Home Media Server Stack

This project is intended for use with legally obtained media. The authors take no responsibility for how the software is used.

A self-hosted home media server built on Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS and Docker. Automatically finds, downloads, organises, and subtitles movies, TV shows, and anime — fully local, no cloud accounts, no telemetry.

Designed for local network use only. No port forwarding or external access required.

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Stack Overview

Service	Purpose	Default Port
Sonarr	TV show and anime library manager	:8989
Radarr	Movie library manager	:7878
Prowlarr	Indexer manager — syncs sources to Sonarr and Radarr	:9696
qBittorrent	Torrent download client	:8081
Bazarr	Automatic subtitle downloader	:6767
Shoko Server	Anime library manager — AniDB identification and metadata	:8111

All ports are configurable in .env.

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Privacy

No service in this stack sends personal data, usage habits, or identifiable information to any external party.

Service	Telemetry	External Calls	Notes
Sonarr / Radarr	None	TVDB / TMDB title lookups	IP + title name only
Prowlarr	None	Indexer sites for search results	IP + search terms only
qBittorrent	None	Torrent peers and trackers	Standard torrent traffic
Bazarr	None	OpenSubtitles / Animetosho	IP + title name only
Shoko Server	None	AniDB for anime identification	IP + anime title only

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Prerequisites

• A machine running Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS (bare metal, no desktop environment)
• Static IP assigned to the server — via DHCP reservation on your router or set directly on the machine
• Sufficient storage for your media library
• curl and jq installed: sudo apt install -y curl jq

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Getting Started

1. Install Docker

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Log out and back in for the group change to take effect.

2. Configure your environment

cp .env.example .env

Open .env and fill in:

Variable	What to set	How to find it
PUID / PGID	Your user and group ID	Run id in terminal
TZ	Your timezone	Timezone list
MEDIA_ROOT	Where your media storage is mounted	e.g. /mnt/storage or /srv/media
SERVER_IP	This machine's local IP address	Run hostname -I

All other values (ports, config paths) have sensible defaults and can be left as-is unless you have conflicts.

3. Deploy

chmod +x deploy.sh
sudo ./deploy.sh

This runs the full deployment in one shot:

• Creates all required directories with correct ownership
• Starts all containers and waits until every service is ready
• Authenticates with every service and wires them together:
  • Connects qBittorrent to Sonarr and Radarr as the download client
  • Registers Prowlarr with Sonarr and Radarr for indexer syncing
  • Configures root media folders in Sonarr and Radarr
  • Connects Bazarr to Sonarr and Radarr

4. Verify everything is running

docker compose ps

All services should show running. To view logs for a specific service:

docker compose logs -f sonarr

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Post-Setup Configuration

Prowlarr — Add indexers

The wiring script connects Prowlarr to Sonarr and Radarr, but you still need to add your indexers. Go to Indexers > Add Indexer, search by name, and use the test button before saving. Once saved, Prowlarr pushes them to Sonarr and Radarr automatically — do not add indexers directly in either app.

Shoko Server — First-run setup

Shoko requires a one-time setup wizard before it can manage your library. Sonarr still handles searching and downloading — Shoko takes over AniDB identification, metadata, and organisation of /media/anime.

1. Open Shoko at http://<server-ip>:8111
2. Complete the setup wizard — create an admin account and connect to AniDB
3. Go to Import Folders and add /media/anime as an import folder
4. Trigger an initial scan to let Shoko identify your existing anime library

Bazarr — Subtitle provider setup

The wiring script connects Bazarr to Sonarr and Radarr, but subtitle providers require your account credentials and must be added manually.

1. Open Bazarr at http://<server-ip>:6767
2. Go to Settings > Providers and add at least one provider:
   • OpenSubtitles.com — free account required at opensubtitles.com
   • Animetosho — no account needed, recommended for anime
3. Go to Settings > Languages, create a language profile containing English, and set it as the default for both Series and Movies
4. Go to Movies and Series, select all existing content, and bulk edit to assign the English profile — this covers content added before the profile was set
5. Go to System > Tasks and run Search for Missing Subtitles to trigger an immediate download across your library

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Pre-Download Checklist

Before downloading anything, verify the full pipeline is correctly wired. Work through this once after ./deploy.sh completes.

Prowlarr

• Confirm at least one indexer is listed under Indexers
• Click the test icon on each indexer to confirm it is reachable
• Go to Settings > Apps and confirm Sonarr and Radarr both show green

Sonarr

• Go to Settings > Media Management > Root Folders and confirm /media/tvshows and /media/anime are listed
• Go to Settings > Download Clients and confirm qBittorrent shows green
• Go to Settings > Indexers and confirm your Prowlarr indexers have synced through

Radarr

• Go to Settings > Media Management > Root Folders and confirm /media/movies is listed
• Go to Settings > Download Clients and confirm qBittorrent shows green
• Go to Settings > Indexers and confirm your Prowlarr indexers have synced through

qBittorrent

• Confirm you can log in with your permanent password
• Go to Tools > Options > Downloads and confirm the default save path is /downloads
• Go to Tools > Options > Connection — a red port status means port 6881 is not forwarded on your router, which will significantly reduce download speeds. Forward 6881 TCP and UDP to your server's LAN IP in your router's admin panel.

Bazarr

• Go to Settings > Sonarr and Settings > Radarr and click Test on both — should return a version number
• Confirm at least one subtitle provider is listed under Settings > Providers
• Confirm a language profile is assigned under Settings > Languages with defaults set for both Series and Movies
• Confirm your library is populated under Movies and Series

Shoko Server

• Open the web UI and confirm the setup wizard is complete
• Confirm /media/anime is listed under Import Folders
• Confirm AniDB connection is active under Settings > AniDB
• Trigger a manual scan and confirm anime titles are being identified

End-to-End Test

Run through this once to confirm the full pipeline:

1. Add a movie in Radarr and trigger a search
2. Confirm a download starts in qBittorrent within a few minutes
3. Confirm the file is imported in Radarr once downloaded
4. Confirm subtitles were downloaded in Bazarr

If every step passes the full pipeline is working correctly.

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Directory Structure

Paths below reflect the defaults in .env.example. They can be changed to any location by editing .env.

/srv/
├── media/
│   ├── movies/          # Radarr output
│   ├── tvshows/         # Sonarr output
│   ├── anime/           # Sonarr output
│   ├── music/
│   └── photos/
├── downloads/           # qBittorrent download folder
├── sonarr/config/
├── radarr/config/
├── prowlarr/config/
├── qbittorrent/config/
├── bazarr/config/
└── shoko/config/

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Hardware Notes

This stack runs well on modest hardware. Reference build:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5500 (6-core, 12-thread, 4.2GHz boost)
• RAM: 16GB DDR4-3200
• OS Drive: Any SSD (NVMe recommended)
• Media Storage: Any HDD or SSD with sufficient capacity

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Useful Commands

# Start all services
docker compose up -d

# Stop all services
docker compose down

# Restart a single service
docker compose restart sonarr

# View live logs for a service
docker compose logs -f sonarr

# Pull latest images and restart
docker compose pull && docker compose up -d

# Check resource usage across containers
docker stats

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License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.

You are free to use, modify, and distribute this project, but any derivative work must also be distributed under the same license terms.