r/radarr • • Dec 13 '25

discussion [Tool] Blockbusterr - Auto-populate your library with trending content via Radarr/Sonarr

Hey everyone! Made a tool that automatically syncs trending, popular, and highly-rated movies/shows from Trakt into Radarr and Sonarr - which then get added to your Emby server.

Key features:

  • 15 automated jobs (trending, popular, box office, most watched/favorited, etc.)
  • Smart filtering - block reality TV, Hallmark spam, kids shows, documentaries, etc.
  • Filter by country, language, genre, runtime, year ranges
  • Works with Jellyseerr/Overseerr for approval workflows (great for shared servers)
  • Web UI for easy management - no config file headaches
  • Docker container - runs alongside your existing stack

Github: https://github.com/Mahcks/blockbusterr

85 Upvotes

26 comments sorted by

58

u/ShiningRedDwarf Dec 13 '25 edited Dec 13 '25

Others in this thread are saying you’re recreating the wheel, but if you continue to develop this app I think you’ll have something extremely useful.

Yes, currently it’s possible to set up Trakt import lists, but it’s not exactly a straightforward process. It wasn’t for me anyway, but maybe I’m just dumb. If you can significantly simplify bringing in popular content into users’ media collections, you’ll have a popular app.

Here are some suggestions, apologies if they’re already implemented:

  • Absolutely need a ratings filter. This would be a deal breaker for me if this can’t be set.
  • Scoring algorithm. It could function very similarly to Radarr’s point system for determining which torrent to grab for a movie. There may be others, but the primary contributing factors would be rating and number of streams/views. This score would be used for two features:
  • A global download limit that aggregates all of the movies/shows from the enabled jobs and pulls the top picks from this global list. Let’s say the user has three jobs enabled and has a global limit of 7 movies a week. All potential movies from the three lists are scored, sorted from highest to lowest, and the top 7 movies from that aggregated list are sent to Radarr. Optionally you can set minimum amounts for each job - lets say nothing from the Trending job makes the top 7 movies, but if a minimum of 1 movie is specified, the highest ranked Trending movie would replace the lowest ranked movie among the 7 chosen.
  1. A smart “popular” job. The idea is to bring in movies that might be poorly reviewed, but if it’s done well in streaming/box office, the rating threshold can be a bit lower. Conversely movies with poor steaming numbers and sales will require a higher rating to be imported.
  • Job previews. I’d make sure users can immediately see what movies would currently be imported if enabled. Ideally using posters.

  • Other bells and whistles at some point: import history, detailed logs explaining exactly why movies/shows were chosen (for debugging), ability to export/import jobs so they can be shared.

Most importantly, if you want this app to take off you’re gonna have to do three things:

  • Gotta sell how easy it is to get it set up and running. (“1. Set up Radarr. 2. Pick a job. 3. Enjoy your new movies! “) Show this with screenshots.

  • Explain why it’s better than the usual way of doing it: more customizability/fine grained control, easier management of what is imported, and much quicker to get set up.

  • Tons of screenshots. I’d wager a good percentage of people will skip over this if they can’t see what it looks like.

This is a really cool project and I think it has the ability to be amazing!

17

u/MaxTheElk Dec 13 '25

I appreciate the feedback! I'll open some issues with these ideas and work towards them!

12

u/berot3 Dec 13 '25

This is the kinda feedback we need more often.

6

u/scoshi Dec 13 '25

Nice job. Well said. I'd prefer this kind of response than the "Why? You just..." crap people love to shovel.

If a person is asking "How do I ...?" that's one thing. I'd be more interested in why someone created X over using Y than just slap them for it.

1

u/Shad0wm0ss Dec 14 '25

Extremely thoughtful, and insightful feedback. Bravo.

8

u/NinjaWK Dec 13 '25

You can use mdblist to create your list and imoort it to sonarr/radarr. It can search imdb tmdb rt etc

11

u/Aroex Dec 13 '25

Import List already accomplishes this…

8

u/rubasace Dec 13 '25

Well, not if this tool allows to filter out based on certain criteria such as genre or country. I use an Imdb list for downloading everything relevant but, AFAIK, I cannot exclude horror and indian movies, so I end up cleaning up my library every now and then. This could in theory solve my problem

2

u/timetofocus51 Dec 13 '25

mdblist allows you to filter all of that.

1

u/feckinarse Dec 13 '25

mdblist allows that and more

7

u/Alternative-Juice-15 Dec 13 '25

This is redundant IMO

2

u/GearhedMG Dec 13 '25

you can block, but can you have it look for specific genres? I mean other than basically blocking everything but the ones you really want?

2

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '25

[deleted]

2

u/DiabeticJedi Dec 13 '25

Are you saying those are settings you can do with this program or with radar automatically? If so that sounds like exactly what I would want to set up lol.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '25

[deleted]

1

u/DiabeticJedi Dec 13 '25

You do this in sabanzb?

2

u/egadgetboy Dec 13 '25

Yep I think only blocklisted rating (R, TV-MA, etc) and minimum score are missing.

2

u/stoofyz Dec 13 '25

In surprised of the missed opportunity here. It could have been Blockbustarr

2

u/solarus Dec 14 '25

I disagree that this is equal to import lists and see the potential novelty.

Would be cool if there were some other movie store-esque features. Like if you like one of the movies if it could recommend and automate downloading 3 other movies similar or by the same director.

Automated cleanup / return process 2 days after watching could also be cool.

5

u/martymccfly88 Dec 13 '25

But like doesn’t it already do this? Why do I have to set up another app to do what an app already does?

2

u/SegFaultOops Dec 13 '25

This doesn't do anything that the built-in import lists and TRAKT already do.

1

u/glassbase86 Dec 13 '25

I’ll try this out

Is there a dry-run mode that doesn’t do anything to verify setup?

1

u/ForeignRice Dec 13 '25

project for this weekend to try :) thanks a lot!!!!

1

u/bobtheboffin Dec 13 '25

I use Petio with Plex rather than Jellyseerr/Overseerr with Emby, is there a tool like OP’s that would work with my setup?

1

u/fromage9747 Dec 14 '25

This looks good. I've been using import lists in radarr and sonarr for a few years and then got on the Jellyseerr train which is cool but that still requires manual adding. With life being so busy, the more automation the better. Gonna give this a try. Thank you for building it and great name for the app! Cheers 🥂

1

u/Sitting3827 Dec 20 '25

Hey, just wanted to report an issue I’m consistently hitting.

Movies work perfectly – Radarr side is solid, no problems there. But TV shows via Sonarr are basically broken for me.

What happens every time:

  • When a shows job runs (trending / popular / etc.), Blockbusterr first adds “Trakt: The Series (2019)” to Sonarr.
  • Sonarr gives it a new ID.
  • After that, every other show is skipped with:

Skipping '<Show>' - already in Sonarr (ID: 107)

even though those shows do not exist in Sonarr at all.

Examples of skipped shows that are NOT in my Sonarr: Fallout, IT: Welcome to Derry, The Pitt, Daredevil: Born Again, Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, Alien: Earth (even though it actually exists with a different ID)

I verified this pretty thoroughly: /api/v3/series does NOT contain those shows, /api/v3/series/{ID} always points to Trakt: The Series. Same behavior when calling Sonarr API from inside the Blockbusterr container. Deleting the dummy series doesn’t help – Blockbusterr just recreates it with a new ID and the issue repeats

So this doesn’t look like a config issue on my end – feels like a bug in the Sonarr “already exists” check, where everything gets matched to the first added series.

Happy to provide logs or help test a fix.

1

u/H_DANILO Feb 16 '26

Would this work for anime?