How to Automate Movie Downloads with Radarr on Your SonicBit Seedbox

Tired of manually searching for movies across multiple torrent sites? Want your favorite films to appear in your library automatically, perfectly organized and ready to watch? That's exactly what Radarr does, and when you run it on your SonicBit seedbox, you get blazing-fast downloads with zero configuration headaches.

In this guide, you'll learn how to set up Radarr from scratch, connect it to indexers and download clients, configure quality profiles that match your preferences, and create a fully automated movie management workflow. By the end, you'll have a system that monitors for new releases, grabs them as soon as they're available, and organizes everything automatically.

What is Radarr and Why Use It?

Radarr is a movie collection manager that automates everything between "I want to watch that movie" and actually having it in your library. Here's what it handles for you:

Automated searching across multiple indexers and torrent sites

Smart quality upgrades - automatically replace 720p with 1080p when available

Release monitoring - grab movies the moment they hit your quality threshold

Renaming and organization - consistent folder structures and file names

Integration with media servers - works seamlessly with Plex and Jellyfin

When you run Radarr on SonicBit, you get all of this with one-click deployment. No Docker configuration, no reverse proxy setup, no SSL certificates to manage - just click install and you're ready to go.

Installing Radarr on SonicBit

Getting Radarr running on your SonicBit seedbox takes about 30 seconds:

Log into your SonicBit dashboard

Navigate to the Apps section

Find Radarr in the app list

Click Install

SonicBit automatically sets up Radarr with:

A secure subdomain (like radarr-yourusername.sonicbit.net)

HTTPS via Let's Encrypt

Automatic port management through Traefik

Persistent storage for your configuration

Once installed, click Open to access your Radarr web interface. You'll see a clean dashboard ready for configuration.

Connecting Download Clients

Radarr needs a download client to actually grab torrents. If you're using qBittorrent or Deluge on SonicBit, here's how to connect them:

Setting Up qBittorrent

In Radarr, go to Settings* → *Download Clients

Click the +* button and select *qBittorrent

Fill in the connection details:

yaml
Name: qBittorrent
Host: localhost
Port: 8080
Username: admin
Password: [your qBittorrent password]
Category: radarr-movies

Test the connection and save

The Category field is important - it tells qBittorrent to tag all Radarr downloads so they're easy to identify. When a download completes, Radarr automatically detects it, imports the file, and removes the torrent.

Deluge Setup

For Deluge users, the process is similar:

Add a new download client and select Deluge

Configure the connection:

yaml
Name: Deluge
Host: localhost
Port: 8112
Password: [your Deluge password]
Category: radarr

Configuring Indexers with Prowlarr

Indexers are where Radarr searches for torrents. While you can add them manually, the easiest approach is using Prowlarr, which manages indexers for all your *arr apps in one place.

If you have Prowlarr installed on SonicBit:

Open Prowlarr and add your indexers (public ones like RARBG, or private trackers if you have access)

Go to Settings* → *Apps

Add Radarr as an application

Enter your Radarr URL (https://radarr-yourusername.sonicbit.net) and API key

Now all your Prowlarr indexers automatically sync to Radarr. Add an indexer once in Prowlarr, and it appears everywhere.

Manual Indexer Setup

If you prefer manual configuration, here's how to add an indexer directly:

In Radarr, go to Settings* → *Indexers

Click + and select your indexer type (Torznab for most)

Enter the indexer's URL and API key

Set capabilities (movie search, RSS feeds)

Test and save

You'll want at least 2-3 indexers for reliable coverage. Mix public and private trackers if possible.

Quality Profiles: Getting the Files You Want

Quality profiles control which releases Radarr grabs. Do you want any 720p release immediately, or would you rather wait for a high-quality 1080p encode? This is where you decide.

Creating a Custom Profile

Go to Settings* → *Profiles

Click + to create a new profile

Name it something descriptive (like "1080p Preferred")

Here's a sample profile configuration:

With this setup, Radarr will:

Accept any release 480p or better

Stop upgrading once it finds a 1080p version

Skip 4K files (which take up huge amounts of storage)

You can also set minimum/maximum file sizes to avoid fake releases or bloated encodes.

Quality Upgrades Over Time

One of Radarr's best features is automatic upgrading. Let's say a movie just released and only a low-quality cam rip is available. Radarr can grab that immediately so you can watch it now, then automatically upgrade to 1080p BluRay when it releases weeks later.

Enable this in your profile settings:

Check Upgrade Until and select your target quality

Radarr monitors RSS feeds and replaces lower-quality files automatically

Adding Movies

With everything configured, you're ready to start adding movies:

Search and Add

Click Add Movies in the main menu

Search for a title (like "The Matrix")

Select the correct movie from the results

Choose your quality profile

Set the root folder path (usually /home/username/movies)

Click Add and Search

Radarr immediately searches all your indexers, evaluates available releases against your quality profile, and sends the best match to your download client.

List Imports

Want to add multiple movies at once? Radarr supports list imports from:

IMDb lists - import your watchlist or any public list

TMDb collections - grab entire franchises like Marvel or James Bond

Trakt lists - sync movies from your Trakt account

Go to Settings* → *Lists to configure imports. Enable automatic syncing and Radarr checks for new additions daily.

Monitoring and Release Dates

When you add a movie that hasn't released yet, Radarr monitors its status:

Announced - Radarr knows about it, waiting for release date

In Cinemas - Movie is in theaters, waiting for digital release

Released - Available for download

Set your monitoring preferences when adding movies:

Movie Only - only grab the movie when it's available

Movie and Collection - also monitor for sequels/prequels

None - add to library but don't search automatically

For upcoming releases, enable Minimum Availability settings:

Announced - search as soon as possible (often gets cam rips)

In Cinemas - search when it hits theaters

Physical/Web - wait for digital or BluRay release

Most users set this to Released to avoid low-quality early releases.

Integrating with Plex or Jellyfin

Once Radarr downloads and organizes your movies, you want them to appear in your media server automatically:

In Radarr, go to Settings* → *Connect

Click +* and select **Plex** or *Jellyfin

Enter your media server's URL and authentication token

Enable Update Library on import

Now when Radarr imports a new movie, it triggers a library scan in your media server. Within seconds, the movie appears in Plex or Jellyfin, ready to stream.

Remote Upload Integration

Here's where SonicBit's Remote Upload feature shines. After Radarr downloads a movie to your seedbox, you can automatically upload it to cloud storage:

Go to your SonicBit dashboard

Navigate to Remote Upload

Connect your Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox account

Select your completed downloads folder

Upload entire folders to your cloud storage

This workflow is perfect if you want to:

Keep your seedbox lean while building a massive cloud library

Stream movies from Google Drive using Plex Cloud

Create offsite backups of your collection

Troubleshooting Common Issues

"No results found" errors

If searches return no results:

Verify your indexers are working (test them individually)

Check that your indexers support movie searches

Make sure your quality profile allows available qualities

Try searching manually on your indexer's website to confirm the release exists

Downloads not importing

If movies download but don't import:

Check the Activity* → *Queue page for errors

Verify your root folder path matches your download location

Look for file permission issues (SonicBit handles this automatically, but worth checking)

Ensure your file names match Radarr's expected format

Slow performance

Radarr is lightweight, but if it feels sluggish:

Reduce the number of active indexers to 3-5 reliable ones

Increase RSS sync intervals in Settings → General

Disable automatic search after adding movies (search manually instead)

Building Your Automated Media Stack

Radarr is just one piece of a complete media automation system. On SonicBit, you can combine:

Radarr for movies (what you just set up)

Sonarr for TV shows (same interface, different media type)

Prowlarr for centralized indexer management

Plex or Jellyfin for streaming your collection

Overseerr for a Netflix-like request interface

Remote Upload for cloud storage integration

Install all of these with one click each, and they automatically discover each other on your local network. No port forwarding, no Docker compose files, no networking headaches.

Conclusion

You now have a fully automated movie management system running on your SonicBit seedbox. Add a movie once, and Radarr handles everything else: searching, downloading, upgrading, organizing, and notifying your media server. New releases appear in your library without you lifting a finger.

As you use Radarr, you'll discover more advanced features like custom formats (prefer specific release groups), metadata management (posters and descriptions), and calendar views for upcoming releases. The system grows with your needs.

Sign up free at SonicBit.net and get 4GB storage. Download our app on Android and iOS to access your seedbox on the go.