Jackett on a Seedbox: Torrent Indexer Proxy

What Jackett Is

Jackett sits between your *arr apps and your torrent trackers. Sonarr, Radarr, and Lidarr speak Torznab natively, but most torrent trackers don't. Jackett's job is to translate: it scrapes the tracker's search page and presents the results in the format Sonarr and Radarr expect.

It's the predecessor to Prowlarr. Same idea, slightly different model. Most people use Prowlarr now, but Jackett's still around for trackers Prowlarr hasn't picked up support for.

Should You Use Jackett or Prowlarr?

Quick decision tree:

• Default to Prowlarr. It pushes indexer config out to your *arr apps automatically; less fiddly to maintain.
• Use Jackett if a tracker you need only has a Jackett YAML definition and not a Prowlarr one. There are some niche trackers where this is still the case.
• You can run both. Jackett's indexers don't conflict with Prowlarr's; you'd just add the Jackett ones manually to Sonarr and Radarr.

The rest of this guide covers Jackett specifically.

Why Run It on a Seedbox?

Jackett needs to be reachable from Sonarr, Radarr, and Lidarr. Easiest way is having all of them on the same box:

• One-click install in the panel
• 24/7 uptime so scheduled searches don't miss
• Bytesized handles HTTPS, no port forwarding
• Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, qBittorrent, all on the same panel

Installing Jackett

Open the Bytesized Panel, find Jackett in the app catalog, click install. Panel sets up the binary, picks a port, configures the reverse proxy, gives you a clean HTTPS URL.

Click "Open" to land on the dashboard.

First-Run Setup

1. Pick a server password. Settings > Admin password. Change from the default; this is what protects the API.
2. Add trackers. "Add indexer" at the top, search for your tracker by name. Public trackers (1337x, RARBG mirrors, EZTV) are public; private trackers want your tracker login or session cookie.
3. Test each tracker. Hit "Test" next to each one. Green is good; red means the tracker is down or your credentials are wrong.

Adding to Sonarr and Radarr

For each Jackett indexer, copy the Torznab URL and API key from the Jackett dashboard. Then in Sonarr's Settings > Indexers > Add > Torznab:

• URL: the Torznab URL from Jackett (uses the internal panel URL, not the public HTTPS one, for speed)
• API Key: the Jackett API key
• Categories: the standard categories

Test it inside Sonarr. Repeat per indexer. This is why most people prefer Prowlarr; it handles this loop automatically.

Common Gotchas

Tracker test fails. Almost always cookies or 2FA. Some private trackers want a fresh cookie pasted in; others have moved to OAuth and Jackett hasn't caught up. Check the tracker's Jackett-specific notes in their wiki.

Cloudflare blocking. Trackers behind Cloudflare's anti-bot stack will fail until you point Jackett at FlareSolverr. Set FlareSolverr's URL in Jackett's Settings > FlareSolverr API URL.

Slow searches. Each indexer Jackett queries adds time to the search. If you've got 30 indexers and one is slow, every Sonarr search waits on that slow one. Lower the per-indexer timeout under the Jackett tracker config.

Sonarr can't reach Jackett. Use the internal URL from the panel. The public HTTPS URL works too but is slower.

FAQ

Is Jackett free? Yes. Free and open source.

How is it different from Prowlarr? Prowlarr pushes indexer config out to your *arr apps automatically. With Jackett, you copy each indexer's Torznab URL into each *arr manually. Same idea, less convenient.

Can I run Jackett and Prowlarr at the same time? Yes. Different ports. Most people pick one and stick with it.

Does it work with private trackers? Yes, with the right credentials or session cookies. Some trackers have stopped supporting Jackett's scraper model; check the per-tracker notes inside Jackett.

Can it search Usenet? No. Torrents only. For Usenet meta-search, use NZBHydra.

Ready to Set It Up?

Browse Appbox plans, install Jackett from the panel, add your trackers. If you're starting fresh, Prowlarr is probably the better pick.