If you want to automate your BitTorrent or Usenet downloading using Sonarr, Radarr, and the likes, you will need an indexer manager or proxy, which these applications can use to search for files. Historically, Jackett was the application many chose for this function. Using Jackett, you could add indexers, and then configure them in both Sonarr and Radarr.
But as you might know, setting up Jackett and then configuring your other applications can be quite the chore. That is why you might want to replace it with a relatively new indexer manager called Prowlarr. If you are using Sonarr, Radarr, or any other *arr applications, Prowlarr’s interface will already be very familiar to you.
Kindly note that I do not condone the use of BitTorrent for illegal activities. I take no responsibility for what you do when setting up Prowlarr. It is for you to check your local laws before using automated downloaders such as Sonarr and Radarr.
Table of Contents
- Pre-release software with no issues thus far
- Connecting Prowlarr with Sonarr and Radarr
- Easy configuration of proxies and download clients
- Take a backseat with Prowlarr notifications
Pre-release software with no issues thus far
Before delving in to the application itself, a short warning: Prowlarr is still in a pre-release state. You should expect bugs to still be present, and depending on your configuration, the move away from Jackett might not be as easy as it was for me.
With that said, I have been using Prowlarr for over a month and have experienced no bugs thus far. The application has never frozen, and I have not had to restart it once. Development on Prowlarr is also very active and there are generally multiple updates released every month. At the time of writing, I am using Prowlarr version 0.2.0.1678.
As I’ve already noted, upon first opening Prowlarr in your browser, you are welcomed by a very familiar layout. A table displays all the indexers you have already added. You can choose which columns you displayed alongside the name, such as the categories, tags, and priority. By clicking the add indexer button, you can select indexers from a predefined list which includes various languages and public, private, and semi-private options.
Connecting Prowlarr with Sonarr and Radarr
On to Prowlarr’s most useful feature: easy integration with Sonarr, Radarr, and other apps. You configure everything in Prowlarr, and besides copying the API key, there is no need to even open any other app. You simply add an app, enter the API key and adjust the server, if needed, and everything else is taken care of. Prowlarr currently support the following apps:
- LazyLibrarian
- Lidarr
- Mylar
- Radarr
- Readarr
- Sonarr
- Whisparr
The next time you open your app’s settings, you will see that Prowlarr has already taken care of adding the indexers. You can choose from two sync levels (three, if you count disabling it), when setting up the app in Prowlarr:
- Add and remove only: This is useful if you like modifying indexers in apps besides Prowlarr. All Prowlarr will do is add new indexers and remove any you might have deleted.
- Full sync: This level lets Prowlarr dictate everything. If you were to make any changes to an indexer in an app, Prowlarr would overwrite those modifications with its information.
Easy configuration of proxies and download clients
Another feature of Prowlarr’s many of you will appreciate, is how easy it is to configure per-indexer proxies. Using this feature you can quickly configure a FlareSolverr, Http, Socks4, or Socks5 proxy. Using tags, you can then decide which indexer gets to use which proxy.
Just as with the proxies and apps, you can set up a download client with just a couple of clicks. All you need is the IP and port, and depending on which client you use, an API key or username and password. Currently, Prowlarr supports the following download clients:
- Usenet: Download Station, NZBGet, NZBVortex, Pneumatic, SABnzbd, and Usenet Blackhole.
- Torrent: Aria2, Deluge, Download Station, Flood, Hadouken, qBittorrent, rTorrent, Torrent Blackhole, Transmission, uTorrent, and Vuze.
Take a backseat with Prowlarr notifications
The last point of interest is Prowlarr’s notification capabilities. Using these notifications, it can push update information and health checks to which ever client you select. Currently, Prowlarr supports the following notification clients:
- Boxcar
- Discord
- Gotify
- Join
- Notifiarr
- Prowl
- Pushbullet
- Pushover
- SendGrid
- Slack
- Telegram
And if what you are looking for isn’t on the list, you might be able to configure it using a custom script or a webhook.
