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Unpackerr in Container Manager on a Synology NAS

Last updated on 26 October 2024

Important or Recent Updates
Historic UpdatesDate
Rewritten for Container Manager and config file updated08/07/2023
Changed the image to pull from docker hub as the old cr.hotio.dev is being phased out
Added additional security option to the compose to restrict the container from gaining new privileges
25/10/2023
Historic updates


What is Unpackerr

Unpackerr monitors your torrent client’s completed download folders and when a compressed file requires ‘Unpacking’ from a Zip or RAR it will do it automatically for you. It will then notify Radarr and other arrs the download is ready.

Let’s Begin

In this guide I am going to take you through the steps to get Unpackerr up and running in Docker on your Synology NAS.

In order for you to successfully use this guide please complete these two additional guides

Folder Setup

Our next task is to set up a couple of folders for the config file and also the compose file

Open up File Station and go to the /docker share. Create a ‘projects’ then within this create a folder called ‘unpackerr-compose’. Then directly in the /docker share again create a ‘unpackerr’ folder

Config File Set up

In order to use Unpackerr we need to set up a number of variables in the config file, I have built a version with some pre-configured basics in line with the folder structure across the guides.

Download the pre-made config file below and save it into the newly created unpackerr folder.

Next up we are going to edit the file, so it can send notifications to the Arrs when it has completed its work.

Making your amendments

You can edit this file in a number of ways, but to keep the guide OS-agnostic we will be using the Synology Text Editor package which can be installed via Package Center.

Open up the config file in Text Editor you will see its nicely broken down into sections.

In the first section you can amend the preferences to your own liking I have set some sane defaults already.

In the second section you can start adding in your settings for the Arrs. Due to Radarr and Sonarr being the most commonly used applications I have left them in the file already. You will need to edit the following lines on each.

SettingsVariable to Use
url = “http://172.20.0.1:8989”This is the synobridge gateway IP you likely won’t need to change this, however you can also use your NAS IP.
api_key = “0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef”Your API key can be located in the Arrs settings pages (Settings > General) copy and paste it between the “”
delete_orig = falseIf you want Unpackerr to delete the original compressed files when it has completed set this to ‘true’

If you are using other Arrs you can optionally copy the settings from below and add them into the config file and amend the same settings mentioned above accordingly

YAML
[[lidarr]]
  url = "http://172.20.0.1:8686"
  api_key = "0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef"
  paths = ["/data/torrents/completed"]
  protocols = "torrent"
  timeout = "10s"
  delete_orig = false

YAML
[[readarr]]
  url = "http://172.20.0.1:8787"
  api_key = "0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef"
  paths = ["/data/torrents/completed"]
  protocols = "torrent"
  timeout = "10s"
  delete_orig = false

We won’t be changing any of the settings in the final two sections of the config file for this guide. You can now save and exit the config file.

Container Setup

Next we are going to set up a ‘Project’ in Container Manager. Open up Container Manager and click on Project then on the right-hand side click ‘Create’.

In the next screen we will set up our General Settings.

Project Name’ will be ‘unpackerr’

Path’ click the button and select the folder we created earlier in ‘/docker/projects/unpackerr-compose’.

Source:’ change the drop-down to ‘Create docker-compose.yml’.

Next we are going to drop in our docker compose configuration, copy all the code in the box below and paste it into line ‘1’ just like the screenshot.

YAML
services:
  unpackerr:
    container_name: unpackerr
    image: ghcr.io/hotio/unpackerr
    environment:
      - PUID=1234 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_UID
      - PGID=65432 #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_GID
      - TZ=Europe/London #CHANGE_TO_YOUR_TZ
      - UMASK=002
    volumes:
      - /volume1/docker/unpackerr:/config
      - /volume1/data:/data
    network_mode: synobridge
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    restart: unless-stopped
What on earth is a Docker Compose?
Docker Compose allows us to define how Docker should set up one or more containers within a single configuration file. This file is yaml formatted and generally saved as docker-compose.yml or compose.yml

Environment Variables

We are now going to amend some key variables to make sure the container has access to our folders and also knows where we are in the world. Don’t change any other settings other than those I mention.

PUID=⁣ – The UID you obtained in the user setup guide

PGID=⁣ – The GID you obtained in the user setup guide

TZ=⁣ – You will need to change this line to your own timezone code – you can find the correct list of ones to use on wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones

Once you have made the edits you can click ‘Next’

You do not need to enable anything on the ‘Web portal settings’ screen click ‘Next’ again.

On the final screen click ‘Done’ which will begin the download of the container images and once downloaded they will be launched!

Unpackerr will now be linked to Radarr/Sonarr etc and once a download has been completed that requires unpacking it will step in and do the work for you.




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Published inDockerOther Tools 7.2Synology

13 Comments

  1. JJK JJK

    I’ve gotten stuck at the part about “Your API key can be located in the Arrs settings pages”. Does this guide presume I’ve completed your “Arr’s Media Project”?

    So far I’ve completed the Qbit with Glue guide, and when the unrar script did not work for me, I moved directly to the Unpackerr guide. Should I stop this guide and do the Arr’s Media Project.

    I did find one Reddit Post where someone suggested installing Overseer first to ‘expose’ the API. Should I install Overseer next instead?

    Apologies for my newbness.

    • Dr_Frankenstein Dr_Frankenstein

      All good 🙂

      Yeah, Unpacker can either work independently or can be triggered by the Arrs, so if you plan on using in conjunction get them running first. (The API key is in their general settings) Overseerr is another layer on top of the Arrs this is useful for media discovery and giving family access to request stuff.

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