file name to match it to a track. If it can do that, it will rename the file according to your specifications, and move it to the assigned library folder.
  5. Leftover files from the download will be sent to your trash or recycling.

If you download using a BitTorrent client, the process is slightly different:

  • Completed files are left in their original location to allow you to seed. When files are imported to your assigned library folder Lidarr will attempt to hardlink the file or fall back to copy (use double space) if hard links are not supported.
  • If the "Completed Download Handling - Remove" option is enabled in settings, Lidarr will delete the original file and torrent from your client, but only if the client reports that seeding is complete and torrent is stopped.


Failed Download Handling

Failed Download Handling is compatible with SABnzbd and NZBGet.

There are a couple components that make up the failed download handling process:

  1. Check Downloader:
    • Queue - Check your downloader's queue for password-protected (encrypted) releases
    • History - Check your downloader's history for failure (eg. not enough to repair, or extraction failed)
    • When Lidarr finds a failed download it starts processing them and does a few things:
    1. Adds a failed event to Lidarr's history
    2. Removes the failed download from Download Client to free space and clear downloaded files (optional)
    3. Starts searching for a replacement file (optional)
  2. Blacklisting Allows automatic skipping of nzbs when they fail, this means that nzb will not be automatically downloaded by Lidarr ever again (You can still force the download via a manual search).

There are 2 advanced options (on 'Download Client' settings page) that control the behavior of failed downloading in Lidarr, at this time, they are all on by default.

  • Redownload - Controls whether or not Lidarr will search for the same file after a failure
  • Remove - Whether or not the download should automatically be removed from Download Client when the failure is detected

Remote Path Mappings

Remote Path Mapping acts as a dumb find Remote Path and replace with Local Path This is primarily used for either merged local/remote setups using mergerfs or similar or is used for when the application and download client are not on the same server.

One of our amazing community members have created an excellent guide to help you out if you think remotte path mapping is what will work for you here The guide is for Radarr but all concepts are exactly the same for Lidarr


Import Lists


Lists

Import Lists are a part of Lidarr that allow you to follow a given list creator. Let's say that you follow a given list creator on Trakt/TMDb and really like their R&B list section and want to listen every song on their list. You look in your Lidarr and realize that you don't have those artists. Well instead of searching one by one and adding those items and then searching your indexers for those artists. You can do this all at once with a List. The Lists can be set to import all the artists on that curator's list as well as be set to automatically assign a quality profile, automatically add, and automatically monitor that artist.

CAUTION: If lists are done improperly they will absolutely wreck your library with a bunch of trash you have no intention of listening to. So make sure of what you're importing before you click save. ie. physically look at the list before you even go to Lidarr.

  • Here you can select the + button to open a new pop up window
    • From this new window you are presented with many different options to set up your list from many different list providers. As stated before be careful when doing lists. It is highly recommended to not select the Search on add button before you're absolutely sure the list you select/setup is adding the Artists that you're looking for.
    • Once you've selected the list provider that you're looking to pull from (such as Spotify or Last.fm) You'll be presented with a new window.
      • Most of the lists settings are fairly self explanatory, some lists require you to authenticate with the provider such as Spotify (requiring you to have an account with Spotify.com


List Exclusions

  • Import List Exclusion - This allows you to prune your list of movies you don't want to see again. An example of this is if your list just so happens to contain a movie that is in a foreign language and it is not likely for you to ever find this movie in your native language and do not want to watch it with subtitles. You can exclude a movie from being added in the future. However, in the list exclusion section you can add it back to the list so that when the list runs again it will be readded to your library.


Connect


Connections

Connections are how you want Lidarr to communicate with the outside world.

  • By pressing the + button you'll be presented with a new window which will allow you to configure many different endpoints
    • There are many different endpoints
      • Boxcar
      • Custom scripts - This allows you to make a custom script for when a particular action happens this script will run
      • Discord - By far one of the most common ways to push notifications of actions happening on your Lidarr
      • Notifiarr - The brainchild of one of the Lidarr developers allowing you to have beautiful discord notifications with very fine tuned control. Constantly being updated and a favorite amongst many of the Lidarr team.
      • Email - Simply send yourself or somebody you want to annoy with email. If you're using Gmail, you need to enable less secure apps. If you're using Gmail and have 2-factor authentication enabled you need to use an App Specific password.
        • You can use a "pretty address" like SomePrettyName <email@example.org
      • Emby
      • Gotify
      • Join
      • Kodi - Kodi spawned from the love of media. It is an entertainment hub that brings all your digital media together into a beautiful and user friendly package. It is 100% free and open source, very customisable and runs on a wide variety of devices. It is supported by a dedicated team of volunteers and a huge community.
        • By adding Kodi as a connection you can update Kodi's library when a new movie has been added to Lidarr
      • Plex Media Server - The server for your self hosted Plex system, Enabling this is much like Kodi will allow you to push an update to your plex server notifying it that a new/upgraded movie is available
      • Prowl
      • Pushbullet
      • Pushover
      • Sendgrid
      • Slack
      • Subsonic
      • Synology Indexer
      • Telegram
      • Twitter
  • Connection Triggers
    • On Grab - Be notified when episodes are available for download and has been sent to a download client
    • On Import - Be notified when episodes are successfully imported
    • On Upgrade - Be notified when episodes are upgraded to a better quality
    • On Rename - Be notified when episodes are renamed
    • On Health Issue - Be notified on health check failures
    • Include Health Warnings - Be notified on health warnings in addition to errors.


Metadata


Metadata Provider Source

  • Metadata Provider Source - Setting is currently for Dev purposes.

Write Metadata to Audio Files

    • Tag Audio Files with Metadata - Here you can actually write metadata directly into the audio file. This can be useful for audio players as all the pertinent information to tell you will be hardcoded to the file.
    • Scrub Existing Tags - This will remove all existing metadata tags, this may be recommended as some people like to tag their name all over files and this will sanitize the files before being rewritten by Lidarr.

Metadata Consumers

  • Metadata Consumers - Kodi will be one of the most commonly used options here if that is the software that is being used. This will allow Lidarr to create a NFO file as well as associated movie posters to be scraped into your player


Tags


  • The tag section is for Lidarr is simply used to see what tags you have used and what artists have that tag associated to it.
  • Tags can be useful to limit certain aspects of Lidarr to a specific artist

General


Host

  • Binding Address - Valid IP4 address or '*' for all interfaces
    • 0.0.0.0 or * - any address can connect
    • 127.0.0.1 or localhost - only localhost applications can connect
    • Any other IP (e.g. 1.2.3.4) - only that IP (1.2.3.4) can connect
  • Port Number - The port number that you are wanting to use to access the webUI for Lidarr
    • Note: If using Docker do not touch
  • URL Base - For reverse proxy support, default is empty
    • Note: If using a reverse proxy (example: mydomain.com/lidarr) you would enter '/lidarr' for URL Base.
  • Enable SSL - If you have SSL credentials and would like to secure communication to and from your Lidarr enable this option.
    • Note: do not mess with unless you know what you're doing

Security

  • Authentication - How would you like to authenticate to access your Lidarr instance
    • None - You have no authentication to access your Lidarr
      • Typically if you're the only user of your network, do not have anybody on your network that would care to access Lidarr or your Lidarr is not exposed to the web
    • Basic (Browser pop-up) - This option when accessing your Lidarr will show a small pop-up allowing you to input a Username and Password
    • Forms (Login Page) - This option will have a familiar looking login screen much like other websites have to allow you to log onto your Lidarr
  • API Key - This is how other programs would communicate or have Lidarr communicate to other programs. This key if given to the wrong person with access could do all kinds of things to your library. This is why in the logs the API key is redacted
  • Certificate Validation - Change how strict HTTPS certification validation is

Proxy

  • Proxy - This option allows you to run the information your Lidarr pulls and searches for through a proxy. This can be useful if you're in a country that does not allow the downloading of Torrent files

Logging

  • Log level - Probably one of the most useful troubleshooting tools
    • Info - This is the most basic way that Lidarr gathers information this will include very minimal amount of information in the logs.
      • This log file contains fatal, error, warn and info entries.
    • Debug - Debug will include all the information that Info includes plus more information that can be useful.
      • This log files contains fatal, error, warn, info and debug entries
    • Trace - The most advance and detailed logging on Lidarr, Trace will include all the information gathered by Info and Debug and more. This is the most common type of log that is going to be asked for when troubleshooting on Discord or Reddit. If you're needing help please select your log to Trace and redo the task that was giving you problems to capture the log.
      • This log files contains fatal, error, warn, info, debug and trace entries.

Analytics

  • Analytics - Send anonymous usage and error information to Lidarr's servers (Servarr). This includes information on your browser, which Lidarr WebUI pages you use, error reporting as well as OS and runtime version. We will use this information to prioritize features and bug fixes.

Updates

  • Branch - This is the branch of Lidarr that you are running on.
  • Automatic - Automatically download and install updates. You will still be able to install from System: Updates. Note: Windows Users are always automatically updated.
  • Mechanism - Use Lidarr's built-in updater or a script
    • Built-In - Use Lidarr's own updater
    • Docker - Do not update Lidarr from inside the Docker, instead pull a brand new image with the new update
    • Script - Have Lidarr run the update script

Backups

The backup section allows you to tell Lidarr how you would like for it to handle backups

  • Folder - This allows you to select the backup location
    • In docker you will be limited to what you allow the container to see
    • Paths are relative to the appdata folder; if necessary, you can set an absolute path to backup outside of the appdata folder
  • Interval - How often would you like Lidarr to make a backup
  • Retention - How long would you like Lidarr to hold on to each backup. After a new backup is made the oldest backup will be removed


UI

Calendar

In this section you can manipulate some features of the calendar

  • First Day of Week - Here you can select what you think the first day of the week should be.
  • Week Column Header - Here you can select the header for the columns

Dates

  • Short Date Format - How do you want Lidarr to display short dates?
  • Long Date Format - How do you want Lidarr to display long format dates?
  • Time Format - Do you want a 12hr or 24hr format?
  • Show Relative Dates - Do you want Lidarr to show relative (Today/Yesterday/etc) or absolute dates?

Style

  • Enable Color-Impaired Mode - Altered style to allow color-impaired users to better distinguish color coded information
  • Expand Items by Default - By selecting one of these variables this will force Lidarr to automatically expand a given section when you load up the Artist. An exmaple of this would be if you select Albums then when you load up an artist the Albums section will be automatically expanded.