Make YAMS Your Own! 🚀

Want to add more containers to your YAMS setup? Maybe a cool new app you found, or something specific for your needs? No problem! YAMS makes it super easy to expand your media server with custom containers.

The Basics 📚

When you install YAMS, it creates two important files:

docker-compose.yaml: This is YAMS’s brain! Don’t modify this file directly.
docker-compose.custom.yaml: This is your playground! Add all your custom containers here.

Getting Started 🎯

First, let’s find your YAMS installation. I’ll use /opt/yams in these examples, but replace it with your actual install location:

cd /opt/yams

The Magic Variables ✨

YAMS provides some handy environment variables you can use in your custom containers. These are defined in your central .env settings file (learn more about it!) and make it super easy to keep your custom containers working in harmony with YAMS:

PUID: Your user ID
PGID: Your group ID
MEDIA_DIRECTORY: Your media folder location
INSTALL_DIRECTORY: Your YAMS installation location

These make it super easy to keep your custom containers working in harmony with YAMS!

Let’s Add a Container! 🎮

Let’s walk through an example by adding Overseerr - a fantastic request management app for your Plex media server.

First, open docker-compose.custom.yaml:

nano docker-compose.custom.yaml

If this is your first custom container, you’ll need to uncomment the services: line. To uncomment you must remove the # symbol and the space. Your file should start like this:

services:  # Make sure this line is uncommented and there's no spaces around it!

Now let’s add Overseerr with all the YAMS goodies:

  overseerr:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/overseerr:latest
    container_name: overseerr
    environment:
      - PUID=${PUID}               # Using YAMS's user ID
      - PGID=${PGID}               # Using YAMS's group ID
    volumes:
      - ${INSTALL_DIRECTORY}/config/overseer:/config  # Using YAMS's config location
    ports:
      - 5055:5055
    restart: unless-stopped

Time to start your new container:

yams start

You should see something like:

 ⠙ overseerr Pulling                                                                     5.2s
[...]

That’s it! Your new container is up and running! 🎉

Other Containers

Not a fan of Overseer? No worries! Lets take a look at how to add many popular apps into the YAMS system.

Each of these docker compose entries can be added right into your docker-compose.custom.yaml file, under the services parent item.

TIP: Adding a TZ environment varible to your .env file can help make adding new services and avoid timezone related issues!

Remember, since all services are run in the same Docker network, references to other services from within an app can be completed using their name and port. For example, need to enter your Radarr URL? Use http://radarr:7878! No pesky IPs needed.

Recyclarr 🗑️

Recyclarr is an app to sync Trash Guide’s recommended naming conventions, quality profiles and formats straight to your media stack!

  recyclarr:
    image: ghcr.io/recyclarr/recyclarr
    container_name: recyclarr
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - ${INSTALL_DIRECTORY}/config/recylarr:/config
    environment:
      - PUID=${PUID}
      - PGID=${PGID}
      - TZ=${TZ}

Now, run the command docker exec -it recyclarr recyclarr config create to create a starter recyclarr.yml configuration file. (Remember this format of executing commands - it’s how you manually control Recyclarr!).

Great! Now, check out Recyclarr’s docs to customise this configuration file to your needs. Check out the reference and example files. If you have a simple setup, one of the templates might be good enough for you!

Unpackerr 📦

Unpackerr is an app that automatically extracts any downloads that are an archive, ensuring Radarr and Sonarr don’t get stuck waiting for manual intervention.

  unpackerr:
    image: golift/unpackerr
    container_name: unpackerr
    volumes:
      - ${MEDIA_DIRECTORY}:/data
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - TZ=${TZ}
      - UN_LOG_FILE=/downloads/unpackerr.log
      - UN_SONARR_0_URL=http://sonarr:8989
      - UN_SONARR_0_API_KEY=${SONARR_API_KEY}
      - UN_RADARR_0_URL=http://radarr:7878
      - UN_RADARR_0_API_KEY=${RADARR_API_KEY}

Make sure to add the SONARR_API_KEY and RADARR_API_KEY environment variables to your YAMS .env file so the service can connect correctly. That’s it!

qBitManage 🛠️

qBitManage is an extremely handy tool for creating all kinds of workflows relating to torrents within qBitTorrent.

The power of this app is a double edged sword. It can help you to amazingly automate your media server just how you like, but keep in mind that, if misconfigured, it has the ability to delete downloads and manipulate torrents. Expect to invest some time into learning its decently complicated configuration before reaching your desired state.

  qbitmanage:
    container_name: qbitmanage
    image: ghcr.io/stuffanthings/qbit_manage
    volumes:
      - ${MEDIA_DIRECTORY}:/data
      - ${INSTALL_DIRECTORY}/config/qbitmanage:/config
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"  # Web API port (when enabled)
    environment:
      # Web API Configuration
      - QBT_WEB_SERVER=true     # Set to true to enable web API and web UI
      - QBT_PORT=8080           # Web API port (default: 8080)

      # Scheduler Configuration
      - QBT_RUN=false
      - QBT_SCHEDULE=1440
      - QBT_CONFIG_DIR=/config
      - QBT_LOGFILE=qbit_manage.log

      # Command Flags
      - QBT_RECHECK=false
      - QBT_CAT_UPDATE=false
      - QBT_TAG_UPDATE=false
      - QBT_REM_UNREGISTERED=false
      - QBT_REM_ORPHANED=false
      - QBT_TAG_TRACKER_ERROR=false
      - QBT_TAG_NOHARDLINKS=false
      - QBT_SHARE_LIMITS=false
      - QBT_SKIP_CLEANUP=false
      - QBT_DRY_RUN=false
      - QBT_STARTUP_DELAY=0
      - QBT_SKIP_QB_VERSION_CHECK=false
      - QBT_DEBUG=false
      - QBT_TRACE=false

      # Logging Configuration
      - QBT_LOG_LEVEL=INFO
      - QBT_LOG_SIZE=10
      - QBT_LOG_COUNT=5
      - QBT_DIVIDER==
      - QBT_WIDTH=100

Before you get qBitManage up and running, you’ll have to take a deep dive into how it’s configured, and how it runs. Configuration is very dependant on the specific environment it operates within, and the requirements of the user. Read the Docker Installation Guide in its entirety.

Whilst configuring, ensure you set the root_directory option with the directory parent to /data/downloads/torrents. If you ever have trouble with paths, remember, qBitManage operates from the base level of your YAMS ${MEDIA_DIRECTORY} variable.

If you want to jump straight into a guided setup, check out Seeding with qBitManage for a setup where all torrents are seeded whilst the media remains in your server, and then smoothly removed after the item is watched in your streaming application.

Autobrrr 🐇

Autobrr is an app that allows you connect to an Indexer’s IRC channel, immediately starting torrent downloads for newer movies/shows without relying on Radarr/Sonarr’s slower RSS feed. This allows you to help build ratio on private trackers by beating everyone else to the torrent, so you can seed it to everyone else!

  autobrr:
    container_name: autobrr
    image: ghcr.io/autobrr/autobrr:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - 7474:7474
    environment:
      - TZ=${TZ}
      - PUID=${PUID}
      - PGID=${PGID}
    volumes:
      - ${INSTALL_DIRECTORY}/config/autobrr:/config

Done! To fully connect Autobrr to your media server’s downloads, continue with the full guide here.

Pro Tips 🎓

1. Container Discovery

Looking for cool containers to add? Check out:

linuxserver.io fleet (Highly recommended!)
Docker Hub

2. Network Magic 🌐

All containers in your docker-compose.custom.yaml automatically join YAMS’s network! This means they can talk to each other using their container names as hostnames.

For example, if you need to connect to Radarr from a custom container, just use http://radarr:7878 as the URL.

3. VPN Access 🔒

Want your custom container to use YAMS’s VPN? Add this to your container config:

    network_mode: "service:gluetun"

Check out Running Prowlarr behind the VPN for a detailed example!

4. Static IP Address 📍

For some advanced setups, you might want to assign a static IP address to your custom container within the YAMS network. This can be useful for consistent access or firewall rules.

To do this, add a networks section to your container definition and specify the yams_network with an ipv4_address:

  my_custom_container:
    image: my/image:latest
    container_name: my_custom_container
    # ... other configurations ...
    networks:
      yams_network:
        ipv4_address: 172.60.0.X # Replace X with an available IP address (e.g., 21-254)

Important:

The YAMS network uses the 172.60.0.0/24 subnet.
YAMS’s core services use IP addresses from 172.60.0.10 to 172.60.0.20.
Always choose an IP address outside of this range to avoid conflicts, for example, 172.60.0.21 or higher. You can check the docker-compose.example.yaml file for the IPs used by YAMS’s services.

5. Variable Power 💪

You can access any environment variable defined in YAMS’s .env file within your custom containers. Just use the ${VARIABLE_NAME} syntax! This is great for things like API keys or other settings you want to manage centrally.

Common Gotchas 🚨

YAML Formatting Errors: YAML is very sensitive to spacing and indentation. Even a single misplaced space can break your configuration! We highly recommend using a YAML validator like yamllint.com to check your syntax before applying changes.
Container Names: Make sure your custom container names don’t conflict with YAMS’s built-in containers.
Port Conflicts: Double-check that your new containers don’t try to use ports that are already taken.
Permissions: If your container needs to access media files, remember to use PUID and PGID!

Need Ideas? 💡

Here are some popular containers that work great with YAMS:

Overseerr / Petio / Jellyseer: Let users request movies and shows
Tautulli: Advanced Plex monitoring and statistics
Organizr: Create a sleek dashboard for all your services

Need Help? 🆘

If you run into any issues:

Check our Common Issues page
Visit the YAMS Forum
Join our Discord or Matrix chat

Remember: YAMS is all about making your media server work for YOU. Don’t be afraid to experiment and make it your own! 😎

Advanced

Adding your own containers to YAMS