Docker Compose

Prerequisites

• Docker Engine 20.10+
• Docker Compose v2+

Single Service Setup

A complete Sonarr deployment with PostgreSQL, PrepArr init, the Sonarr app, and the PrepArr sidecar:

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: postgres
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres123
      POSTGRES_DB: servarr
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U postgres"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

  sonarr-init:
    image: ghcr.io/robbeverhelst/preparr:latest
    command: ["bun", "run", "dist/index.js", "--init"]
    environment:
      POSTGRES_HOST: postgres
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres123
      SERVARR_URL: http://sonarr:8989
      SERVARR_TYPE: sonarr
      SERVARR_ADMIN_PASSWORD: adminpass
      CONFIG_PATH: /config/sonarr-config.json
    volumes:
      - sonarr_config:/config
      - ./sonarr-config.json:/config/sonarr-config.json:ro
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy

  sonarr:
    image: linuxserver/sonarr:latest
    ports:
      - "8989:8989"
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=UTC
    volumes:
      - sonarr_config:/config
      - ./tv:/tv
      - ./downloads:/downloads
    depends_on:
      sonarr-init:
        condition: service_completed_successfully

  sonarr-sidecar:
    image: ghcr.io/robbeverhelst/preparr:latest
    environment:
      POSTGRES_HOST: postgres
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres123
      SERVARR_URL: http://sonarr:8989
      SERVARR_TYPE: sonarr
      SERVARR_ADMIN_PASSWORD: adminpass
      CONFIG_PATH: /config/sonarr-config.json
      CONFIG_WATCH: "true"
      CONFIG_RECONCILE_INTERVAL: "60"
      HEALTH_PORT: "9001"
      LOG_LEVEL: info
    ports:
      - "9001:9001"
    volumes:
      - sonarr_config:/config
      - ./sonarr-config.json:/config/sonarr-config.json:ro
    depends_on:
      - sonarr
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:9001/health"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3

volumes:
  postgres_data:
  sonarr_config:

Container roles

Container	Purpose	Lifecycle
postgres	Shared database	Persistent, always running
sonarr-init	Database setup, config.xml generation	Runs once, then exits
sonarr	The Sonarr application	Always running
sonarr-sidecar	Configuration reconciliation	Always running alongside Sonarr

Startup order

Docker Compose depends_on conditions enforce the correct order:

1. PostgreSQL starts and passes its health check
2. Init container runs, creates databases and config.xml, then exits
3. Sonarr starts using the prepared config
4. Sidecar starts and begins reconciling configuration

Multi-Service Setup

For a full Prowlarr + Sonarr + Radarr + qBittorrent stack, see the Multi-Service Stack guide.

Common Operations

# Start all services
docker compose up -d

# View sidecar logs
docker compose logs -f sonarr-sidecar

# Restart sidecar after config changes
docker compose restart sonarr-sidecar

# Stop everything
docker compose down

# Stop and remove volumes (full reset)
docker compose down -v

Updating Configuration

If CONFIG_WATCH=true (default), the sidecar detects config file changes automatically. Otherwise:

1. Edit your JSON config file
2. Restart the sidecar: docker compose restart sonarr-sidecar

Data Persistence

Data	Storage	Notes
PostgreSQL data	Named volume (postgres_data)	Survives container restarts
Config files (JSON)	Bind mount from host	Read-only, version controlled
config.xml	Named volume (sonarr_config)	Regenerated by init container
Media files	Bind mount from host	Sonarr reads/writes directly

PrepArr is stateless. If you lose the sonarr_config volume, run the init container again to regenerate everything.