Placeholdarr

Placeholdarr keeps titles visible in Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby without requiring everything to stay downloaded. It is AI-developed, maintained by TheIndieArmy, and inspired by Infinite Plex Library and Chronicle.

Credits

• Jellyfin support integration: Thanks to Priky-one for implementing Jellyfin support.
• GHCR Docker workflow support: Thanks to aves-omni for GitHub Container Registry workflow integration.

Overview

Placeholdarr allows you to maintain a comprehensive Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby library without the storage overhead of keeping everything downloaded at once. It automates placeholder creation, status tracking, and on-demand downloads.

Benefits & Features

• Keep your library visible without downloading everything.
  Placeholders let users browse and request content first, then download on demand.
• Reduce storage churn while keeping content discoverable.
  Great for large import lists, rolling retention workflows, and "watch-when-needed" setups.
• Support modern multi-instance stacks.
  Works with Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, and multiple Radarr/Sonarr instances.
• Automate status and release workflows.
  Startup sync, calendar workflows, queue tracking, and playback-driven search are built in.
• Stay practical for real-world ops.
  Hardlink/copy placeholder strategies, cleanup automation, and onboarding-first configuration.

How It Works

1. Add content to Radarr/Sonarr without immediately searching/downloading.
2. Placeholdarr creates lightweight placeholder files in your configured placeholder libraries.
3. Users see those titles in Plex/Jellyfin/Emby like normal catalog items.
4. Playback or automation events trigger search/download flows, and placeholders are replaced when real media arrives.

Getting Started

1. Run the included docker-compose.yml.
2. Open Placeholdarr and complete onboarding in the WebUI.
3. Configure ARR/media-server webhooks using the URLs shown in onboarding.

Configuration Notes

Placeholdarr is onboarding-first: most behavior is configured in the WebUI.

• Library strategy (recommended):
  • Keep placeholder libraries separate from real-media libraries when possible.
  • Combined libraries are supported, but media-server trash behavior can be less predictable.
  • Placeholder output paths should be different from ARR root paths.
• Environment variables: use .env primarily for infrastructure/runtime overrides (host/port/log level/database).

Troubleshooting

• Check logs in /config/logs/ for startup, webhook, and sync details.
• Log files under /config/logs/ capture full detail (VERBOSE/DEBUG and above). Use the System Logs tab display filter to narrow what you read.