Arclight documentation
Arclight is one self-hosted app that finds, requests, downloads, imports and subtitles your TV shows and movies. It does the jobs of Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr, Bazarr and Seerr/Overseerr, and downloads with its own built-in BitTorrent engine, so no separate download client is needed. It tells Jellyfin, Emby or Plex when new files arrive. It is not a media server.
These docs are written for people who run their own home server and are comfortable copying a Docker Compose file, but are not developers. Every page is task-oriented: what the thing is, how to set it up, what can go wrong.
Start here
Section titled “Start here”- Check the requirements.
- Pick the install guide for your device (list below) and follow it from top to bottom.
- Walk through the first-run wizard.
- Read folders and hard links before you move any media. It is the single most common source of problems.
- Add a series or movie (Library) and watch it in Activity.
- If something looks wrong, open Troubleshooting or the FAQ.
Getting started
Section titled “Getting started”| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Requirements | Hardware, ports, what you need before you begin |
| Docker Compose on Linux | The reference install: VPN or no VPN, built-in engine by default (qBittorrent optional), Proton key, .env |
| Synology (Container Manager) | DSM install |
| UGREEN NAS (UGOS Docker) | UGOS install |
| Unraid | Template or compose |
| TrueNAS SCALE | Custom app / compose |
| QNAP (Container Station) | QNAP install |
| Windows | Docker Desktop, or native |
| macOS | Docker Desktop |
| Raspberry Pi and ARM64 | ARM notes |
| Portainer | Deploy as a stack |
| Platform chooser | Not sure which guide? Start here |
| First-run wizard | Admin account, TMDB key, folders, indexers, client, VPN |
| Folders and hard links | The one-share layout and why it matters |
| Exposing it outside your home | Reverse proxy, Cloudflare Tunnel, Tailscale |
| Updating | Self-update vs notify-only, channels, rollback |
| Backup and restore | What is backed up and how to restore |
| Moving from Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr, Bazarr, Overseerr | The importer |
Using Arclight
Section titled “Using Arclight”These pages follow the app’s navigation.
| Area | Page |
|---|---|
| Universal search and the command palette (/ and Ctrl+K) | search-and-commands.md |
| Library (TV, Movies, Collections, Add New, Retention, Hygiene) | library.md |
| Library health scan (Hygiene > Health) | health-scan.md |
| Tags and tag rules (Settings > Tags) | tags.md |
| Discover, Requests (including subtitle and language requests), Issues, Watchlist, Discord bot | discover-and-requests.md |
| Calendar | calendar.md |
| Activity (Queue, History, Blocklist, Pending, Manual import) | activity.md |
| Wanted (Missing, Cutoff unmet, released and upcoming filter) | wanted.md |
| Interactive search and “why this release” | interactive-search.md |
| Subtitles | subtitles.md |
| Media management, naming and unreleased items | media-management.md |
| Hardware transcoding (Quick Sync, VA-API, NVENC) for transcode rules | hardware-transcoding.md |
| Quality profiles, custom formats, TRaSH sync | quality-profiles.md |
| Indexers, proxies, challenge solver, cross-seed | indexers.md |
| Download clients and the built-in torrent engine | download-clients.md |
| VPN and kill switch | vpn.md |
| Notifications | notifications.md |
| Mobile app (pairing, phone notifications) | mobile-app.md |
| Media servers (Jellyfin, Emby, Plex) | media-servers.md |
| Users and security | users-and-security.md |
| System (health, tasks, logs, metrics, config as code) | system.md |
When something goes wrong
Section titled “When something goes wrong”- Troubleshooting: organised by symptom, plus one section for every health check the app can raise.
- FAQ: short answers to the questions people ask most.
- Glossary: what “indexer”, “hardlink”, “cutoff” and “kill switch” mean.
- Known limitations.
Reference and advanced
Section titled “Reference and advanced”| Page | For |
|---|---|
| Operations | Config as code, environment overrides, metrics, audit log |
| Cloudflare challenges | Indexers behind Cloudflare, FlareSolverr, built-in solver |
| Remote engine | Running the torrent engine on a different machine |
| API | REST API and the Sonarr/Radarr-compatible API |
| Themes | Choosing a theme, theme pack sync, making and publishing your own |
| Translating | Adding a language |
| Releasing, Architecture, Developing, Roadmap | Contributors |
| QA checklists | Manual test procedures |
| Website | How these docs are published at https://arclight.moviemethat.com |
Some features are still being built (stall auto-recovery, speed schedules, seeding rules, download alerts and others). Pages will mention them as “Coming soon” until they ship.