Lidarr

Automated music library management with intelligent quality upgrades

Lidarr is an independent fork of Sonarr reworked for automatically downloading music via Usenet and BitTorrent. Inspired by proven downloaders like Headphones, Lidarr brings modern architecture, intuitive management, and intelligent automation to your music library. Seamlessly integrated into QuickBox Pro, Lidarr monitors new album releases, manages quality upgrades, and keeps your collection organized with rich metadata and artwork.

Installation

Basic Installation

Install Lidarr (master/release branch) for a specific user:

qb install lidarr -u username

Installation Variants & CLI Commands

Accessing Lidarr

After installation, access Lidarr at:

https://your-server-ip/username/lidarr

Initial Configuration

1. Configure Download Client

• Settings → Download Clients → Add (+)
• Select your client (qBittorrent, Deluge, etc.)
• Enter connection details (enable advanced settings to access URL Base):

• Test connection and save

2. Add Indexers via Prowlarr (Recommended)

Prowlarr provides centralized indexer management:

1. Install Prowlarr: qb install prowlarr -u username
2. In Prowlarr, go to Settings → Apps
3. Add Lidarr as an application
4. Indexers automatically sync to Lidarr

Alternative: Manual indexers via Settings → Indexers → Add (+)

3. Set Root Folder

• Settings → Media Management → Root Folders
• Add folder for music (e.g., /home/username/Media/Music)

4. Quality Profiles & Upgrades

Configure quality preferences and automatic upgrades:

1. Settings → Profiles
2. Edit or create quality profile
3. Set Upgrade Until to your desired maximum quality
4. Enable Upgrades Allowed

Example workflow:

• Download MP3-320 when album is released
• Lidarr automatically upgrades to FLAC when available
• Stops at your cutoff (e.g., FLAC) to avoid excessive file sizes

Recommended File Naming

Media Management Settings:

✓ Rename Tracks
✓ Replace Illegal Characters
✓ Standard Track Format: {Artist Name} - {Album Title} - {track:00} - {Track Title}
✓ Album Folder Format: {Artist Name} - {Album Title} ({Release Year})
✓ Artist Folder Format: {Artist Name}

Adding Music

1. Click Add New button
2. Search for artist by name
3. Select the artist from search results (powered by MusicBrainz)
4. Choose:
   • Root Folder
   • Quality Profile
   • Monitor settings (see below)
   • Metadata profile
5. Click Add Artist

Monitoring Options

• All Albums - Monitor and download all albums (past and future)
• Future Albums - Only monitor new releases from now on
• Missing Albums - Download missing albums from existing discography
• Existing Albums - Don’t search for old albums
• First Album - Only monitor first album
• Latest Album - Only monitor the most recent release

Service Management

Lidarr runs as a systemd service for reliability and automatic startup.

systemctl status lidarr@username     # Check status
systemctl restart lidarr@username    # Restart service
journalctl -u lidarr@username -f     # View live logs
systemctl enable lidarr@username     # Start on boot
systemctl disable lidarr@username    # Prevent auto-start

Troubleshooting

Lidarr Won’t Start

journalctl -u lidarr@username -f

Check for port conflicts:

grep -E '<Port>' ~/.config/Lidarr/config.xml
# Default: 8646

Downloads Not Appearing

Audio Fingerprinting Not Working

# Verify Chromaprint fpcalc is installed
which fpcalc
# Should return: /usr/local/bin/fpcalc
 
# Reinstall if missing
qb reinstall lidarr -u username

Permission Issues

qb fix permissions -u username
systemctl restart lidarr@username

Database Issues

# Backup current database
cp ~/.config/Lidarr/lidarr.db ~/.config/Lidarr/lidarr.db.backup
 
# Vacuum database to optimize
sqlite3 ~/.config/Lidarr/lidarr.db "VACUUM;"
 
# Reinstall to attempt repair
qb reinstall lidarr -u username

Best Practices

Use Cases

Automated Music Collection

• Building a complete music library automatically
• Monitoring new album releases from favorite artists
• Upgrading older albums to better quality
• Organizing a messy music collection

Multiple Quality Tiers

• Standard MP3 collection for mobile devices
• Lossless FLAC collection for home listening
• Separate quality profiles for different genres

Audio Quality Management

• New album? Lidarr grabs MP3-320 immediately
• FLAC available? Lidarr upgrades automatically
• Stops at your cutoff to save storage space

Related Applications

Additional Resources