Integrations
Works with the tools you already run
If you keep your library tidy with library managers such as Sonarr and Radarr, Playarr Server reads the result. It does not replace them, it does not duplicate them, and their own interfaces carry on working exactly as before.
What Playarr Server takes from them: the titles, the file paths those titles resolve to, and the metadata identifiers already established. That is what turns a folder of files into a catalogue with correct posters, correct episode ordering and correct cast lists.
What Playarr Server does not do: it performs no indexing and obtains no media itself. When a user with request rights asks for a title, it sends the request where the administrator's "Where requests go" setting says. The default is Direct, which asks your own Radarr or Sonarr to add the title and look for it. Ombi or Seerr receive requests only if chosen there. What those applications then do is set up and controlled by you, and is your responsibility. It is a playback, catalogue and metadata layer over storage you already control.
Library managers
| Application | Covers | What Playarr Server reads | If it is not connected |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sonarr | Series library | Series, seasons and episodes, the file paths they resolve to, and their metadata identifiers. | No series appear in the catalogue. |
| Radarr | Film library | Films, the file paths they resolve to, and their metadata identifiers. | No films appear in the catalogue. |
| Lidarr | Music library | Artists, albums and tracks, with their MusicBrainz identifiers. | No music appears in the catalogue. |
| Readarr | Book library | Authors and books, with their identifiers. | No books appear in the catalogue. |
| Bazarr | Subtitles | Which subtitle files exist for an item, and in which languages. | Only subtitle tracks already inside the media file are offered. |
| Prowlarr | Fleet management | The list of applications it manages, so Playarr can be pointed at them consistently. | Each application is registered individually instead. Nothing is lost. |
Playarr Server builds its catalogue from what these applications have already reconciled, rather than scanning folders itself, connect at least one of the four library applications and your titles appear.
Transcoding at library scale
Tdarr
Playarr dispatches library-wide re-encode work to a Tdarr worker pool and tracks its progress, keeping that work entirely separate from latency-sensitive playback.
Keeping the two apart matters. Someone pressing play should never wait behind a queue of library maintenance, and library maintenance should never be starved by playback. They are separate systems with separate priorities, and background work steps back while people are watching.
Metadata and artwork
Artwork and metadata identifiers arrive with the records Playarr Server reads from your library managers. Artwork is fetched once and cached on your own disk, so browsing does not hammer an upstream service every time a poster scrolls past.
This site and any Playarr Server installation showing that imagery carry the required notice , see licences and attribution.
Setting them up
Each connection is a URL and an API key, added from the admin console. The setup guide walks through each one and explains what to expect on the first synchronisation.