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Monitor media servers

Tracearr is Plundarr's preferred media monitor and a removable default. It connects to Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby over the network, including servers in other projects or on other hosts. Tautulli remains an optional Plex monitor; Duplex includes neither monitor by default.

Follow the Plundarr quick start to generate and start your deployment first. Run this page's Docker Compose commands from the generated directory containing docker-compose.yml and .env, such as dist/plundarr/.

Select a monitor

The tracearr selection includes the application, TimescaleDB, and Redis as one unit. Its internal containers are not separate catalog choices. It supports amd64 and arm64, not arm/v7.

Select a monitor in the interactive generator. You may choose Tautulli instead of Tracearr, add Tracearr to another preset, or select both monitors. Keep your complete service additions and removals when regenerating an existing deployment.

Connect a media server

Confirm that the selected Tracearr services are running:

docker compose ps tracearr tracearr-db tracearr-redis
  1. Open http://YOUR-HOST:3080, replacing YOUR-HOST with your Docker host's address and using the actual TRACEARR_WEBUI_PORT from .env.
  2. Create the owner account and connect a media server with an address reachable from Tracearr. localhost refers to Tracearr's container, not your host or media server. No media-library mount or VPN dependency is required.
  3. Play a sample item on the connected server and confirm that its session appears in Tracearr.

Maraudarr generates database and authentication secrets in .env and preserves them on regeneration. Keep that file private. Changing TRACEARR_DB_PASSWORD in .env does not change the password in an already initialized database; coordinate database credential changes explicitly.

Setting Default Purpose
TRACEARR_WEBUI_PORT 3080 in Plundarr Browser-facing host port.
TRACEARR_PORT 3000 Internal application, widget, and healthcheck port.
TRACEARR_DB_TAG pg18 TimescaleDB HA channel based on PostgreSQL 18.
TRACEARR_TRUST_PROXY false Enable only behind a trusted reverse proxy.

The database and Redis have no published host ports. After changing .env, recreate the affected containers using the update procedure.

Connect Homepage

When both services are selected, Maraudarr generates a native Tracearr widget. Set HOMEPAGE_VAR_TRACEARR_HREF to the browser URL and HOMEPAGE_VAR_TRACEARR_KEY to an API key created in Tracearr. The internal widget URL defaults to http://tracearr:3000, independently of the host port. Recreate Homepage after environment changes.

Regeneration rebuilds Homepage service cards while preserving existing settings.yaml; see Homepage customization.

Back up and update

Tracearr's database, Redis state, and internal backup workspace at /data/backup use project-scoped named Docker volumes. Regeneration, docker compose down without volume removal, and Plundarr's make remove-stack preserve these volumes. A host config archive does not dump databases or copy named volumes.

With Tracearr running, export an application backup before updating:

  1. Open Settings → Backup and select Create Backup.
  2. Wait for the backup to finish and appear in the backup history, then download its ZIP archive.
  3. Keep a verified copy off the Docker host with the matching private .env file. Tracearr's generated authentication secrets are needed alongside its saved data.

Tracearr currently labels backup and restore as beta. Follow the upstream backup and restore guidance and verify your independent backup before relying on it for recovery.

For a terminal export instead, run these commands from the generated deployment directory:

  1. Create the application backup and confirm success.
docker compose exec -T tracearr node apps/server/scripts/backup.ts
  1. Copy the backup workspace into the host config tree.
umask 077
mkdir -p config/tracearr/backups
docker compose cp tracearr:/data/backup/. config/tracearr/backups/
  1. Confirm an archive exists, then copy it and the matching private .env to your independent backup destination.
ls -lh config/tracearr/backups/

The export commands use config/tracearr/backups/ beneath the generated deployment. If you changed CONFIG_PATH, export beneath that host config tree to include the archive in your usual config backup. Duplicati also needs exported backups in its selected source paths. Restore through Tracearr's backup interface; do not copy live PostgreSQL files.

Caution

make delete-config deletes the host config tree, including backup exports stored there. Keep a verified off-host backup and the matching private .env. Named-volume survival is not a substitute for an independent backup.

Watchtower can update Tracearr, but its database and Redis are excluded. Compose startup still follows the generated image pull policy and may update floating database tags. Review changes and export backups before updating; use exact image tags where needed.

Optional repository helpers

From a Plundarr source checkout, the optional repository helpers provide equivalent service selection. These are separate examples:

make generate PRESET=plundarr REMOVE_SERVICES=tracearr ADD_SERVICES=tautulli
make generate PRESET=duplex ADD_SERVICES=tracearr

After exporting a Tracearr backup into the selected preset's host config tree, make backup PRESET=plundarr archives that tree. It does not dump databases, copy named volumes, or include .env; back up the matching private .env separately.