plex-arr-stack

A complete Docker Compose media server stack — Plex, Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, Prowlarr, qBittorrent, and useful extras. One command to deploy, fully configurable via .env.

Target audience: Users comfortable with Linux basics and Docker who want a turnkey media automation setup.

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                         INDEXERS (Usenet / Torrent)                  │
└──────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┘
                               │
                        ┌──────▼──────┐
                  ┌─────│  Prowlarr   │─────┐
                  │     │  :9696      │     │
                  │     └──────┬──────┘     │
                  │            │             │
           ┌──────▼──────┐ ┌──▼───────┐ ┌──▼───────┐
           │   Sonarr    │ │  Radarr  │ │  Lidarr  │
           │   :8989     │ │  :7878   │ │  :8686   │
           │  (TV Shows) │ │ (Movies) │ │ (Music)  │
           └──────┬──────┘ └────┬─────┘ └────┬─────┘
                  │             │             │
                  └──────┬──────┘─────────────┘
                         │
                  ┌──────▼──────┐     ┌──────────────┐
                  │ qBittorrent │     │   Autobrr    │
                  │   :8080     │◄────│   :7474      │
                  └──────┬──────┘     └──────────────┘
                         │
              ┌──────────┼──────────┐
              │          │          │
       ┌──────▼───┐ ┌───▼────┐ ┌──▼───────┐
       │Unpackerr │ │ Bazarr │ │   Plex   │
       │(extract) │ │ :6767  │ │  :32400  │
       └──────────┘ │(subs)  │ └──────────┘
                    └────────┘      │
                               ┌────▼─────┐
                               │ Tautulli │
                               │  :8181   │
                               └──────────┘

        ┌────────────┐    ┌────────────┐
        │ Notifiarr  │    │  Homepage  │
        │   :5454    │    │   :3000    │
        └────────────┘    └────────────┘

Data flow

1. Prowlarr manages indexer connections and syncs them to Sonarr, Radarr, and Lidarr.
2. Sonarr / Radarr / Lidarr search for media, send download requests to qBittorrent.
3. Autobrr monitors IRC announce channels for instant grabs, sending to qBittorrent or the *arrs.
4. qBittorrent downloads torrents to /data/torrents/{tv,movies,music}.
5. Unpackerr extracts archived downloads so the *arrs can import them.
6. The *arrs hardlink (or copy) completed downloads into /data/media/{tv,movies,music}.
7. Plex serves the organized media library to your devices.
8. Bazarr fetches subtitles for content in Sonarr and Radarr.
9. Tautulli monitors Plex activity and history.
10. Notifiarr sends notifications (Discord, Telegram, etc.) from all services.
11. Homepage provides a dashboard with service status and quick links.

Services

Service	Port	Purpose
Plex	32400	Media server
Sonarr	8989	TV show management
Radarr	7878	Movie management
Lidarr	8686	Music management
Prowlarr	9696	Indexer management
qBittorrent	8080	Torrent downloads
Autobrr	7474	IRC autodl / filters
Unpackerr	—	Auto-extract archives
Bazarr	6767	Subtitle management
Tautulli	8181	Plex monitoring
Notifiarr	5454	Notifications hub
Homepage	3000	Dashboard

Quick Start

1. Prerequisites

Make sure you have Docker and Docker Compose installed. See docs/prerequisites.md for details.

2. Clone and configure

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/plex-arr-stack.git
cd plex-arr-stack

# Copy the example env file and edit it
cp .env.example .env
nano .env

At minimum, set these values in .env:

• PUID / PGID — run id to find yours
• TZ — your timezone
• CONFIG_DIR — where service configs will be stored
• DATA_DIR — your root data directory (see docs/storage.md)
• PLEX_CLAIM — get a token at plex.tv/claim

3. Create the directory structure

# Create the data directories (adjust DATA_DIR to match your .env)
DATA_DIR=/opt/plex-arr-stack/data

sudo mkdir -p "$DATA_DIR"/{media/{movies,tv,music},torrents/{movies,tv,music}}
sudo chown -R $(id -u):$(id -g) "$DATA_DIR"

4. Start the stack

docker compose up -d

5. Configure services

Follow the setup guides in order:

1. qBittorrent — download client
2. Prowlarr — indexer management
3. Sonarr — TV shows
4. Radarr — movies
5. Lidarr — music
6. Plex — media server
7. Bazarr — subtitles
8. Autobrr — IRC autodl
9. Unpackerr — auto-extract
10. Tautulli — monitoring
11. Notifiarr — notifications
12. Homepage — dashboard

Disabling Services

Don't need everything? Comment out any service block in docker-compose.yml:

  # bazarr:
  #   image: lscr.io/linuxserver/bazarr:latest
  #   ...

Then run docker compose up -d again to apply.

Documentation

Guide	Description
Prerequisites	Hardware recs, OS setup, Docker install
Storage	Directory structure, permissions, hardlinks
Networking	Reverse proxy, Cloudflare tunnels, remote access
Maintenance	Backups, updates, logs, troubleshooting

Further Reading

• TRaSH Guides — quality profiles, naming conventions, and best practices
• LinuxServer.io — container documentation
• Servarr Wiki — official *arr documentation