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Quick Start Guide

This guide will help you quickly set up Pulsarr to monitor your Plex watchlists and route content to Sonarr and Radarr.

Prerequisites​

Before you begin, ensure you have:

  • Docker (recommended for deployment)
  • Plex Pass subscription (optional - non-Plex Pass users supported with 20-minute polling intervals)
  • Sonarr/Radarr installation(s)
  • API keys for your Sonarr/Radarr instances

Installation Options​

Pulsarr can be installed using Docker (recommended), Unraid, or manual installation. Choose the method that works best for your environment.

  1. Create a .env file with your configuration:
# Required settings
baseUrl=http://your-server-ip   # Address where Pulsarr can be reached by Sonarr/Radarr
port=3003                       # Port where Pulsarr is accessible
TZ=America/Los_Angeles          # Set to your local timezone

# Recommended settings
logLevel=info                   # Default is 'silent', but 'info' is recommended
NODE_ARGS=--log-both            # Default logs to file only, '--log-both' shows logs in terminal too
  1. Create a docker-compose.yml file and add the following:
services:
  pulsarr:
    image: lakker/pulsarr:latest
    container_name: pulsarr
    ports:
      - "3003:3003"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app/data
      - .env:/app/.env
    restart: unless-stopped
    env_file:
      - .env
  1. Pull the image and run Docker Compose to start the service:
docker compose pull && docker compose up -d
  1. Navigate to the web UI (http://your-server:3003) to complete setup.

Unraid Installation​

Pulsarr is available in the Unraid Community Applications (CA) store:

  1. Open the Unraid web UI
  2. Navigate to the "Apps" tab
  3. Search for "Pulsarr"
  4. Click "Install"
  5. Configure the container settings as needed
  6. Start the container

Alternatively, you can use the Docker installation method described above.

Manual Installation​

If you prefer to build and run Pulsarr manually:

Prerequisites​

  • Node.js 20 LTS or higher
  • Git

Steps​

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/jamcalli/pulsarr.git

cd pulsarr

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the application
npm run build

# Run database migrations
npm run migrate

# Start the server
npm run start:prod

The server will start on port 3003 by default. Navigate to http://localhost:3003 to complete setup.

For more detailed configuration options, see:

Initial Setup​

  1. Access the web interface at http://your-server:3003
  2. Create an Admin account when prompted
  3. Enter your Plex Token to begin synchronization
  4. Configure your Sonarr and Radarr connections:
    • Add instance details (URL, API key)
    • Configure default quality profiles and root folders
    • Set up content routing rules (optional)
  5. Set sync permissions for any friends' watchlists you'd like to include
    • Ensure users have their Account Visibility set to 'Friends Only' or 'Friends of Friends'
  6. Head to the Dashboard page and click on the Start button next to the Main Workflow heading
    • Toggle 'Auto Start' to true for automatic operation

Next Steps​

After completing the quick start, you might want to: