Import your existing stack

If you already run Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr, Bazarr, Overseerr or Jellyseerr, and qBittorrent, the import wizard brings your settings, library, history, users and even your running torrents into Arclight. This page walks through the whole wizard, says what comes over and what does not, and explains how to run it safely.

The wizard is at System > Import, titled “Import your existing stack”. It is also offered at the end of the first-run setup. Only administrators can use it.

Who this is for

You are switching from the older apps and want to keep your library, profiles, indexers, requests and seeding torrents. If you are starting fresh, skip this page.

The old apps are only read. The import never changes them and never deletes anything in Arclight. The one exception is the optional clean-up of qBittorrent at the very end, which you must confirm (see below).

Before you start

Back up the old apps. Copy each app’s config folder somewhere safe. This is your way back if you change your mind.
Decide whether the old apps keep running. Running apps are best read through their API, so leave them running for that. For the Files option, stop the app (or copy a backup of its database) so the file is not changing while it is read.
Use one shared data folder. The recommended layout is one share mounted at /data in every container: /data/downloads, /data/media/tv and /data/media/movies. When Sonarr, Radarr, qBittorrent and Arclight all see the same paths, nothing has to be translated and no path mapping is needed. See folders-and-hardlinks.md.
Finish Arclight’s first-run setup, including a TMDB key. Series and movies are matched by their TMDB id.
Turn on the built-in torrent engine (Settings > Torrent engine) if you want to adopt qBittorrent torrents into it.

API or files

Each app can be read in one of two ways. You choose per app.

	Live API	Files
Use it when	The app is running	The app is stopped or gone
Arclight needs	The base URL (including any URL base) and the API key. For qBittorrent: the WebUI URL, plus username and password	The path of the database file inside the Arclight container, and optionally the config file. For qBittorrent: the `BT_backup` folder
Secrets	Recent Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr and Bazarr hide passwords and API keys over the API (they show `********`). Those items come over without the secret, and the preview lists which fields you must re-enter	Secrets are carried over
Bazarr history	The API may give only relative dates such as “3 days ago”. Those entries are skipped	Kept
qBittorrent	Needs qBittorrent 4.5 or newer to export `.torrent` files. Can pause or remove adopted torrents at the end	Works with any version. You must stop qBittorrent first

If you have API keys that must come over, use Files for that app. If the app is still running and you do not mind re-entering a few passwords, use the API.

Mount the old config folders (Files mode)

Arclight can only read what is mounted into its container. Add read-only mounts for the old config folders to the Arclight service in your compose file:

services:
  arclight:
    volumes:
      - /path/to/appdata/sonarr:/import/sonarr:ro
      - /path/to/appdata/radarr:/import/radarr:ro
      - /path/to/appdata/prowlarr:/import/prowlarr:ro
      - /path/to/appdata/bazarr:/import/bazarr:ro
      - /path/to/appdata/jellyseerr:/import/jellyseerr:ro
      - /path/to/appdata/qbittorrent:/import/qbittorrent:ro

Then recreate the container (docker compose up -d).

Arclight looks in /config, /import, /migrate, /mnt/import, any folders listed in the ARCLIGHT_MIGRATE_DIRS environment variable, and app-named subfolders. What it finds is shown as “Detected” candidates you can click. On a native Windows or Linux install it also checks the usual locations of the old apps.

App	File to point at	Optional config file
Sonarr	`sonarr.db`	`config.xml` next to it
Radarr	`radarr.db`	`config.xml` next to it
Prowlarr	`prowlarr.db`	`config.xml` (needed for indexers that keep going through Prowlarr)
Bazarr	`db/bazarr.db`	`config/config.yaml` or `config.ini` (needed for providers and their logins)
Overseerr / Jellyseerr	`db/db.sqlite3`	`settings.json` (needed for default permissions and quotas)
qBittorrent	The `BT_backup` folder, for example `/import/qbittorrent/qBittorrent/BT_backup` (the qBittorrent config folder that contains it also works)

Where to find the API keys (API mode)

App	Where
Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr	Settings > General > Security > API Key
Bazarr	Settings > General > Security > API Key
Overseerr / Jellyseerr	Settings > General > API Key
qBittorrent	No key. Use the WebUI username and password, or leave both empty if the WebUI skips authentication for Arclight’s address

The URL must start with http:// or https://, and must be an address Arclight can reach from inside its container. On a shared Docker network use the container name, for example http://sonarr:8989. Include any URL base (for example http://host:8989/sonarr). If qBittorrent shares a VPN container’s network, its WebUI is on that container (for example http://gluetun:8080).

The wizard, step by step

The steps are Apps, Connect, Preview, Options, Run and Report.

1. Apps

“Which apps do you have?” Tick every app you run today. Use “Add another …” for a second instance, for example a separate Sonarr for 4K, and give it a name such as “Sonarr 4K”.

2. Connect

For each app choose “Live API” or “Files” and fill in the fields.

Suggestions. On a Docker network Arclight tries the usual container names and ports (sonarr:8989, radarr:7878, prowlarr:9696, bazarr:6767, overseerr, jellyseerr or seerr on 5055, qbittorrent or gluetun on 8080). It only checks that the name resolves and the port accepts a connection, and lists the result under “Suggestions”. You still enter the key and test. “Use …” fills in the URL.
Test. Press “Test …” for each app. It reads the app’s status (or the database’s tables) and shows “Connected” with the version, or “Not connected” with the reason. If you pointed at the wrong app, it says which app it found.
Path mappings. Open “Path mappings” only if the old app saw your folders under other paths than Arclight does, for example /tv to /data/media/tv. The longest matching prefix wins, and slashes and backslashes are treated alike. With the same /data share everywhere you need none.

Press “Next” when every app is connected.

3. Preview

Arclight reads every app (a large library through the API can take a minute) and shows a table per source. Nothing is written yet.

Column	Meaning
Found	Items in the old app
New	Items Arclight will create
Conflicts	Items Arclight already has
Already imported	Items from an earlier import
Can’t import	Items with no equivalent, with the reason

Below the tables are warnings (for example secrets that must be re-entered), the list of conflicts (“Already in Arclight”) and the reasons for “Can’t be imported”. Untick an area (“Include …”) to leave it out. “Read again” refreshes the preview.

Choose what happens “When an item already exists”, as a default and per area:

Policy	Effect
Skip: keep what Arclight has	The existing item is left alone
Overwrite: use the imported settings	The existing item’s settings are replaced by the imported ones
Merge: keep Arclight’s settings, add what is missing	Adds what is missing, such as episodes, files or links. Areas without a merge rule behave like Skip

Nothing is ever deleted, whichever you choose.

When Prowlarr is part of the stack, the indexers it pushed into Sonarr and Radarr are not imported twice. They come from Prowlarr itself.

4. Options

Option	Default	Notes
Dry run	On	Checks everything against Arclight inside a transaction that is rolled back. Later sources see what earlier ones would create. Torrents are only checked, never added
Back up Arclight first	On	A real run takes an Arclight backup before writing anything. A dry run writes nothing, so it takes none
qBittorrent verify mode	Recheck	See How adoption works
Pause each torrent in qBittorrent before adopting it	Off	Needs a confirmation. See Pausing and seeding

Start with a dry run. Press “Start dry run” (or “Start import” for a real run).

5. Run

The import runs in the background as the MigrateStack task (System > Tasks). The page shows progress and a log, and you can leave and come back. Only one import runs at a time. The order is Prowlarr, Sonarr, Radarr, qBittorrent, Bazarr, then Overseerr or Jellyseerr.

6. Report

The report shows per app what was created, updated, skipped, linked or failed, with reasons. “Download report (JSON)” saves it with secrets masked. After a dry run, “Run for real” starts the real import with the same choices. To run for real after reopening the page, connect the apps again, because API keys and passwords are not kept in the browser.

What each app brings over

Sonarr and Radarr

Area	Notes
Series (Sonarr), movies (Radarr)	With monitored state; Sonarr also seasons and episodes
Existing files	Attached where they are. Files are never copied or moved
Root folders, tags
Quality profiles	With cutoff
Custom formats	With scores
Release profiles, delay profiles
Naming, media management
History	Grabs and imports
Blocklist
Download clients
Indexers	With their download-client link
Import lists
Notifications
Remote path mappings

Cannot come over:

Sonarr v3 language profiles.
The preferred terms of release profiles.
A delay profile that disables a protocol is imported with a warning.
Indexers that are not Torznab or Newznab.
Download client and notification types Arclight does not have.
Trakt lists import but must be authorised again.
Naming tokens Arclight lacks are dropped.
Series and movies without a TMDB id.
Radarr collections are staged, not applied.

Prowlarr

Area	Notes
Indexers	Matched to Arclight’s own indexer definitions (built-in and community catalogue), with credentials, cookies and settings, priorities, tags and seed settings
Torznab and Newznab entries	Imported directly
Indexer proxies	FlareSolverr, HTTP and SOCKS5. SOCKS4 is not supported

An indexer Arclight has no definition for is reached through Prowlarr’s own per-indexer endpoint, so Prowlarr must keep running for it. Prowlarr’s Applications (app sync) are ignored.

Bazarr

Area	Notes
Language profiles
Profile assignment	Per series and per movie, plus the default profiles
Providers	With credentials. Unsupported providers are listed
Subtitle history and blacklist
Existing subtitle files	Files on disk are associated with the media files

Cannot come over: tag-based profile auto-assignment and the audio-exclude flag. OpenSubtitles.com needs your own consumer API key.

Overseerr and Jellyseerr

Area	Notes
Users	Matched by media-server identity (Plex, Jellyfin or Emby account), then email, then username
Permissions, quotas	Same permission bit values
Requests	With status, 4K flag, seasons, requester and dates
Issues	With comments
Request settings	Default permissions and quotas, partial requests and similar
Discover sliders, override rules

Things to know:

New users get the media-server link, so they sign in with their Jellyfin, Emby or Plex account. No password is copied, and local password login stays disabled until an admin sets one.
The import never creates an Arclight administrator. A Seerr admin becomes a user with request and issue management permissions. Promote them yourself afterwards.
Requests for titles not in your library keep a placeholder title such as “TMDB 12345”.
Seerr notification agents are not imported.

Adopting qBittorrent torrents

What you get

The wizard lists every torrent in qBittorrent with its category, tags, save path, limits, dates, totals and state. For each category (“qBittorrent categories”) choose one action:

Action	Effect
Adopt into the built-in engine (default)	The built-in engine takes over the torrent with the files where they are
Keep in qBittorrent (external client)	Arclight adds, or reuses, a qBittorrent download client for the category and leaves the torrents in qBittorrent. Torrents with no category are left alone
Skip	Nothing is done

How adoption works

The built-in engine must be enabled. The .torrent file comes from qBittorrent’s export API (qBittorrent 4.5 or newer) or, in Files mode, from BT_backup.
Save paths are mapped. With the same /data share there is nothing to map.
Before adding anything Arclight checks that the files exist at the mapped path. A torrent with missing or renamed files, files of the wrong size, or unfinished .!qB files is refused with the reason. Nothing is added and nothing re-downloads. The same goes for a partly downloaded torrent whose data cannot be found at all.
Version 2 only torrents cannot be adopted yet and stay in qBittorrent.
Torrents already in the engine are linked, not duplicated.
Torrents that match a Sonarr or Radarr grab (by info-hash) get a tracked download, so imports and seeding rules keep working.
Data is never moved or deleted.

Verify mode (“Checking existing torrent data”):

Mode	What happens
Recheck every piece (safe), the default	The engine hashes the existing data once. Complete torrents come up seeding. Partial ones download only the missing pieces
Trust complete torrents (fast)	A torrent qBittorrent reports complete, whose files all exist with the right sizes, is taken as complete without hashing. Anything else is rechecked

Hit-and-run safety

These carry over: uploaded and downloaded totals, seeding and active time, added and completed dates, category, tags, file priorities, and ratio and seed-time limits. Limits are never lowered. A torrent set to “use global” gets qBittorrent’s global limit if that was enabled, otherwise no limit. Private-tracker rules therefore keep counting from where they were.

Pausing and seeding

Only one client may seed and write a torrent at a time.

Default. Adopted torrents are added paused in Arclight. Stop qBittorrent (or its torrents), then resume them in Arclight.
Pause step. Tick “Pause each torrent in qBittorrent before adopting it” and the confirmation (“I confirm: Arclight may pause these torrents in qBittorrent …”). Arclight pauses each torrent in qBittorrent and the adopted one keeps its previous running state. In Files mode the confirmation is “I confirm qBittorrent is stopped and will not be started again with these torrents”.

Check that nothing re-downloads

The torrent’s line in the report says “verified 100%, seeding” or “verified X%, downloads only the rest”.
On the torrent engine page, the downloaded total equals qBittorrent’s old total and progress is 100% right away for complete torrents.
Disk activity during the check is reading (hashing), not writing.
Better still, do a dry run first. It checks the files without adding anything.

Optional tidy-up of qBittorrent

On the report, “Optional: tidy up qBittorrent” (API mode only) can pause the adopted torrents in qBittorrent (“Pause in qBittorrent”) or remove them from qBittorrent while keeping every file (“Remove from qBittorrent (keep files)”). Each asks for confirmation first, and Arclight keeps seeding.

Dry run, backup and rollback

A dry run changes nothing. It is the best way to see conflicts and unsupported items.
A real run takes an Arclight backup first. Its name is shown on the page and in the report.
To undo an import, restore that backup from System > Backups. See backup-restore.md.
Restoring does not touch qBittorrent. If you used the pause step, resume those torrents in qBittorrent yourself.

Resuming and re-running

A real run that failed or was interrupted (for example Arclight restarted) can be continued with “Resume”. Completed sources are kept and everything already imported is skipped. Running the import again never duplicates anything, so it is safe to repeat after fixing a problem or after the old app has changed.

After the import

Check System > Health.
Settings > Indexers and Settings > Download Clients: press the test buttons, and re-enter the passwords and API keys the preview listed.
Re-authorise any Trakt lists.
Look at the Library. Counts and paths should match the old apps. Rescan if something looks missing.
Resume adopted torrents once qBittorrent has let go of them, if you did not use the pause step.
Set a password for imported users who need local login, or let them sign in with their media-server account.
Keep Prowlarr running if any indexer needs it.
Set up anything marked staged or not importable by hand.
When you are happy, stop the old apps.

Running old and new side by side

You can run both for a while, but only one of them should search and grab. Turn off RSS, automatic search and downloading in one of the two (usually the old apps), or both will grab the same releases. Give Arclight another host port if the old app uses 7878. Only one client should seed a torrent at a time.