A Docker Compose media-acquisition-and-serving stack — Usenet-only, FUSE-streamed, Plex-served.
21 containers, one docker compose up -d. Indexes content via Prowlarr, accepts requests through Seerr, acquires via nzbdav/nzbdav (WebDAV + FUSE — streamed, never downloaded to local disk), and serves through Plex. Two operator surfaces: a Control Panel (Django + htmx dashboard on port 8420) and a CLI (133 stack-* fish functions). Fully headless-configured — no manual Settings-UI setup needed for any service.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Control Panel │
│ (Django, port 8420, LAN) │
│ status · logs · restart · queue ops │
└────────────┬─────────────────────────────┘
│ talks to everything
▼
┌──────────┐ indexes ┌──────────────────────────────┐ serves ┌──────┐
│ Prowlarr │────────────▶│ Radarr + Sonarr │───────────▶│ Plex │
│ :9696 │ │ :7878/:7879 :8989/:8990 │ │ host │
└──────────┘ └──────────┬───────────────────┘ └──┬───┘
│ grab NZBs │
▼ │
┌────────────────────┐ │
│ nzbdav │ WebDAV + SAB-API │
│ InfiniDysk :3000 │◄──────────────────────┘
└────────┬───────────┘ symlink imports
│
▼
┌────────────────────┐
│ nzbdav_rclone │ rclone FUSE mount
│ /mnt/remote/nzbdav│ streamed on demand
└────────┬───────────┘
│
┌─────────────┼─────────────┐
▼ ▼ ▼
./media/movies ./media/shows ./media/anime-*
(100% symlinks, zero real files on local disk)
Every media file is a symlink into the FUSE mount. Radarr/Sonarr's copyUsingHardlinks: true produces another symlink, never a byte copy. The only thing on local disk is metadata databases and config.
mkdir -p ~/Stack && cd ~/Stack
# 1. Scaffold files onto a fresh host (no git clone needed)
docker run --rm -v "$(pwd)":/out ghcr.io/whispersofj/media-stack:latest
# 2. (Optional) Fill in .env via a browser wizard
docker run --rm -p 8090:8090 -v "$(pwd)":/out ghcr.io/whispersofj/media-stack:latest --setup
# 3. Bring everything up
cp .env.example .env && $EDITOR .env # fill in your keys
docker compose up -dPost-boot: collect RADARR_API_KEY, SONARR_API_KEY (Settings → General → Security in each app), and PLEX_TOKEN (via plex.tv/claim). Enter them in .env, then docker compose up -d --force-recreate control-panel.
| # | Service | Purpose | Port |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | prowlarr |
Usenet indexer management | 9696 |
| 2 | radarr |
Movie library manager | 7878 |
| 3 | sonarr |
TV library manager | 8989 |
| 4 | radarr-anime |
Anime movie library (separate instance) | 7879 |
| 5 | sonarr-anime |
Anime TV library (separate instance) | 8990 |
| 6 | nzbdav |
Usenet downloader (WebDAV + SAB-API) | 3000 |
| 7 | nzbdav_rclone |
FUSE mount sidecar — streams content on demand | — |
| 8 | seerr |
User-facing request frontend | 5055 |
| 9 | plex |
Media server (host networking) | 32400 |
| 10 | bazarr |
Subtitle downloader | 6767 |
| 11 | control-panel |
Custom Django dashboard | 8420 |
| 12 | unpackerr |
Auto-extracts RAR'd releases | — |
| 13 | watchtower |
Auto-updates channel-tag images (4am daily) | — |
| 14 | cleanuparr |
Strike/malware/stalled-download cleanup | 11011 |
| 15 | kometa |
Plex collections/overlays automation | — |
| 16 | ntfy |
Push notification sink | 8700 |
| 17 | speedtest-tracker |
Hourly ISP speed monitoring | 8701 |
| 18 | organizr |
Single-pane frontend | 8702 |
| 19 | scrutiny |
SMART disk health monitoring | 8703 |
| 20 | watchstate |
Cross-server watch-state sync | 8705 |
| — | loki + promtail |
Log aggregation (internal) | 3100 |
| — | grafana |
Logs dashboard | 3001 |
| — | prometheus + node-exporter + cadvisor |
Host/container metrics | 9090 |
| — | nzbdav-exporter |
NzbDAV config/queue metrics | 1011 |
| — | metacache |
Metadata cache proxy for Plex | 8765 |
133 fish functions, all prefixed stack-. Every read-only command was live-verified 2026-08-25.
stack-status # live health of every container
stack-top # CPU/mem per container
stack-resource-check # containers missing memory/CPU limits
stack-image-check # stale images, update-available tags
stack-mount-health # FUSE mount status
stack-mem-pressure # system memory pressure
stack-oom-check # recent OOM kills
stack-zombie-check # zombie processes
stack-firewall-status # iptables/nftables summary
stack-kernel-check # kernel version + known CVEs
stack-reboot-check # pending reboot after kernel updatestack-arr radarr rss-sync # trigger RSS sync (radarr or sonarr)
stack-arr sonarr search-missing # trigger missing-episode search
stack-arr radarr unstick # remove + blocklist + re-search stuck items
stack-arr-backlog # items queued across all *arr apps
stack-arr-blocklist # blocklist entries per app
stack-arr-clear-blocklist radarr # clear all blocklist entries
stack-arr-import radarr 0 # manual import candidate #0
stack-arr-import-candidates # list files ready to import
stack-arr-import-all # bulk-import everything
stack-arr-import-backlog # size of each app's import queue
stack-arr-import-starvation # downloads waiting with no import activity
stack-arr-logs radarr # recent logs for an app
stack-arr-missing-aired # monitored + already-aired, no file yet
stack-arr-queue-errors # queue items in warning/error state
stack-arr-recently-added # most recent imports
stack-arr-toggle-search radarr # toggle full-library search on/offstack-plex-libraries # library names + keys
stack-plex-sessions # who's watching right now
stack-plex-recently-added # newest items
stack-plex-duplicates # suspected duplicate releases
stack-plex-scan # trigger library scan
stack-plex-empty-trash # empty trash for all libraries
stack-plex-optimize-db # optimize Plex database
stack-plex-refresh-libraries # refresh all library metadata
stack-plex-analyze # queue deep media analysis
stack-plex-backup-database # backup Plex database
stack-plex-updates # check for PMS updatesstack-nzbdav-queue # current download queue
stack-nzbdav-history # recent history (completed/failed)
stack-nzbdav-stats # aggregate queue + history stats
stack-nzbdav-delete-failures # bulk-clear failed history
stack-nzbdav-dedup-check # verify dedup config is safestack-restart-all -y # whole-stack restart (mount-order aware)
stack-container restart radarr # restart a single container
stack-disk-free # disk usage per mountpoint
stack-disk-health # SMART status for all drives
stack-disk-config-sizes # config directory sizes
stack-docker-disk-usage # Docker image/volume/container usage
stack-pkg-updates # pending ArchLinux package updates
stack-flatpak-updates # pending Flatpak updates
stack-aur-audit # audit AUR packages
stack-journal-errors # systemd journal errors
stack-journal-size # journal disk usage
stack-cron-list # active cron jobs
stack-uptime-report # system uptime
stack-version # media-stack version + git info
stack-help # full command liststack-import-lists # all import lists across all apps
stack-customformat-diff # custom format diffs between apps
stack-cutoff-unmet # items below quality cutoff
stack-loop-candidates radarr # titles with repeated download failures
stack-loop-unmonitor radarr 123 # unmonitor a loop candidate
stack-loop-exclude radarr 456 # add to Radarr Exclusions list
stack-queue-autofix # blocklist + re-search stuck queue items
stack-sonarr-fix-episode-monitoring # fix unmonitored episodes
stack-radarr-import-list # trigger import list syncstack-letterboxd-radarr-list # list Letterboxd lists
stack-letterboxd-radarr-tracked # tracked Letterboxd lists
stack-letterboxd-radarr-watchlist # watchlist status
stack-mdblist-radarr-tracked # tracked MDBList lists
stack-rating-imdb tt1234567 # IMDb rating lookup
stack-rating-mdblist 12345 # MDBList rating lookup
stack-watchstate-status # WatchState sync status
stack-watchstate-history # recent WatchState sync history
stack-watchstate-import-now # trigger WatchState import
stack-tmdb-import-company 420 # import a TMDb company
stack-tmdb-missing # items missing TMDb linksPort 8420 — Django + htmx dashboard. Amber/green CRT theme. Live container status, one-click ops, per-app queue tools, poster sync, SSE log streaming.
# Container health grid
curl -s http://192.0.2.1:8420/api/v2/host/status | jq .
# Live container stats (CPU, RAM, state)
curl -s http://192.0.2.1:8420/api/v2/host/containers | jq .
# Per-app operations
curl -X POST http://192.0.2.1:8420/api/v2/arr/radarr/rss-sync
curl -X POST http://192.0.2.1:8420/api/v2/arr/sonarr/search-missing
# NzbDAV queue + history
curl -s http://192.0.2.1:8420/api/v2/nzbdav/queue | jq .
curl -s http://192.0.2.1:8420/api/v2/nzbdav/stats | jq .
# Whole-stack restart (mount-order aware)
curl -X POST http://192.0.2.1:8420/api/v2/host/restart-allFull API reference: see the Control Panel section of the detailed docs.
Prometheus :9090 ──scrapes──▶ node-exporter (host CPU/RAM/disk)
cadvisor (per-container metrics)
nzbdav-exporter (NzbDAV queue/config)
metacache (cache hit rates)
Loki :3100 ◀──promtail── syslog + Docker logs
Grafana :3001 ──queries──▶ Prometheus + Loki
- Grafana at
http://192.0.2.1:3001— logs overview + import pipeline dashboards - Prometheus at
http://192.0.2.1:9090— metrics scraping, alerting rules - Scrutiny at
http://192.0.2.1:8703— SMART disk health - Speedtest Tracker at
http://192.0.2.1:8701— hourly ISP speed/latency
| Workflow | What it does |
|---|---|
| Validate Compose | shellcheck, ruff, compose validation, variable consistency, 291 script/fish tests, 822 Django tests, installer build |
| Release Please | Automated releases via conventional commits |
| Trivy Scan | Nightly CVE scan of all images (Docker, Prometheus, Grafana) |
| Publish Installer | Builds and pushes the ghcr.io/whispersofj/media-stack installer image |
21 Docker Compose services 133 fish CLI functions
5 CI workflows 822 Django tests
53 bugs fixed (last 200 commits) 66 features shipped
Stack/
├── docker-compose.yml # single compose file, every image pinned
├── .env # secrets (gitignored)
├── README.md # this file
├── STACK.md # detailed reference: gotchas, incidents, playbooks
├── PLANS.md # implementation plans and specs
├── BUG-SMASHED.md # historical bug graph — every bug found and fixed
├── MEMORY.md # agent session memory
├── config/<app>/ # each app's persistent config (gitignored)
├── control-panel-django/ # custom Django dashboard, 30+ Django apps
├── fish-functions/ # 133 stack-* CLI commands
├── scripts/ # backup/alert/setup automation
├── systemd/ # user-scope units for boot automation
├── monitoring/ # Prometheus alerting rules
└── media/ # writable root folders, 100% symlinks
├── movies/ # Radarr root
├── shows/ # Sonarr root
├── anime-movies/ # radarr-anime root
└── anime-shows/ # sonarr-anime root
- Usenet-only. Torrent/debrid (Zurg, Decypharr, rclone-alldebrid, Zilean, Byparr) was removed entirely in v11.0.0 after the Usenet migration proved reliable.
- Zero local media files. nzbdav streams downloads via WebDAV,
nzbdav_rcloneFUSE-mounts the result, and the*arrapps symlink-import. Nothing is ever written to local disk. - Headless config. Every service is configured via environment variables, not manual Settings-UI clicks. NzbDAV's providers, arr instances, WebDAV creds, and import strategy are all
NZBDAV_CONFIG__*env vars. - Mount-order aware restarts. The FUSE mount cascade (nzbdav → nzbdav_rclone → dependents) is sequenced in the Control Panel's restart-all endpoint. Never restart
nzbdav_rclonealone. - Plex on host networking. GDM auto-discovery, DLNA, and remote-access NAT-PMP/UPnP are unreliable on bridge networking. Every other service uses
stacknet. - No login gate. Every web UI publishes directly to the LAN. A Traefik + Authelia + CrowdSec auth layer was built, verified, and reverted. POST/PUT/DELETE endpoints validate Origin/Host headers as a CSRF guard, not an auth layer.
- Image pinning. Channel-tag images (hotio
:release) auto-update via Watchtower. Digest-pinned images (Seerr, Unpackerr) are immutable. Plex is manually version-pinned and excluded from auto-update.
The Control Panel (http://<host-ip>:8420) is a Django + htmx dashboard with an amber/green CRT theme. Navigation rails on the left, quick-action buttons at the top, live container status, and a permanently pinned log console.
Live dashboard: visit
http://192.0.2.1:8420(login: admin/changeme) to see the real thing with live data, sparklines, and SSE log streaming.
The installer wizard (--setup flag) renders a browser form from .env.example's sections and comments:
| Document | Purpose |
|---|---|
| STACK.md | Quick-reference index with links to focused docs |
| docs/architecture.md | Service inventory, commands, architecture facts, design decisions |
| docs/landmines.md | Active issues that affect operations today |
| docs/incidents.md | Chronological record of incidents, migrations, breaking changes |
| docs/playbooks.md | Workflow playbooks, operational gotchas, backup/DR notes |
| BUG-SMASHED.md | Historical bug graph — every bug found and fixed |
| PLANS.md | Implementation plans for pending and completed feature phases |
| MEMORY.md | Agent session memory — cross-session state for AI coding agents |
| CLAUDE.md | Rules and commands for Claude Code sessions |
| AGENTS.md | Agent workflow rules |
MIT