How to set up Sonarr without Docker

Grabs new episodes of the TV shows you follow, automatically. Cresdock runs it on a server you own, from a catalogue, with no Docker and no reverse proxy to configure.

This is Cresdock's suggested starting point in its category — the one to pick if you have no reason to prefer another.

What Cresdock does for you with Sonarr

• Its configuration is written before the container ever starts — including the web address it lives at, so Sonarr generates correct links from the first page load instead of half-working behind a prefix.

• Reached through your panel login. There is no second password to invent for Sonarr and no port to open on your firewall.

• Your Downloads and Media folders are already mounted, and they are the SAME folders your other apps see — so files land where the rest of your setup expects them, with no path mapping to work out.

• Seeded with its own API key and web address the moment it's installed — reachable at your panel address immediately, no separate Sonarr password to set (it authenticates through your panel login).

• If you also install Recyclarr, it wires itself to Sonarr automatically for TRaSH-guide quality profiles — no config file to write by hand.

• Install a download client — qBittorrent, Deluge, Transmission or SABnzbd — and Sonarr is introduced to it for you, in whichever order you install the two: new episodes are handed over to fetch, and filed away once they arrive. ruTorrent is the exception, and stays yours to add.

• Search works the same way. Prowlarr keeps Sonarr's list of sites up to date on its own, and Sonarr searches through Jackett or NZBHydra2 if you run one of those instead. The site accounts themselves stay yours, because they're your accounts.

• Telling Plex, Jellyfin or Emby that something new has landed is the step left to you: it needs a key made inside your media server after you've created your account there, so there is none to hand over beforehand.

Why run Sonarr yourself

The whole point of these tools is that they run unattended. On a desktop that gets shut down, they simply miss things.

What kind of server Sonarr needs

These are small, patient programs. They spend most of their time asleep and wake up to check for something new, so 1 GB of memory covers several of them at once. What they need is to be running when you aren't watching.

Cresdock itself is undemanding — it runs on a small rented server, an old desktop or a mini PC, on Ubuntu or Debian. Everything it installs shares that machine, so the honest question is not "will this app run" but "how much am I going to put on here in total".

Where to run Sonarr

Sonarr runs wherever Cresdock runs, and the choice is about the machine, not the app:

• At home, on hardware you already own. A mini PC, an old desktop or a NAS that can run Debian. Cresdock works behind a home router with no port forwarding and no domain, so Sonarr is reachable on your own network first and from outside only if you choose.
• On a rented server. A small VPS is enough for most apps and is the usual answer when Sonarr should be reachable from anywhere. The setup guide covers the specs and the one-command install.
• Through a provider that runs Cresdock. Hosting companies deploy Cresdock workspaces for their customers, so Sonarr can come with a server you rent rather than one you set up — ask your provider, or see how providers offer it.

Installing Sonarr

1. Put Cresdock on a server

   One line on any Ubuntu or Debian machine — a rented VPS, a spare PC, a home server. It sets itself up.

2. Pick Sonarr from the catalogue

   Click Install. The panel pulls the image, writes the configuration, gets a certificate and starts it.

3. Open it from your dashboard

   Its address and any login details are on its card. Start, stop, update, roll back or remove it from the same place, any time.

What this replaces

Doing it by hand means writing something like this, then keeping it working:

services:
  sonarr:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/sonarr:4.0.19.2979-ls320
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8989:8989"
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
    volumes:
      - ./sonarr/config:/config
      - ./downloads:/downloads
      - ./media:/media

And that is the easy half. Still to do:

• Install a reverse proxy and write a server block for it

• Get a TLS certificate and set up automatic renewal

• Create the folders above with the right ownership, or it will not start

• Repeat all of it for the next app, and again on every server rebuild

On Cresdock, Sonarr is one click and none of the above exists.

Looking for what Sonarr itself can do? That lives in its own documentation — this page is only about running it.

Pairs well with: Unpackerr  ·  autobrr  ·  Speedtest  ·  how Sonarr connects to your other apps

Before you start: where to rent a server  ·  what it needs to run  ·  Cresdock vs QuickBox  ·  the seedbox panel in full  ·  sell workspaces to your customers