this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2026
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How does one get started with the *arr stack? (sopuli.xyz)
submitted 6 days ago by goddard_guryon@sopuli.xyz to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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Hey guys! After over 2 years of me asking how to take the first steps in self-hosting, I think I've finally got most of the things I need set up (except for a mailcow server proxied through a VPS, but that's for another day). I've been seeing a bunch of posts here about the *arr stack, and only recently it piqued my interest enough to really warrant a serious look. But I'll be honest, it's a bit confusing. For now, I'm just thinking of starting up the whole suite on my machine, then slowly expose to internet the parts I find useful (and shut down the parts I don't). But I really can't find any good...tutorial(?) on how to quickly get the whole stack running, and I'm a bit worried about launching individual apps since I don't know if/how they communicate with each other. So I'll try to summarize my, quite naïve, questions here:

  • how exactly do I set up a quick stack? Is that possible? And more importantly, is that recommended?
  • most of the tutorials/stacks I see online use plex for video streaming, but seeing a lot of negativity around plex and its pricing, I reckon using jellyfin would be better. Does it just plug into the ecosystem as easily as plex apparently does?
  • I've already set up a hack-ish navidrome instance to stream music, but managing files is a real hassle with it. Does sonarr(?) do it any better?

I know most of these questions can be easily answered through some LLM (which I don't wanna rely on) or scouring documentation (which honestly look a bit daunting from my point right now), so I figured it'd be best to ask here. Thanks for any help!

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[–] TheMadCodger@piefed.social 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

What are you running? Does it happen to be some all in one solution like Synology or Ugreen?

But the gist of it is you get the arrs running in a docker stack, jellyfin running in another. You don't actually have to point them at each other: the arrs dump your films/series into a media folder you define. You tell your jellyfin server what folder has your media and bob's your uncle.

I prefer using Usenet to download my media. Pros, not torrent, less risk. Cons, costs a bit each year.

[–] Jayb151@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

How does one get started with Usenet?

[–] TheMadCodger@piefed.social 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

You need two subscriptions. One to an indexer (https://nzb.su/) which acts like a search engine, and two to a Usenet that hosts media (https://frugalusenet.com/). These two aren't the only two options out there, but I've been using them for years. YMMV.

Once you have those subscriptions, you need to run sabnzbd in a docker container near your arrs, and point your arrs to the indexer as well as to sabnzbd. Tell Sonarr you want to find a show, it uses the indexer to see where it can be found, tells sabnzbd to acquire it using the servers you paid for in the Usenet group, downloads and pieces it back together and then files it where Sonarr tells it to. Jellyfin notices that media folder has something new, and you can watch it wherever.

For more interesting cat facts, be sure to smash that subscribe button.

[–] Jayb151@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Thank you my friend

[–] TheMadCodger@piefed.social 1 points 5 days ago

I remember what it was like, newly adrift on the high seas. Ping me if you need help. ✌🏻

[–] goddard_guryon@sopuli.xyz 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I'm just using a bunch of independent docker containers behind nginx. But this now sounds a lot easier than I had in mind since a few apps I deployed were painful in the rear end when setting up correct folders. As for usenet, I'd have the same question as the other reply - in my mind it's an archaic (lol) network protocol which I have not the slightest idea about

[–] TheMadCodger@piefed.social 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Reason I asked about Synology was because there's a good guide here for the arr deployment. I adapted it for my ugreen nas. Might be able to find parallels with whatever set up you've got going on.

Usenet is archaic, but therein lies the protection. It's a straight download of disparate files that a program you run puts together. Safer than torrent, but your options may be more limited.

[–] goddard_guryon@sopuli.xyz 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Hah that makes a lot more sense. For now I think I'll stick with the independent containers approach, I have zero familiarity with synology so I better take it one at a time. But usenet sounds pretty interesting now, might give it a look just for the kicks haha

[–] TheMadCodger@piefed.social 2 points 5 days ago

Well, Synology is a brand name NAS aimed at beginners with their own "OS". Unless you were planning on dropping a decent chunk of change to buy one, it's a moot point. But because it's a popular option among people starting out, I was curious of that was your situation, in which case that link would walk you through everything you needed to know, including its quirks.

I replied to someone else in this thread on how to get started with Usenet if you're interested. It boils down to two subscriptions and another container running with your arrs stack.