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Recipes: app sets that arrive already connected

Q: Do Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr and Jellyfin get connected to each other automatically?

Yes. When a recipe installs them together, they are introduced on the way in: Sonarr and Radarr already know Prowlarr and the download client, and everything shares the same Downloads and Media folders. You add your indexers once in Prowlarr and they appear in Sonarr and Radarr on their own.

Q: Is a recipe different from installing the apps one by one?

Mechanically no — a recipe uses the same one-click install as any single app, in the right order, honouring your plan's limits app by app. What it adds is the order (some apps read their siblings' settings at install time) and a plain-language summary at the end of what got connected to what.

"I want to watch my media" shouldn't be answered with a taxonomy quiz. A recipe is a curated set of apps installed as one flow — in the right order, introduced to each other on the way in — with a plain-language summary at the end of what got connected to what. This page lists what's on the menu and is honest about the one thing you still do yourself.

Reading time: ~5 minutes · Applies to: every Cresdock plan, including the free one

1.Pick an outcome, not five apps

A one click media server setup usually means one app. The thing people actually want — follow a show, have new episodes arrive, watch them from the sofa — takes five apps that have to know about each other. Recipes close that gap: you pick the outcome, Cresdock installs the set.

Every recipe goes through the same one-click install path as a single app, one app at a time, honouring your plan's limits app by app. If a recipe would exceed your slots or a category limit, it says so before anything installs — and if you already have some of the apps, it installs only what's missing and connects it to what's there.

2.What "already connected" means

Install Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr, qBittorrent and Jellyfin by hand and you spend the evening copying API keys between settings pages. Install them as the Full media automation recipe and they're introduced on the way in: Sonarr and Radarr already know Prowlarr and qBittorrent, everything shares your Downloads and Media folders, and Jellyfin is pointed at your library.

The one thing left is yours by nature: adding your indexers or trackers to Prowlarr, once. They appear in Sonarr and Radarr on their own, and from then on anything you follow arrives without you touching the download client again.

The summary is the point. Auto-wiring is invisible precisely when it works — so every recipe ends with a plain-language note of what was connected to what, and what (if anything) it's still waiting on.

3.Watch and listen

🎬 Stream my media — qBittorrent + Jellyfin. Download, then watch anywhere. The smallest useful pair.
🤖 Full media automation — qBittorrent, Prowlarr, Sonarr, Radarr, Jellyfin. Follow shows and movies; new releases arrive on their own.
🏆 The complete media stack — automation plus the polish and request layers in one go, for people who already know they want everything.
📰 Usenet instead of torrents — SABnzbd + NZBHydra in place of the torrent side, same automation.
✨ Polish an automated library — Bazarr (subtitles), Recyclarr (quality settings), Unpackerr (archives) added onto an existing automation setup.
🙋 Let other people ask for things — Jellyseerr on top of Jellyfin + the *arrs, so family can request titles without touching your settings.
🎵 Music collection — qBittorrent + Lidarr + Navidrome.
📈 Plex, with the numbers — Plex + Tautulli.

4.Read

📚 Books, comics and audiobooks — Calibre-Web + Kavita + Audiobookshelf over your existing library folders.
💬 Comics, automatically — qBittorrent + Mylar + Kavita: follow a series, read new issues as they land.

5.Files

🗂️ My files, everywhere — Dufs + Syncthing + SFTPGo: browse, sync and transfer the same workspace three ways.
☁️ Replace your cloud drive — Nextcloud + Duplicati: your own drive, with backups that aren't optional.

6.Trackers and privacy

📶 Keep your ratio healthy — qBittorrent + Autobrr + cross-seed: catch releases early and seed the same data on more trackers. More on the tracker side in the seedbox guide.
🛡️ Private and ad-free — WireGuard + AdGuard Home: your own VPN into your box and DNS-level ad blocking. For what your box does about torrent privacy out of the box, see torrent privacy defaults.

7.The honest half

Your indexers are still yours to add. Tracker and indexer accounts are credentials only you have; every automation recipe leaves that one step to you, once, in Prowlarr or NZBHydra.
Recipes queue, they don't teleport. Five apps install one after another on the shared install queue — a couple of minutes, with the bell telling you when the set is up.
Plan limits still apply, app by app. A recipe never sneaks past a slot count or a category limit; it tells you what your plan refuses and installs the rest.
Order matters, and you don't have to care. Some apps read their siblings' settings at install time — the recipe installs in the order that works so you never learn why.

8.Common questions

Do Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr and Jellyfin get connected automatically?

Yes. When a recipe installs them together they're introduced on the way in: Sonarr and Radarr already know Prowlarr and the download client, and everything shares the same Downloads and Media folders. You add your indexers once in Prowlarr and they appear in Sonarr and Radarr on their own.

What if I already have some of the apps?

The recipe installs only what's missing and connects it to what you already have. Nothing you've set up is reinstalled or overwritten — a half-finished recipe tells you what it's still waiting on.

Is a recipe different from installing the apps one by one?

Mechanically no — same install path, same limits, same apps from the catalogue. What it adds is the right order and the introductions, which are exactly the parts that eat an evening when done by hand.

Recipes are on every plan. Including the permanent free one — one person, no card. Start free at cresdock.com.