Radarr Tips and Tricks

TRaSH's Custom Formats

TRaSH's Guides

Importing IMDb lists into TMDb

This is a guide for importing a list from IMDb into The Movie Database. This can be useful for large lists, due to IMDb’s RSS feeds not supporting the entire list.

1. Log into your IMDb account.
2. Open the list you would like to import into TMDb.
3. Scroll to the bottom, just before the comments, and click the “Export this list” button, as shown below:
4. Log into your TMDb account.
5. Go to your account page on TMDb (by clicking your username).
6. Click the “Import List” button on the left side-bar as shown below:

7. Click “Select Files…” and navigate to the downloaded CSV file from IMDb:

Click “Select Files…”

8. Choose the destination list as shown in the image above.

9. Click import, and wait to be notified of the import completion.

Create a Folder for Each Movie

Windows & Linux

Filebot

Filebot is a fantastic utility for getting your movies organized in a way that Radarr can successfully parse. Version 4.7.9’s 64 bit and 32 bit can still be downloaded free from a SourceForge mirror, but there are also paid versions in the Windows and Apple stores. On Linux, your distribution of choice may have a package for it, like in Arch’s AUR package or .deb files for Debian/Ubuntu from their download page. It has both a GUI and a CLI, so should satisfy almost everyone.

There is great help available, including their format expressions page. My personal suggestion is to use something like {ny}\{fn} if your files include useful details like quality, edition and/or group or {ny}/{ny} [{dim[0] >= 1280 ? 'Bluray' : 'DVD'}-{vf}] if they don’t, which would yield Movie (Year)/Movie (Year) [Bluray-1080p] or Movie (Year)/Movie (Year) [DVD-480p] for example. Instead of Bluray, you could also use WEBDL if you’d rather your collection be considered that.

To keep this pattern for future movies, you should set:

Settings -> Media Management (Advanced Settings Shown) -> Movie Naming * File: {Movie CleanTitle} {(Release Year)} {Edition Tags} {[Quality Title]} * Folder: {Movie CleanTitle} {(Release Year)}

Note: You can replace the spaces above with . or _ if you prefer that naming format.

Windows

Files 2 Folder

I used a program called Files 2 Folder to make my movie library visible for import into Radarr, extract the zip to your computer and run the .exe as administrator, then click yes to add it to your right click menu.

1. Browse to your movie folder
2. Select all files and right click to bring up the menu
3. Press the files 2 folder option in the menu

File 2 Folder

1. Wait for the box to appear, ONLY CLICK THE SECOND OPTION

Second Option

1. Each movie will be in its’ own folder.

Own Folder

Linux

cd /path/to/your/movies/files/
find . -maxdepth 1 -type f -iname "*.mkv" -exec sh -c 'mkdir "${1%.*}" ; mv "${1%}" "${1%.*}" ' _ {} \;

Windows & Linux

This script will place movies and TV episodes on folders
Files are not modifed or renamed only moved to folders.

Usage:: ./movie&TV2folder.py /path/movies/ (Movie 1 (year) , Movie)
Usage:: ./movie&TV2folder.py /path/tv/ ( tv folders: Tile 1, Title 2 )
Type of files:

Movies: (scans 1 folder deep - i.e. not recursive)
All files bellow would be moved to folder: ./Movie Title (2017)
Movie Title (2017) 1080p.mkv
Movie Title (2017) anything else.*
Movie Title (2017).*
Movie Title.mkv –> would not be moved, since missing (year)

Series: (scans 2 folders deep)
All files bellow would be moved to folder: ./Season 04/
Farscape - S04E01.mkv
Farscape - S04E01-E02.mkv
Farscape - S04E01
S04E01 - Farscape - group.mkv
Daily Show S2014E20 - would be moved to ./Season 2014/

Additional rules:
On OS error: retry operation 3 times with 1 second delay between attempts.
If move fails it continue with other files.

https://github.com/ajkis/scripts/blob/master/other/movie-tv2folder.py

Custom Post Processing Scripts

If you’re looking to trigger a custom script in your download client to tell Radarr when to update, you can find more details here. Scripts are added to Radarr via the Connect Settings page.

Overview

Radarr can execute a custom script when new movies are imported or a movie is renamed and depending on which action occurred, the parameters will be different. They are passed to the script through environment variables which allows for more flexibility in what is sent to the script and in no particular order.

Environment Variables

On Grab

Environment Variable	Details
radarr_eventtype	Grab
radarr_download_client	NZB/Torrent downloader client
radarr_download_id	The hash of the torrent/NZB file downloaded (used to uniquely identify the download in the download client)
radarr_movie_id	Internal ID of the movie
radarr_movie_imdbid	IMDb ID for the movie
radarr_movie_in_cinemas_date	Cinema release date
radarr_movie_physical_release_date	Physical release date
radarr_movie_title	Title of the movie
radarr_movie_tmdbid	TMDb ID for the movie
radarr_movie_year	Release year of the movie
radarr_release_indexer	Indexer where the release was grabbed
radarr_release_quality	Quality name from Radarr
radarr_release_qualityversion	1 is the default, 2 for proper, 3+ could be used for anime versions
radarr_release_releasegroup	Release Group, will not be set if it is unknown
radarr_release_size	Size of the release reported by the indexer
radarr_release_title	NZB/Torrent title

On Download/On Upgrade

Environment Variable	Details
radarr_eventtype	Download
radarr_download_id	The hash of the torrent/NZB file downloaded (used to uniquely identify the download in the download client)
radarr_isupgrade	True when an existing file is upgraded, otherwise False
radarr_movie_id	Internal ID of the movie
radarr_movie_imdbid	IMDb ID for the movie
radarr_movie_in_cinemas_date	Cinema release date
radarr_movie_physical_release_date	Physical release date
radarr_movie_path	Full path to the movie ( /Movie (Year)/ )
radarr_movie_title	Title of the movie
radarr_movie_tmdbid	TMDb ID for the movie
radarr_movie_year	Release year of the movie
radarr_moviefile_id	Internal ID of the movie file
radarr_moviefile_relativepath	Path to the movie file relative to the movie’ path
radarr_moviefile_path	Full path to the movie file ( /Movie (Year)/Movie (Year).mkv )
radarr_moviefile_quality	Quality name from Radarr
radarr_moviefile_qualityversion	1 is the default, 2 for proper, 3+ could be used for anime versions
radarr_moviefile_releasegroup	Release group, will not be set if it is unknown
radarr_moviefile_scenename	Original release name
radarr_moviefile_sourcepath	Full path to the movie file that was imported
radarr_moviefile_sourcefolder	Full path to the folder the movie file was imported from

On Rename

Environment Variable	Details
radarr_eventtype	Rename
radarr_movie_id	Internal ID of the movie
radarr_movie_imdbid	IMDb ID for the movie
radarr_movie_in_cinemas_date	Cinema release date
radarr_movie_path	Full path to the movie
radarr_movie_physical_release_date	Physical release date
radarr_movie_title	Title of the movie
radarr_movie_tmdbid	TMDb ID for the movie
radarr_movie_year	Release year of the movie

Specific usage tips

LINUX / UNIX Scripts

Remember to always add a shebang and make your scripts executable with chmod.

Sample bash script to echo environmental variables

#!/bin/bash
RADARRENVLOG="/pathtoalog.log"

if [[ $radarr_eventtype == "Grab" ]] ; then
  echo "
    radarr_download_client = $radarr_download_client // NZB/Torrent downloader client
    radarr_download_id = $radarr_download_id // The hash of the torrent/NZB file downloaded (used to uniquely identify the download in the download client)
    radarr_movie_id = $radarr_movie_id // Internal ID of the movie
    radarr_movie_imdbid = $radarr_movie_imdbid // IMDb ID for the movie
    radarr_movie_in_cinemas_date = $radarr_movie_in_cinemas_date // Cinema release date
    radarr_movie_physical_release_date = $radarr_movie_physical_release_date // Physical release date
    radarr_movie_title = $radarr_movie_title // Title of the movie
    radarr_movie_tmdbid = $radarr_movie_tmdbid // TMDb ID for the movie
    radarr_movie_year = $radarr_movie_year // Release year of the movie
    radarr_release_indexer = $radarr_release_indexer // Indexer where the release was grabbed
    radarr_release_quality = $radarr_release_quality // Quality name from Radarr
    radarr_release_qualityversion = $radarr_release_qualityversion // 1 is the default, 2 for proper, 3+ could be used for anime versions
    radarr_release_releasegroup = $radarr_release_releasegroup // Release Group, will not be set if it is unknown
    radarr_release_size = $radarr_release_size // Size of the release reported by the indexer
    radarr_release_title = $radarr_release_title // NZB/Torrent title" >> $RADARRENVLOG
fi
if [[ $radarr_eventtype == "Download" ]] ; then
  echo "
    radarr_download_id = $radarr_download_id // The hash of the torrent/NZB file downloaded (used to uniquely identify the download in the download client)
    radarr_isupgrade = $radarr_isupgrade // `True` when an existing file is upgraded, otherwise `False`
    radarr_movie_id = $radarr_movie_id // Internal ID of the movie
    radarr_movie_imdbid = $radarr_movie_imdbid // IMDb ID for the movie
    radarr_movie_in_cinemas_date = $radarr_movie_in_cinemas_date // Cinema release date
    radarr_movie_physical_release_date = $radarr_movie_physical_release_date // Physical release date
    radarr_movie_path = $radarr_movie_path // Full path to the movie ( /Movie (Year)/ )
    radarr_movie_title = $radarr_movie_title // Title of the movie
    radarr_movie_tmdbid = $radarr_movie_tmdbid // TMDb ID for the movie
    radarr_movie_year = $radarr_movie_year // Release year of the movie
    radarr_moviefile_id = $radarr_moviefile_id // Internal ID of the movie file
    radarr_moviefile_relativepath = $radarr_moviefile_relativepath // Path to the movie file relative to the movie' path
    radarr_moviefile_path = $radarr_moviefile_path // Full path to the movie file ( /Movie (Year)/Movie (Year).mkv )
    radarr_moviefile_quality = $radarr_moviefile_quality // Quality name from Radarr
    radarr_moviefile_qualityversion = $radarr_moviefile_qualityversion // 1 is the default, 2 for proper, 3+ could be used for anime versions
    radarr_moviefile_releasegroup = $radarr_moviefile_releasegroup // Release group, will not be set if it is unknown
    radarr_moviefile_scenename = $radarr_moviefile_scenename // Original release name
    radarr_moviefile_sourcepath = $radarr_moviefile_sourcepath // Full path to the movie file that was imported
    radarr_moviefile_sourcefolder = $radarr_moviefile_sourcefolder // Full path to the folder the movie file was imported from" >> $RADARRENVLOG
fi
if [[ $radarr_eventtype == "Rename" ]] ; then
  echo "
    radarr_movie_id = $radarr_movie_id // Internal ID of the movie
    radarr_movie_imdbid = $radarr_movie_imdbid // IMDb ID for the movie
    radarr_movie_in_cinemas_date = $radarr_movie_in_cinemas_date // Cinema release date
    radarr_movie_path = $radarr_movie_path // Full path to the movie
    radarr_movie_physical_release_date = $radarr_movie_physical_release_date // Physical release date
    radarr_movie_title = $radarr_movie_title // Title of the movie
    radarr_movie_tmdbid = $radarr_movie_tmdbid // TMDb ID for the movie
    radarr_movie_year = $radarr_movie_year // Release year of the movie" >> $RADARRENVLOG
fi

PHP

The information from Radarr will not be added to <math display="inline">_ENV as one might expect but should be included in the [</math>_SERVER variable](https://secure.php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.server.php). A sample script to use this information to convert a file can be found here. #### PowerShell #### Sample script using the Radarr environment variables to create EDL files for all episodes is here.

Sample script to have Plex scan destination folder only and “analyze deeply” the file. PSQLite needed to query the plex DB. Adjust folder locations to match your setup.

# This script will add the movie to plex and scan the destination folder (it will not scan the entire library)
# C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe\PowerShell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass "C:\Users\Server\Desktop\radarrcustom.ps1"

$movie_path = $env:radarr_movie_path
#PSQlite location
Import-Module C:\Users\Server\Desktop\scripts\PSSQLite
#set file locations
$logfile = "C:\Users\Server\Desktop\radarrimport.txt"
$database = "C:\Users\Server\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\Plug-in Support\Databases\com.plexapp.plugins.library.db"
$plexscanner = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\Plex Media Scanner.exe"
#set your plex library ID
$libraryid = 0
#If you have multiple root folders and library IDs you can set them like so
#If ($movie_path -like '*Movies Release\*' ) { $libraryid = 19 } 

#Scan the movie folder
& "$plexscanner" --scan --refresh --section $libraryid --directory $movie_path
write-output """$plexscanner"" --scan --refresh --section $libraryid --directory $movie_path" | add-content $logfile

sleep 20

#Query the plex db for the item ID
$likemoviepath = $movie_path + "%"
$query = "SELECT mi.metadata_item_id FROM media_parts mp LEFT JOIN media_items mi on mp.media_item_id=mi.id WHERE mp.file LIKE '$likemoviepath'"
$itemid = Invoke-SqliteQuery -Query $query -DataSource $database
$itemid = $itemid.metadata_item_id

#Analyze the ItemID
& "$plexscanner" --analyze --item $itemid
write-output """$plexscanner"" --analyze --item $itemid" | add-content $logfile

sleep 20

#Analyze deeply the item ID
& "$plexscanner" --analyze-deeply --item $itemid
write-output """$plexscanner"" --analyze-deeply --item $itemid" | add-content $logfile

Reverse Symlinking

When using private trackers, it is imperative to continue seeding. By using this script on Download and on Upgrade moves the media to your root movie folder as set in Radarr, and will create a symlink in the original download location so you can continue to seed.

Symlinking is preferable over hardlinking in most cases as the root movie folder can be on a seperate drive or nfs mount, where hardlinks are impossible.

#!/bin/bash

PERMPATH="$radarr_moviefile_path"
LINKPATH="$radarr_moviefile_sourcepath"

if [[ -f "$LINKPATH" ]]; then
    sleep 1
else
    exit 1
fi

ORIGFILESIZE=$(stat -c%s "$LINKPATH")
PERMFILESIZE=$(stat -c%s "$PERMPATH")

sleep 30

while [[ $PERMFILESIZE != $ORIGFILESIZE ]]; do
    sleep 60
    PERMFILESIZE=$(stat -c%s "$PERMPATH")
done

if [[ $PERMFILESIZE == $ORIGFILESIZE ]]; then
    # Save current time stamps to prevent radarr from identifying our simlink as new, and double-processing it
    LINKDIR=$(dirname "$LINKPATH")
    FOLDER_DATE=$(date -r "$LINKDIR" +@%s.%N)
    FILE_DATE=$(date -r "$LINKPATH" +@%s.%N)

    rm "$LINKPATH"
    ln -s "$PERMPATH" "$LINKPATH"

    touch --no-create --no-dereference  --date "$FILE_DATE" "$LINKPATH"
    touch --no-create --no-dereference  --date "$FILE_DATE" "$PERMPATH"
    touch --no-create --no-dereference  --date "$FOLDER_DATE" "$LINKDIR"
fi

A quick way to test scripts is to create a testing environment using the movie “Test (2013)”.

mkdir -p ~/test && cd ~/test && touch "Test (2013).nfo" "Test (2013).por.srt" "Test (2013).por.forced.srt" "Test (2013).eng.srt" "Test (2013).mkv" && cp -R ~/test /path/to/folder/to/import

or in bash:

mkdir -p ~/test && cd ~/test && touch "Test (2013)."{nfo,por.srt,por.forced.srt,eng.srt,mkv} && cp -R ~/test /path/to/folder/to/import

This way you can manually import this movie and trigger the script. You can just run it again to repopulate the files.

Installing multple Radarrs on Windows

This guide will show you how to run multiple instances of Radarr on Windows using only one base installation. This guide was put together using Windows 10; if you are using a previous version of Windows (7, 8, etc.) you may need to adjust some things. This guide also assumes that you have installed Radarr to the default directory, and your second instance of Radarr will be called Radarr-4K. Feel free to change things to fit your own installations, though.

Prerequisites

• You must have Radarr already installed. It is highly recommended that you use the latest installer.exe file.
• You must have NSSM (Non-Sucking Service Manager) installed. To install, download the latest release (2.24 at the time of writing) and copy either the 32-bit or 64-bit nssm.exe file to C:/windows/system32. (If you aren’t sure if you have a 32-bit or 64-bit system, check Settings > System > About > System type.)

Configuring Radarr

1. Open a Command Prompt administrator window. (To run as an admin, right click on the Command Prompt icon and choose “Run as administrator.”)

2. If Radarr is running, stop the service by running nssm stop Radarr in Command Prompt.

3. Now we have to edit the existing Radarr instance to explicitly point to its data directory. The default command is as follows:

   sc config Radarr binpath= "C:\ProgramData\Radarr\bin\Radarr.exe -data=C:\ProgramData\Radarr"

This command tells the original instance of Radarr to explicitly use C:for its data directory. If you didn’t use the default Radarr install, or if your data folder is somewhere else, you may have to change your paths here.

Creating Radarr-4K

4. Create a new folder where you’d like Radarr-4K to live. I prefer all my instances in the same place, so my new folder is C:-4K.
5. Back in Command Prompt, create the new Radarr-4K service using nssm install Radarr-4K. A popup window will open where you can type your parameters for the new instance. For this example, we will use the following:
   • Path: C:.exe
   • Startup directory: C:
   • Arguments: -data=C:-4K

Note that Arguments points to the new folder created in step 4. This is crucial, as it keeps all the data files from both instances in separate locations.

6. Click Install service. The window should close and the service will now be available to run.

Configuring Radarr-4K

7. Next we’ll need to configure the new service to use its own port, the entry for which is in a config.xml file. This file is created when you first run the service, so start up Radarr-4K with nssm start Radarr-4K in Command Prompt.

8. Navigate to your new data directory (C:-4K in this case) to see if the config.xml file is there. If it is, go ahead and stop Radarr-4K with nssm stop Radarr-4K. (Don’t worry, we’ll be starting it back up in a second.)

9. Open the config.xml file using your preferred text editor. There should only be a handful of lines, but the important one is <Port>7878</Port>.

Since the first Radarr instance will occupy port 7878, the second instance must use another available port, like 7879 or 17878. I prefer the latter, so I changed the line to <Port>17878</Port>. Don’t change anything else.

9. After you’ve set a new port, save the file and close your text editor.
10. With both services fully installed and properly configured, you can now start them:
    • nssm start Radarr (accessible via http://ip_address:7878)
    • nssm start Radarr-4K (accessible via http://ip_address:17878)

Notes

• Though this tutorial was tested using Command Prompt, it should work with Windows Terminal as well. But, if you’re feeling cautious, just go with Command Prompt.
• A previous version of this installation guide encouraged users to copy Radarr’s config.xml file to Radarr-4K’s data directory. However, you’ll run into trouble with this method, especially if you have authentication enabled. I’d recommend starting with a clean config.xml file, created when you start the service for the first time (Step 7).
• If one Radarr instance is updated, both instances will shutdown and only the updated one will start again. To fix this, you will have to manually start the other instance, or you may want to look into using the below powershell script to address the problem until an official solution is found.

Port Checker and Restarter PowerShell Script

When you use two Radarr instances and one of it is updating, it will kill both instances ( by killing all running radarr.console.exe ). Only the one which is updating will come back online.

To keep both online i made a powershell script which i run as a scheduled task.

It checks the ports and if one is not online, it will (re-)start the scheduled task to launch radarr.

Create a new File and name it RadarrInstancesChecker.ps1 with the below code.

Create a scheduled task which triggers on launch and set it to repeat every 5 or 10mins. - Trigger: - On launch - Repeat every 5 or 10 mins - Action: - Launch Application/Programm - Enter powershell as programm - Add your script as argument: -File D:\RadarrInstancesChecker.ps1

Adjust ur pathes, ip, ports and scheduled task names.

RadarrInstancesChecker.ps1

################################################################################################
### RadarrInstancesChecker.ps1                                                               ###
################################################################################################
### Keeps multiple Radarr Instances up by checking the port                                  ###
### Please use Radarr´s Discord or Reddit for support!                                       ###
### https://github.com/Radarr/Radarr/wiki/Installing-Multiple-Instances-of-Radarr-on-Windows ###
################################################################################################
### Version: 1.1                                                                             ###
### Updated: 2020-10-22                                                                      ###
### Author:  reloxx13                                                                        ###
################################################################################################



### SET YOUR CONFIGURATION HERE ###
# Set your host ip and port correctly and use your service or scheduledtask names!

# (string) The type how Radarr is starting
# "Service" (default) Service process is used
# "ScheduledTask" Task Scheduler is used
$startType = "Service"

# (bool) Writes the log to C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\log.txt when enabled
# $false (default)
# $true
$logToFile = $false


$instances = @(
    [pscustomobject]@{   # Instance 1
        Name='Radarr-V3';    # (string) Service or Task name (default: Radarr-V3)
        IP='192.168.178.12'; # (string) Server IP where Radarr runs (default: 192.168.178.12)
        Port='7873';         # (string) Server Port where Radarr runs (default: 7873)
    }
    [pscustomobject]@{   # Instance 2
        Name='Radarr-4K';    # (string) Service or Task name (default: Radarr-V3)
        IP='192.168.178.12'; # (string) Server IP where Radarr runs (default: 192.168.178.12)
        Port='7874';         # (string) Server Port where Radarr runs (default: 7874)
    }
    # If needed you can add more instances here...
    # [pscustomobject]@{   # Instance 3
        # Name='Radarr-3D';    # (string) Service or Task name (default: Radarr-3D)
        # IP='192.168.178.12'; # (string) Server IP where Radarr runs (default: 192.168.178.12)
        # Port='7875';         # (string) Server Port where Radarr runs (default: 7875)
    # }
)


### DONT CHANGE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE ###


###
# This function will write to a log file or in console output
###
function Write-Log {
    #Will write to C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\log.txt
    
    Param(
        $Message,
        $Path = "$env:USERPROFILE\log.txt" 
    )

    function TS {Get-Date -Format 'hh:mm:ss'}
    
    #Console output
    Write-Output "[$(TS)]$Message"
    
    #File Output
    if($logToFile){
        "[$(TS)]$Message" | Tee-Object -FilePath $Path -Append | Write-Verbose
    }
}


Write-Log "START ====================="


$instances | ForEach-Object {
    Write-Log "Check $($_.Name) $($_.IP):$($_.Port)"
    
    $PortOpen = ( Test-NetConnection $_.IP -Port $_.Port -WarningAction SilentlyContinue ).TcpTestSucceeded 
    
    if (!$PortOpen) {
        Write-Log "Port $($_.Port) is closed, restart $($startType) $($_.Name)!"

        if($startType -eq "Service"){
            Get-Service -Name $_.Name | Stop-Service
            Get-Service -Name $_.Name | Start-Service
        }
        elseif($startType -eq "ScheduledTask"){
            Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName $_.Name | Stop-ScheduledTask
            Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName $_.Name | Start-ScheduledTask
        }
        else{
            Write-Log "[ERROR] STARTTYPE UNKNOWN! USE Service or ScheduledTask !"
        }
    }else{
        Write-Log "Port $($_.Port) is open!"
    }
}

Write-Log "END ====================="