Huntarr [Sonarr Edition] - Force Sonarr to Hunt Missing Shows & Upgrade Episode Qualities

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NOTE: This utilizes Sonarr API Version - 5.

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Related Projects
• Features
• How It Works
• Configuration Options
• Installation Methods
  • Docker Run
  • Docker Compose
  • Unraid Users
  • SystemD Service
• Use Cases
• Tips
• Troubleshooting

Overview

This script continually searches your Sonarr library for shows with missing episodes and episodes that need quality upgrades. It automatically triggers searches for both missing episodes and episodes below your quality cutoff. It's designed to run continuously while being gentle on your indexers, helping you gradually complete your TV show collection with the best available quality.

Related Projects

• Huntarr - Radarr Edition - Sister version for movies
• Huntarr - Lidarr Edition - Sister version for music
• Unraid Intel ARC Deployment - Convert videos to AV1 Format (I've saved 325TB encoding to AV1)
• Visit PlexGuide for more great scripts

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Features

• 🔄 Continuous Operation: Runs indefinitely until manually stopped
• 🎯 Dual Targeting System: Targets both missing episodes and quality upgrades
• 🎲 Random Selection: By default, selects shows and episodes randomly to distribute searches across your library
• ⏱️ Throttled Searches: Includes configurable delays to prevent overloading indexers
• 📊 Status Reporting: Provides clear feedback about what it's doing and which shows it's searching for
• 🛡️ Error Handling: Gracefully handles connection issues and API failures
• 🔁 State Tracking: Remembers which shows and episodes have been processed to avoid duplicate searches
• ⚙️ Configurable Reset Timer: Automatically resets search history after a configurable period
• 📦 Modular Design: Modern codebase with separated concerns for easier maintenance

Indexers Approving of Huntarr:

• https://ninjacentral.co.za

How It Works

1. Initialization: Connects to your Sonarr instance and analyzes your library
2. Missing Episodes:
   • Identifies shows with missing episodes
   • Randomly selects shows to process (up to configurable limit)
   • Refreshes metadata and triggers searches
3. Quality Upgrades:
   • Finds episodes that don't meet your quality cutoff settings
   • Processes them in configurable batches
   • Uses smart pagination to handle large libraries
4. State Management:
   • Tracks which shows and episodes have been processed
   • Automatically resets this tracking after a configurable time period
5. Repeat Cycle: Waits for a configurable period before starting the next cycle

Missing Episodes Demo	Quality Upgrade Demo
State Management System

Configuration Options

The following environment variables can be configured:

Variable	Description	Default
API_KEY	Your Sonarr API key	Required
API_URL	URL to your Sonarr instance	Required
API_TIMEOUT	Timeout in seconds for API requests to Sonarr	60
MONITORED_ONLY	Only process monitored shows/episodes	true
HUNT_MISSING_SHOWS	Maximum missing shows to process per cycle	1
HUNT_UPGRADE_EPISODES	Maximum upgrade episodes to process per cycle	0
SLEEP_DURATION	Seconds to wait after completing a cycle (900 = 15 minutes)	900
RANDOM_SELECTION	Use random selection (true) or sequential (false)	true
STATE_RESET_INTERVAL_HOURS	Hours which the processed state files reset (168=1 week, 0=never reset)	168
DEBUG_MODE	Enable detailed debug logging (true or false)	false

Detailed Configuration Explanation

• API_TIMEOUT

  • Sets the maximum number of seconds to wait for Sonarr API responses before timing out.
  • This is particularly important when working with large libraries or when checking for many quality upgrades.
  • If you experience timeout errors (especially during the "Checking for Quality Upgrades" phase), increase this value.
  • For libraries with thousands of episodes needing quality upgrades, values of 90-120 seconds may be necessary.
  • Default is 60 seconds, which works well for most medium-sized libraries.

• HUNT_MISSING_SHOWS

  • Sets the maximum number of missing shows to process in each cycle.
  • Once this limit is reached, the script stops processing further missing shows until the next cycle.
  • Set to 0 to disable missing show processing completely.

• HUNT_UPGRADE_EPISODES

  • Sets the maximum number of upgrade episodes to process in each cycle.
  • When this limit is reached, the upgrade portion of the cycle stops.
  • Set to 0 to disable quality upgrade processing completely.

• RANDOM_SELECTION

  • When true, selects shows and episodes randomly, which helps distribute searches across your library.
  • When false, processes items sequentially, which can be more predictable and methodical.

• STATE_RESET_INTERVAL_HOURS

  • Controls how often the script "forgets" which items it has already processed.
  • The script records the IDs of missing shows and upgrade episodes that have been processed.
  • When the age of these records exceeds the number of hours set by this variable, the records are cleared automatically.
  • This reset allows the script to re-check items that were previously processed.
  • Setting this to 0 will disable the reset functionality entirely - processed items will be remembered indefinitely.
  • Default is 168 hours (one week) - meaning the script will start fresh weekly.

• DEBUG_MODE

  • When set to true, the script will output detailed debugging information about API responses and internal operations.
  • Useful for troubleshooting issues but can make logs verbose.

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Installation Methods

Docker Run

The simplest way to run Huntarr is via Docker:

docker run -d --name huntarr-sonarr \
  --restart always \
  -e API_KEY="your-api-key" \
  -e API_URL="http://your-sonarr-address:8989" \
  -e MONITORED_ONLY="true" \
  -e HUNT_MISSING_SHOWS="1" \
  -e HUNT_UPGRADE_EPISODES="0" \
  -e SLEEP_DURATION="900" \
  -e RANDOM_SELECTION="true" \
  -e STATE_RESET_INTERVAL_HOURS="168" \
  -e DEBUG_MODE="false" \
  huntarr/4sonarr:latest

To check on the status of the program, you should see new files downloading or you can type:

docker logs huntarr-sonarr

Docker Compose

For those who prefer Docker Compose, add this to your docker-compose.yml file:

version: "3.8"
services:
  huntarr-sonarr:
    image: huntarr/4sonarr:latest
    container_name: huntarr-sonarr
    restart: always
    environment:
      API_KEY: "your-api-key"
      API_URL: "http://your-sonarr-address:8989"
      API_TIMEOUT: "60"
      MONITORED_ONLY: "true"
      HUNT_MISSING_SHOWS: "1"
      HUNT_UPGRADE_EPISODES: "0"
      SLEEP_DURATION: "900"
      RANDOM_SELECTION: "true"
      STATE_RESET_INTERVAL_HOURS: "168"
      DEBUG_MODE: "false"

Then run:

docker-compose up -d huntarr-sonarr

Unraid Users

Run this from Command Line in Unraid:

docker run -d --name huntarr-sonarr \
  --restart always \
  -e API_KEY="your-api-key" \
  -e API_URL="http://your-sonarr-address:8989" \
  -e API_TIMEOUT="60" \
  -e MONITORED_ONLY="true" \
  -e HUNT_MISSING_SHOWS="1" \
  -e HUNT_UPGRADE_EPISODES="0" \
  -e SLEEP_DURATION="900" \
  -e RANDOM_SELECTION="true" \
  -e STATE_RESET_INTERVAL_HOURS="168" \
  -e DEBUG_MODE="false" \
  huntarr/4sonarr:latest

SystemD Service

For a more permanent installation on Linux systems using SystemD:

1. Save the script to /usr/local/bin/huntarr.sh
2. Make it executable: chmod +x /usr/local/bin/huntarr.sh
3. Create a systemd service file at /etc/systemd/system/huntarr.service:

[Unit]
Description=Huntarr Service
After=network.target sonarr.service

[Service]
Type=simple
User=your-username
Environment="API_KEY=your-api-key"
Environment="API_URL=http://localhost:8989"
Environment="API_TIMEOUT=60"
Environment="MONITORED_ONLY=true"
Environment="HUNT_MISSING_SHOWS=1"
Environment="HUNT_UPGRADE_EPISODES=0"
Environment="SLEEP_DURATION=900"
Environment="RANDOM_SELECTION=true"
Environment="STATE_RESET_INTERVAL_HOURS=168"
Environment="DEBUG_MODE=false"
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/huntarr.sh
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

4. Enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl enable huntarr
sudo systemctl start huntarr

Use Cases

• Library Completion: Gradually fill in missing episodes of TV shows
• Quality Improvement: Automatically upgrade episode quality as better versions become available
• New Show Setup: Automatically find episodes for newly added shows
• Background Service: Run it in the background to continuously maintain your library
• Smart Rotation: With state tracking, ensures all content gets attention over time

Tips

• First-Time Use: Start with default settings to ensure it works with your setup
• Adjusting Speed: Lower the SLEEP_DURATION to search more frequently (be careful with indexer limits)
• Batch Size Control: Adjust HUNT_MISSING_SHOWS and HUNT_UPGRADE_EPISODES based on your indexer's rate limits
• Monitored Status: Set MONITORED_ONLY=false if you want to download all missing episodes regardless of monitored status
• System Resources: The script uses minimal resources and can run continuously on even low-powered systems
• Debugging Issues: Enable DEBUG_MODE=true temporarily to see detailed logs when troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

• API Key Issues: Check that your API key is correct in Sonarr settings
• Connection Problems: Ensure the Sonarr URL is accessible from where you're running the script
• Command Failures: If search commands fail, try using the Sonarr UI to verify what commands are available in your version
• Logs: Check the container logs with docker logs huntarr-sonarr if running in Docker
• Debug Mode: Enable DEBUG_MODE=true to see detailed API responses and process flow
• State Files: The script stores state in /tmp/huntarr-state/ - if something seems stuck, you can try deleting these files

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Change Log:

• v1: Original code written
• v2: Optimized search
• v3: Variable names changed for docker optimization
• v4: Added monitored only tag
• v5: Added quality upgrade functionality to find episodes below cutoff quality
• v6: Added state tracking to prevent duplicate searches
• v7: Implemented configurable state reset timer
• v8: Added debug mode and improved error handling
• v9: Enhanced random selection mode for better distribution
• v10: Renamed from "Sonarr Hunter" to "Huntarr"
• v11: Complete modular refactoring for better maintainability
• v12: Improved variable naming with HUNT_ prefix
• v13: Enhanced state management and cycle processing

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This script helps automate the tedious process of finding missing episodes and quality upgrades in your TV collection, running quietly in the background while respecting your indexers' rate limits.

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Thanks to:

IntensiveCareCub for the Hunter to Huntarr idea!