Radarr — Automated Movie Collection Manager

Introduction

Radarr is a fork of Sonarr adapted for movies. It monitors indexers and RSS feeds for movie releases, sends downloads to your preferred client, and organizes the files in your library. It can track upcoming releases and automatically grab them when they become available in your desired quality.

What Radarr Does

• Searches Usenet and torrent indexers for movie releases matching your wanted list
• Sends found releases to download clients like SABnzbd, qBittorrent, or Deluge
• Renames and moves completed downloads into an organized movie library
• Monitors for quality upgrades and replaces files when better releases appear
• Tracks upcoming and in-cinema movies with availability-based downloading

Architecture Overview

Radarr is written in C# on .NET and runs as a self-contained web application. It stores configuration, history, and movie metadata in an embedded SQLite database. A scheduler handles RSS sync, list imports, and disk operations. Communication with download clients and indexers happens through their APIs. The front end is a React-based single-page application served by the built-in web server.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Deploy via Docker, native installers for Windows/macOS/Linux, or FreeBSD packages
• Access the web UI on port 7878 to add movies and configure settings
• Add indexers directly or use Prowlarr to sync indexer configurations
• Set quality profiles to define resolution and codec preferences per movie or globally
• Configure root folders pointing to your movie library storage paths

Key Features

• Custom formats for fine-grained release filtering by codec, resolution, source, and group
• List integration importing movies from TMDb, Trakt, IMDb, or Plex watchlists
• Manual and interactive search with instant feedback on available releases
• Multiple download client support with priority ordering
• Comprehensive notification system supporting Discord, Slack, Telegram, webhooks, and more

Comparison with Similar Tools

• Sonarr — Same codebase lineage but designed for TV shows, not movies
• CouchPotato — Older Python-based movie grabber, largely inactive development
• Watcher3 — Lightweight Python alternative, fewer features and smaller community
• Jellyseerr — Request management layer that feeds into Radarr, not a standalone downloader
• Plex — Media server that plays content but does not handle downloading or organizing

FAQ

Q: How does Radarr differ from Sonarr? A: Radarr is optimized for movies (single files, TMDb metadata, availability tracking) while Sonarr handles TV series (episodes, seasons, ongoing monitoring). They share similar codebases and UI patterns.

Q: Can Radarr import my existing movie library? A: Yes. Point Radarr to your movie root folder and use Library Import to scan existing files. It matches them against TMDb and begins monitoring for upgrades.

Q: What are custom formats? A: Custom formats let you score releases based on attributes like codec (x265 vs x264), HDR metadata, audio format, or release group. Radarr uses these scores to pick the best available release.

Q: Does Radarr work with Plex or Jellyfin? A: Yes. Radarr sends library update notifications after importing movies so your media server re-scans and indexes new content immediately.

Sources

• https://github.com/Radarr/Radarr
• https://wiki.servarr.com/radarr