Requests

Requests is where the people on your server ask for a film or a show you don’t have yet. You decide what to do about each one. If you use Radarr or Sonarr, approving a request can send it straight there to be downloaded. Either way, the request marks itself Available when the title turns up in a library.

Open it from Requests in the sidebar, or from the Account tab on a phone.

Asking for something

1. Choose Films or Shows. Anime series are shows.
2. Type a title into the search box. Results come from TMDB, so the server needs a TMDB token (see first run).
3. Press Request beside the one you want.

Each result shows what the server already knows about it:

Beside the result	What it means
Request	Nobody has asked for it on your account, and the server doesn’t have it.
In your library	The server has it in a library you can see. Press it to open the title.
Already here	The server has it, but in a library you haven’t been given. Ask an administrator for access instead.
Requested	You have already asked, and it is waiting for an answer.
Approved	You asked and an administrator said yes. It hasn’t arrived yet.
Already asked	You asked before and it has arrived.
Ask again	You asked before and it was declined. You can ask again.

If nothing matches, try the original-language title, or fewer words.

Games can’t be requested, only films and shows.

Note

If the account can’t make requests, the page says This account cannot ask for new media. Requesting is a permission, Request media, held by the Viewer role every account gets by default. See roles and permissions.

Following your requests

Your requests lists everything you have asked for, newest first, with a status:

• Waiting — nobody has answered yet.
• Approved — an administrator said yes. If it was sent to Radarr or Sonarr, a line underneath says so: Sending to Radarr…, Sent to Radarr with the date, or Not sent to Radarr yet.
• Available — it is on the server. The title becomes a link once it is in a library you can see.
• Declined — an administrator said no. Their reason, if they gave one, appears underneath.

To withdraw a request, press the bin icon beside it.

Credenza doesn’t send notifications when a request arrives. This page is where you find out.

Answering requests

Administrators see a second list below their own, Everyone’s requests, with the name of the person who asked. The Requests item in the sidebar shows how many are waiting.

Each request has buttons for what you can do with it next:

• Approve — say yes. The request stays open until the title arrives. If Radarr (for films) or Sonarr (for shows) is connected, approving sends it there automatically.
• Available — mark it as arrived by hand. You rarely need this. Use it when the title came some other way that the server can’t match to the request, or you want to close it now.
• Decline — say no. You can type a reason, which the person who asked will see. Press Decline again to confirm.
• Send to Radarr or Send to Sonarr — send an approved request that wasn’t sent, for example because you approved it before connecting the program. After a failure, this is Send again.

You can also approve a request you declined earlier, unless the person has asked for it again since. In that case, approve the newer request.

How a request closes itself

A request is tied to the title’s TMDB entry, not to its name. About once a minute, Credenza checks open requests (waiting or approved) against the library. As soon as a film or show with that TMDB entry appears in any library, the request is marked Available. It doesn’t matter how the title got there: downloaded by Radarr or Sonarr, copied in by hand, or anything else.

The title has to be scanned and matched before this can happen:

• A new file shows up after the library’s next scan, or when you press Scan now.
• If the scanner can’t identify the file, it waits in Needs matching and the request stays open. Once you fix the match, the request closes on its next check. Naming files the way Credenza expects avoids this — see naming films and naming shows and anime.

A show’s request closes when the show appears, even if only some episodes have arrived.

If somebody asks for something that is already on the server, the request is created as Available straight away.

Connecting Radarr and Sonarr

Radarr handles film requests and Sonarr handles show requests. Connect either or both at Settings → Server → Integrations. Each has its own section with the same fields.

1. Radarr address or Sonarr address — the address this server uses to reach the program, including any URL base it is set up with, such as http://radarr:7878 or http://sonarr:8989. If Credenza runs in Docker, this is the address from inside Credenza’s container.
2. API key — from Settings → General in Radarr or Sonarr. After you save it, the box reads A key is saved — type to replace it. The key is never shown again.
3. Press Test connection. You should see Connected to Radarr (or Sonarr) and its version. The test also checks that the address really is the program you are setting up, and not, say, Sonarr in the Radarr section.
4. Quality profile — which of the program’s quality profiles new titles are added with. The list fills in after a successful test.
5. Root folder — where the program saves what it downloads, shown by the program’s own path and free space.
6. Search as soon as a film is sent (or a show) — ticked by default. It asks the program to look for the title immediately. Without it, Radarr waits for a release to turn up in its RSS sync, which for an older film may be never. Sonarr only picks up new episodes as they appear, and never fetches seasons that have already aired.
7. Press Save.

The section is fully connected once an address, key, quality profile and root folder are all saved. Until then, approving a request only records your decision. Disconnect clears everything.

Caution

The root folder must be one of your libraries’ folders. Credenza doesn’t track downloads. It only notices a title once a library scan finds it. For Radarr, choose a folder one of your film libraries scans. For Sonarr, choose a folder one of your TV or anime libraries scans. The two programs may call the folder by a different path than Credenza does, for example inside different Docker containers. That’s fine, as long as it is the same folder on disk.

Sonarr versions 3 and 4 both work.

What happens when a request is sent

When you approve a film, Credenza asks Radarr to add it, monitored, with your chosen quality profile and root folder, and to search for it if that box is ticked. A show goes to Sonarr in the same way, with every season monitored except specials, and season folders turned on.

If the program already has the title, Credenza doesn’t add a second copy. It makes sure the title is monitored and asks the program to search if it is missing files. A show that Sonarr has with no seasons monitored gets all seasons except specials monitored.

What happens after that is up to Radarr or Sonarr. Credenza records only what it did and what the program answered: Sent, or a problem. It doesn’t show download progress. You’ll see the title when it is scanned in, and the request will close.

Sonarr finds shows by their TVDB id rather than their TMDB id. Credenza looks the TVDB id up on TMDB when it sends the request. If TMDB has no TVDB id for the show, the request can’t be sent: add the show in Sonarr by hand.

When sending fails

A failed hand-off shows on the request in Everyone’s requests as Couldn’t send to Radarr: followed by the reason. The person who asked only sees Not sent to Radarr yet, because the reason can include your program’s address. There are two kinds of failure:

• The program answered and said no. For example, the API key is wrong, the quality profile no longer exists, or the program can’t find the title. Asking again gets the same answer, so Credenza doesn’t retry. Fix the cause, then press Send again.
• The program didn’t answer. It was stopped, timed out, or had an error of its own. Credenza tries again on its own a few times, and the reason stays on the request in the meantime. If the program is still down after that, press Send again once it is back.

If you disconnect Radarr or Sonarr after approving a request but before it is sent, the request says so. Reconnect it and press Send again.