hotfolders - degoya/rDownloader GitHub Wiki
A watched folder (hotfolder) is a directory rDownloader monitors. Drop a file in, and it is taken into the LinkGrabber or straight into the queue, then moved out of the way.
Configure them under Settings → Hotfolders.
| Extension | What it is |
|---|---|
.nzb |
A Usenet post |
.torrent |
Torrent metadata |
.dlc |
A DLC link container |
.ccf |
A CCF link container |
.rsdf |
An RSDF link container |
.rdlinks |
A link file rDownloader exported, if it is not encrypted — a folder has nobody to ask for the passphrase |
.txt is deliberately not accepted here, even though the LinkGrabber takes it by drag and
drop: a folder full of .txt files is also somewhere people keep notes.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Watched folder | The folder to watch. Must be absolute. |
| Import mode | Review in LinkGrabber, or Enqueue directly |
| Subfolders | Whether subdirectories are watched too |
| Folder for processed files | Where a successfully taken file is moved; relative to the watched folder |
| Folder for rejected files | Where a file that could not be processed is moved, content unchanged; relative to the watched folder |
The watched folder itself thus stays empty, and a failure is visible rather than a file that silently disappeared.
Duplicate on a watched folder copies its settings into the form. Two watched folders may not watch one path, so the copy is held there until you change its directory.
Review in LinkGrabber puts the import in front of you before anything downloads — the normal choice.
Enqueue directly skips the review. Use it for a source you already trust, such as a Sonarr or Radarr blackhole directory.
A
.dlcalways stops in the LinkGrabber for review, whatever the mode says: its links still have to be resolved, and that is what you want to see before it happens.
- Watchers restart automatically when the configuration changes — no service restart needed.
- How often every folder is reconciled is one setting, above the list: 5 to 3600 seconds, 30 by default, one value for all folders, and each row states the interval in force. A saved value reaches every running watcher at once, without restarting it.
- Paths are validated, and escaping the allowed directories through symlinks is refused. A
watched folder on this machine may not be or lie inside the data, scripts, vendor, tools or
plugin folder (
hotfolder.protected_directory); this is checked before the folder is created. - A file that could not be read leaves a visible trace. An NZB that will not parse is recorded as a failed import, and the LinkGrabber shows a row naming the file with the reason under it; deleting that row is what makes room for the file to be imported again. Torrents and link containers are moved to the folder for rejected files and logged. A file dropped again after its earlier import was deleted from the NZB history is imported again, not moved aside.
- One bad file does not stop the folder. A file that vanished between the stability check and the read, a full processed directory, or a single unreadable subdirectory does not end the watcher.
- Routing rules apply to files taken from a watched folder just as they do to a pasted link, and hotfolder is its own intake source, so it can be routed separately. See Storage, categories and rules.
- A blackhole directory for Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr or Readarr. Note that those tools can also talk to rDownloader directly — see Automation tool compatibility, which is usually the better route because it gives them status back.
- A shared network folder where other machines drop NZB or torrent files.
- A downloads folder in the browser, so saving a
.torrentfile is enough to queue it.