Jackett

What is Jackett?

Jackett is an open-source indexer proxy that translates queries from apps like Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, and Mylar3 into indexer-specific HTTP queries. It parses HTML and JSON responses from your indexers and returns results in a standardised Torznab or Potato format that your arr apps understand.

Note: Jackett is in maintenance mode — the project recommends Prowlarr for new setups. ElfHosted supports Jackett for users with existing configurations who aren’t ready to migrate.

Features

• 🔍 Broad indexer support — from major indexers to niche communities
• 📡 Torznab & Potato API — compatible with all major arr apps out of the box
• 📰 RSS feed support — monitor recent uploads for automatic downloads
• 🎛️ Manual search — search all configured indexers at once from Jackett’s web UI
• 🔐 Per-indexer authentication — stores credentials separately per indexer
• 🌐 Fallback indexer — works alongside Prowlarr as an additional source

Jackett in Your Media Stack

Jackett sits between your arr apps and your indexers:

• 📺 Sonarr — TV series automation; add Jackett indexers as Torznab sources
• 🎬 Radarr — movie automation; same Torznab integration
• 🎵 Lidarr — music downloads; Jackett covers indexers Prowlarr may miss
• 📚 Mylar3 — comics; uses Jackett’s Potato API
• 🔄 Prowlarr — the recommended modern alternative; Jackett configs can be migrated

Why ElfHosted?

Jackett runs on Mono — a cross-platform .NET implementation that works, but has known stability quirks. The most common self-hosting failure is a FileNotFoundException or assembly load error that crashes the process after 20–30 minutes, requiring a container restart. It happens often enough that many self-hosters add a cron job just to restart Jackett periodically.

The other constant friction is indexer maintenance. Sites change their HTML layouts regularly, which silently breaks Jackett’s parsers for that indexer. You only notice when Sonarr stops finding releases, and the fix requires waiting for (or manually applying) an upstream Jackett update.

• 🔄 Auto-restart on crash — ElfHosted’s Kubernetes pods restart automatically on Mono failures
• 📦 Rapid indexer updates — ElfHosted ships upstream Jackett releases as they land
• 🚀 No Docker Compose — no volume mounts, no network config, no port mapping
• 🔐 HTTPS included — secure remote access without a reverse proxy
• 🗺️ Migration path — when you’re ready, ElfHosted also offers Prowlarr as the modern successor

Technical Specs

• 🧩 Runtime: Mono (.NET)
• 📡 API: Torznab, Potato
• 🔗 Upstream project: github.com/Jackett/Jackett (maintenance mode)
• 🔄 Recommended upgrade: Prowlarr

FAQ

How do I run Jackett without self-hosting?
ElfHosted runs a managed Jackett instance for you — no Docker, no Mono crashes to babysit, no manual indexer updates. You sign up, configure your indexers in Jackett’s web UI, and connect it to your Sonarr/Radarr as a Torznab indexer source. Auto-restart on Mono failures, HTTPS, and SSO are included.

Should I use Jackett or Prowlarr?
For new setups, Prowlarr. For existing Jackett users with configured indexers, Jackett is fine — and ElfHosted offers both if you want to run them in parallel during migration.

My indexer stopped returning results — what happened?
The indexer likely changed its site layout. Check Jackett’s release notes for a recent indexer fix, or temporarily switch to a fallback indexer for that content.

Can Jackett work with Stremio addons?
Yes — Comet and some other Stremio addons accept Jackett as a custom indexer source.