Docker Compose

Before you begin, make sure you have reviewed the First Things section to understand environment variables and how to find your existing Radarr/Sonarr volume mappings.

Create a docker-compose.yml file with the following content. Adjust the volumes and environment variables to match your setup.

services:
  trailarr:
    image: nandyalu/trailarr:latest
    container_name: trailarr
    environment:
      - TZ=America/New_York # Change to your timezone
      # Add any other environment variables as needed.
    volumes:
      - /path/to/your/trailarr/config:/config # For Trailarr's database and logs
      # Map your Radarr media folder(s)
      - /path/on/your/host/movies:/media/movies # Example: if Radarr uses /media/movies internally
      # Map your Sonarr media folder(s)
      - /path/on/your/host/tv:/media/tv # Example: if Sonarr uses /media/tv internally
      # Add more volume mappings if you have multiple Radarr/Sonarr instances
      # or if your media is split across different locations.
      # The path on the right (e.g., /media/movies, /media/tv) is how Trailarr will see these folders.
      # The path on the left is the actual path on your Docker host system.
    ports:
      - "7889:7889" # Or choose a different host port if 7889 is taken, leave the right side as is
    restart: unless-stopped
    # Optional: Add labels, network, and other configuration as needed

Explanation of options

General Docker Compose Options

This section is for those who are new to Docker or Docker Compose. If you are already familiar with Docker Compose, you can skip this section and go to the volumes section below.

If you are familiar with Docker containers and/or have been using them, skip to volumes section and look at the examples for configuring them.

Let's go over some of the things we used here:

services:
  trailarr:
    image: nandyalu/trailarr:latest
    container_name: trailarr
    # Other options here

image: Specifies the Trailarr Docker image. Using latest to make updating to newer versions easier. Change to a specific version if needed.

container_name: A friendly name for your container.

services:
  trailarr:
    image: nandyalu/trailarr:latest
    container_name: trailarr
    environment:
      - TZ=America/New_York # Change to your timezone
    # Other options here
    ports:
      - 7889:7889
    restart: unless-started

environment: Set your timezone here! For a list of valid timezones, see tz database time zones.

ports: Trailarr uses port 7889 internally, we need to tell Docker to make it available to our system so that we can view Trailarr UI. We can use the same port 7889 or change it to a different port if it's used by some other program or container.

To use a differnt port, change the LEFT side to your desired port!

ports:
  - 8115:7889 # <-- Changed outside port to `8115` if needed

restart: unless-stopped: Ensures the container restarts automatically unless you explicitly stop it.

Tip

Trailarr has some intenal mechanisms to check if it's running as expected which will notify Docker when it's not, and Docker restarts it. This will only work when restart is set to either unleass-stopped or always.

Now, those were the easy options, let's go over the hardest part: volumes. These needs to be setup properly for Trailarr to work for you.

Volumes

This is the most important part of the Docker Compose file. It allows Trailarr to access your media files and store its configuration data persistently. We will go over the volumes section in detail below. We understand that this is going to be exhaustive, so we did our best to make it easy to understand and set them up properly.

volumes: There are 2 types of volumes that are needed: AppData and Media Folders

And there are 2 parts to each volume mapping:

1. Local Folder: The folder on your computer/server where the media files are stored.
2. Container Folder: The folder inside the Trailarr container where it can access the media files.

This is used like:

  volumes:
    - <Local Folder>:<Container Folder>

Trailarr AppData

services:
  trailarr:
    image: nandyalu/trailarr:latest
    # Other options here
    volumes:
      - /path/to/your/trailarr:/config # For Trailarr's database and logs
      # Map your Radarr media folder(s)
      - /path/on/your/host/movies:/media/movies # Example: if Radarr uses /media/movies internally
      # Map your Sonarr media folder(s)
      - /path/on/your/host/tv:/media/tv # Example: if Sonarr uses /media/tv internally
    # Other options here

This is crucial. It maps a directory on your computer/server to /config inside the Trailarr container. This is where Trailarr will store its persistent data (database, logs, other configuration files, etc.,).

This is a common practice for most Docker containers. For example Radarr and Sonarr also uses a /config inside it's container for appdata.

If you do not provide this, trailarr will still work, but once you restart your system, it will become an amnesia patient! It will forget everything and you have to start from scratch. We don't want that right! so we need to map this to a folder on our computer/server so that the data exists even on restarting the system.

Below are some examples on how you can map this to a folder on your system. But feel free to use a folder that you think is the best.

Examples 1 & 2

You can use something like this

volumes:
  - /opt/trailarr/config:/config 

Or this:

volumes:
  - /home/user/docker/trailarr:/config

Example 3 - TRaSH Guides

If you used TRaSH Guides for setting up Radarr and Sonarr Docker containers, they also uses a /config inside it's container.

If you already have those setup like:

# Radarr Config - DO NOT USE WITH TRAILARR
volumes:
  - /docker/appdata/radarr:/config

Then, you can use below for Trailarr:

# USE THIS WITH TRAILARR
volumes:
  - /docker/appdata/trailarr:/config

Example 4 - Recommended for Windows users

Known Issue - File Access Slowness and Workaround

Windows users of Docker Desktop often experience slow read/write speeds when using volume mounts. This is a known limitation of file sharing between the Windows host and Docker containers.

Fortunately, we can use a workaround by creating a Docker Volume.

Here's an example Docker compose that uses a docker volume named trailarr_data for /config.

services:
  trailarr:
    # Other options here
    volumes:
      - trailarr_data:/config # Docker volume for appdata, the first part `trailarr_data` is the volume name
      - M:\Movies:/m/movies   # Movies drive
      - R:\TV:/r/tv           # TV series drive 1
      - S:\TV:/s/tv           # TV series drive 2
      - T:\TV:/t/tv           # TV series drive 3
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  trailarr_data:  # volume name, should match the volume name in the service
    # Any extra options for the volume if needed

We used trailarr_data here, but you can use any name that makes sense to you. Update it on both the highlighted lines!

Relevant threads discussing this issue:

• File access in mounted volumes extremely slow
• Performance volume mount

More information on Docker Volumes can be found in the Docker documentation.

Things to Note

• Do NOT change the right side /config part!!!
• Replace the left side /path/to/your/trailarr with an actual path on your system.
• Make sure this folder actually exists on your system and accessible.

Media Folders

services:
  trailarr:
    image: nandyalu/trailarr:latest
    # Other options here
    volumes:
      - /path/to/your/trailarr:/config # For Trailarr's database and logs
      # Map your Radarr media folder(s)
      - /path/on/your/host/movies:/media/movies # Example: if Radarr uses /media/movies internally
      # Map your Sonarr media folder(s)
      - /path/on/your/host/tv:/media/tv # Example: if Sonarr uses /media/tv internally
    # Other options here

These are examples. You must update these.

• The left side (/path/on/your/host/...) should be the folder path where media files are located in your system.
• The right side (:/movies, :/tv) is how this path will be known inside the Trailarr container. You will use these paths later when configuring connections in Trailarr.

Use UNIQUE container folder paths

Make sure these paths are unique and do not conflict with any other container's paths. What does this mean? Let's say you used below configuration:

# DO NOT USE THIS
services:
  trailarr:
    image: nandyalu/trailarr:latest
    # Other options here
    volumes:
      - /path/to/your/trailarr:/config # For Trailarr's database and logs
      # Map your Radarr media folder(s)
      - /mnt/disk1/media/movies:/media # Container Path: '/media'
      # Map your Sonarr media folder(s)
      - /mnt/disk2/media/tv:/media # Container Path: '/media'
    # Other options here

This means we are telling Docker to link both our Movies and TV folders to Media folder inside Trailarr container. Docker will link Movies folder to /media folder first and then replaces it with TV folder later, so Trailarr will only have access to TV folder and not the Movies folder.

You can use something like below to get around this:

# DO NOT USE THIS
services:
  trailarr:
    image: nandyalu/trailarr:latest
    # Other options here
    volumes:
      - /path/to/your/trailarr:/config # For Trailarr's database and logs
      # Map your Radarr media folder(s)
      - /mnt/disk1/media/movies:/disk1/media # <-- MODIFIED
      # Map your Sonarr media folder(s)
      - /mnt/disk2/media/tv:/disk2/media # <-- MODIFIED
    # Other options here

Important

If you have a path with spaces in it, you can either:

• Use quotes around the path like this: "/path/with spaces:/media/movies" (recommended)
• Or escape the spaces with a backslash like this: /path/with\ spaces:/media/movies

Remember that we got our volumes from Radarr and Sonarr Docker compose files in First Things, we need to use them here!

Here are some examples:

Example 1 - TRaSH Guides - Same Folder in Radarr and Sonarr

If you have Radarr and Sonarr like below:

services:
  radarr:
    image: ghcr.io/hotio/radarr:latest
    # Other options here
    volumes:
      - /docker/appdata/radarr:/config
      - /data:/data
    # Other options here
  sonarr:
    image: ghcr.io/hotio/sonarr:latest
    # Other options here
    volumes:
      - /docker/appdata/sonarr:/config
      - /data:/data
    # Other options here

This means your movies are located in /data/movies in both your system and the Radarr container. Similary the TV Shows are in /data/tv.

So, we can use this in Trailarr:

services:
  trailarr:
    image: nandyalu/trailarr:latest
    # Other options here
    volumes:
      - /docker/appdata/trailarr:/config
      - /data:/data
    # Other options here

Since Radarr and Sonarr both have the same volume /data:/data we don't need to duplicate it!

Example 2 - Different folders for Radarr and Sonarr

If you have Radarr and Sonarr like below:

services:
  radarr:
    image: ghcr.io/hotio/radarr:latest
    # Other options here
    volumes:
      - /docker/appdata/radarr:/config
      - /mnt/movies_disk/media/movies:/media/movies
    # Other options here
  sonarr:
    image: ghcr.io/hotio/sonarr:latest
    # Other options here
    volumes:
      - /docker/appdata/sonarr:/config
      - /mnt/series_disk/media/tv:/media/tv
    # Other options here

This means your movies are located in /mnt/movies_disk/media/movies in your system and /media/movies inside Radarr container.

Similary the TV Shows are in /mnt/series_disk/media/tv in your system and /media/tv inside Sonarr container.

So, we can use this in Trailarr as:

services:
  trailarr:
    image: nandyalu/trailarr:latest
    # Other options here
    volumes:
      - /docker/appdata/trailarr:/config
      - /mnt/movies_disk/media/movies:/media/movies
      - /mnt/series_disk/media/tv:/media/tv
    # Other options here

Since Radarr and Sonarr have their media in different folders, we mapped both of them to Trailarr as is!

Example 3 - Different Radarr and Sonarr folders mapped to same container folder

If both your Radarr and Sonarr are mapped to same folder path on the right side like /data and you add them to Trailarr directly like below, we will have a problem (DO NOT DO THIS).

# DO NOT USE THIS
radarr:
  # other config
  volumes:
    - /mnt/disk1/media/movies:/data
sonarr:
  # other config
  volumes:
    - /mnt/disk2/media/tv:/data
trailarr:
  # other config
  volumes:
    - /mnt/disk1/media/movies:/data # <-- DO NOT USE
    - /mnt/disk2/media/tv:/data # <-- DO NOT USE

Basically, what happens is Docker will map /mnt/disk1/media/movies to /data inside the container without any issues.

But then it will try to map /mnt/disk1/media/tv to /data inside the container, which will override the first mapping.

We don't know if Docker will map them in this order, so we cannot predict which one will be available inside Trailarr.

So instead of mapping both to same internal folder /data, what we do is change them a little bit, but we need to remember these for configuring Path Mappings later!

Here's an example of what we can do:

# USE THIS INSTEAD
radarr:
  # other config
  volumes:
    - /mnt/disk1/media/movies:/data
sonarr:
  # other config
  volumes:
    - /mnt/disk2/media/tv:/data
trailarr:
  # other config
  volumes:
    - /mnt/disk1/media/movies:/data/movies # <-- MODIFIED
    - /mnt/disk2/media/tv:/data/tv # <-- MODIFIED

Example 4 - Windows users

Let's go over a simple Windows configuration. Concepts form examples 1, 2 and 3 can also be applied to Windows as well, just change the left side of volume mapping with Windows path.

Windows volume mappings are similar to Linux/MacOS volume mappings with one change, the left side of path is different!

Windows paths use a '\' (back-slash) and Linux/MacOS paths use '/' (forward-slash).

When adding a volume mapping from Windows (Docker Desktop), you have some options, use the one that works for you:

• Use the original path as is

    volumes:
      - C:\Users\nandyalu\Videos\Movies:/data/movies
  

• Use the original path with '\' but instead of '\' replace it with '\\'

    volumes:
      - C:\\Users\\nandyalu\\Videos\\Movies:/data/movies
  

• Or replace '\' with '/' by adding a '/' before the drive letter like this

    volumes:
      - /C/Users/nandyalu/Videos/Movies:/data/movies
  

• There might be other paths that work, if you know something else that has been working for you, feel free to keep using that! You can also share with us, so that we can add it here!

Warning

Trailarr Docker container uses Ubuntu OS, which is Linux, so we need to add Linux paths for right side paths in volume mapping.

So, here's an example docker compose for Windows:

services:
  trailarr:
    # Other options here
    volumes:
      - trailarr_data:/config # Docker volume for appdata, the first part `trailarr_data` is the volume name
      - M:\Movies:/m/movies   # Movies drive
      - R:\TV:/r/tv           # TV series drive 1
      - S:\TV:/s/tv           # TV series drive 2
      - T:\TV:/t/tv           # TV series drive 3
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  trailarr_data:  # volume name, should match the volume name in the service
    # Any extra options for the volume if needed

Example 5 - Non-Docker Radarr and Sonarr

There is nothing speciial here other than the fact that you have installed Radarr and Sonarr native apps and not as Docker containers.

So, one thing that changes here is the fact that you don't have the right side path of volume mappings.

Here's what you can do:

• If all your media (Movies and TV Shows) are under one parent folder like /mnt/disk1/media with subfolders for movies, tv, then you can do this (recommended)

  services:
    trailarr:
      # Other options here
      volumes:
        - /docker/appdata/trailarr:/config # appdata
        - /mnt/disk1/media:/mnt/disk1/media # Media Folders, using same path
      restart: unless-stopped
      # Other options here
  

• OR this

  services:
    trailarr:
      # Other options here
      volumes:
        - /docker/appdata/trailarr:/config # appdata
        - /mnt/disk1/media:/media # Media Folders, mapping to `/media` inside container
      restart: unless-stopped
      # Other options here
  

• If your media is in different paths/disks then map each of them to a specific folder inside Trailarr. /data, /media, /mnt, /storage are all good choices. Just make sure you don't use a Linux system folder like /app, /bin, /etc, /home, /var etc.

  services:
    trailarr:
      # Other options here
      volumes:
        - /docker/appdata/trailarr:/config # appdata
        - /mnt/disk1/movies:/media/movies # Movies Folder
        - /mnt/disk2/tv:/media/tv # TV Folder
      restart: unless-stopped
      # Other options here
  

That's it! You have finished setting up volumes and Docker Compose for running Trailarr. Now, use the command below to start the container.

Run Docker Compose

Once you have customized your docker-compose.yml file, save it and run:

docker-compose up -d

To update Trailarr later, you can run:

docker-compose pull trailarr
docker-compose up -d

Now that Trailarr is up and running, we need to configure it to connect to our Radarr and Sonarr to let it start doing it's job - download trailers. We will go over that in the next section Setup.