Selfhosted

This may or may not help, but I went through the exact same sort of struggles that you did when I first started. Setting up all this was my first forray into Linux and learning about permissions and file systems was a hurdle but having conquered that my primary issues were always caused by one of the following:

• file path mapping
• permissions
• port routing in gluetun
• gluetun/mullvad incompatibilities

Now that I actually seem to have a handle on all this....mind you, I'm no expert, but I can walk people through it in plain english. I eventually ended up switching to Proton VPN and use cloudflare tunnels to access my services from outside the network.

Here is my docker-compose.yml file with sensitive info scrubbed, its been working for me for a few years now. It sounds like the problem you are having is not with Docker but something in your configuration once the container is running. Feel free to message me if you have questions.

services:
  gluetun:
    container_name: gluetun
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN
    image: qmcgaw/gluetun:v3
    devices:
      - /dev/net/tun:/dev/net/tun
    environment:
      - VPN_SERVICE_PROVIDER=
      - VPN_TYPE=
      - WIREGUARD_PRIVATE_KEY=
      - WIREGUARD_ADDRESSES=
      - SERVER_COUNTRIES=
      - DNS_ADDRESS=
      - HTTP_CONTROL_SERVER_ADDRESS=
      - HTTPPROXY_LISTENING_ADDRESS=
      - TZ=America/New_York
    ports:
      - 3129:3129/tcp # HTTP proxy
      - 8388:8388/tcp # Shadowsocks
      - 8388:8388/udp # Shadowsocks
      - 9047:9047 # Gluten http_control
      - 9046:9046 # qbittorent webui
      - 9696:9696 # Prowlarr
      - 7878:7878 # Radarr
      - 8989:8989 # Sonarr
      - 8686:8686 # Lidarr
    volumes:
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
    restart: 'unless-stopped'

  qbittorrent:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/qbittorrent:5.1.4
    container_name: qbittorrent
    network_mode: "service:gluetun"
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=America/New_York
      - WEBUI_PORT=9046
    volumes:
      - /mnt/drive/volumes/qbittorrent/data:/config
      - /mnt/nas/Downloads:/downloads
    depends_on:
      - gluetun

  prowlarr:
    container_name: prowlarr
    network_mode: "service:gluetun"
    image: ghcr.io/hotio/prowlarr:latest
    volumes:
      - /mnt/drive/volumes/prowlarr/config:/config
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
    depends_on:
      - gluetun
    restart: 'unless-stopped'

  byparr:
    container_name: byparr
    image: ghcr.io/thephaseless/byparr:latest
    network_mode: "service:gluetun"
    init: true
    depends_on:
      - gluetun
    restart: 'unless-stopped'

  radarr:
    container_name: radarr
    network_mode: "service:gluetun"
    image: ghcr.io/hotio/radarr:latest
    volumes:
      - /mnt/drive/volumes/radarr/config:/config
      - /mnt/movies:/mnt/Movies
      - /mnt/nas/Downloads:/downloads
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
    depends_on:
      - gluetun

  sonarr:
    container_name: sonarr
    network_mode: "service:gluetun"
    image: ghcr.io/hotio/sonarr:latest
    volumes:
      - /mnt/drive/volumes/sonarr/config:/config
      - /mnt/nas/TV:/mnt/TV
      - /mnt/nas/Downloads:/downloads
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
    depends_on:
      - gluetun
    restart: 'unless-stopped'

  lidarr:
    container_name: lidarr
    network_mode: "service:gluetun"
    image: ghcr.io/hotio/lidarr:pr-plugins
    volumes:
      - /mnt/drive/volumes/lidarr/config:/config
      - /mnt/nas/Music:/mnt/Music
      - /mnt/nas/Downloads:/downloads
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
    depends_on:
      - gluetun
    restart: 'unless-stopped'

I am really glad to read stuff like this. Not because I like seeing someone struggle, but rather it makes me feel less alone that I am not the only one getting frustrated with things that seemingly work perfectly for everyone else that I run into every error/obstacle in the book lol. If I post for help in online forums like Lemmy, the replies make me feel so stupid and sometimes the replies are even condescending, which is extremely demotivational at times and makes me not want to ever ask to get it fixed. But eventually I get there and say screw all that and keep on going till it works. I'm happy you posted this and got your problem fixed my friend.

Also extremely relatable with the media server that friends and family refuse to use while paying like $30 a month on stupid subscriptions lmao

I'm currently in my research phase, before I begin setting up my are stack. But I found this video, and it seems like it's just the thing you're looking for:

Ultimate automated media server 2026

In the description, he has this link to his GitHub for automated setup with all Docker containers needed etc https://github.com/loponai/arrstack

He also has a newer video on the area stack, haven't watched it myself yet

The joy of struggle and learning! You learned 6 hours worth of what doesn't work.

https://trash-guides.info/File-and-Folder-Structure/How-to-set-up/Docker/#docker-compose-example

Trash guides are great and highly recommend by the servarr/sonarr team

Here's mine. I have separate stacks for media players (Plex, JF) and downloaders (sabnzbd, qbittorrent), so I added their networks to the config. I also chose to mount the volumes directly in the YAML instead of the VM's fstab, I found it plays a bit nicer that way. None of this is exposed to the internet. And I need to reconfigure the *seerrs, since Jellyseerr and Overseerr merged into one project...

volumes:
  movies:
    driver_opts:
      type: nfs
      o: addr=192.168.1.175,nolock,soft,nfsvers=4
      device: :/Movies
  tvshows:
    driver_opts:
      type: nfs
      o: addr=192.168.1.175,nolock,soft,nfsvers=4
      device: :/TV_Shows
  music:
    driver_opts:
      type: nfs
      o: addr=192.168.1.175,nolock,soft,nfsvers=4
      device: :/Music
  torrents:
    driver_opts:
      type: nfs
      o: addr=192.168.1.175,nolock,soft,nfsvers=4
      device: :/Torrents
  prerolls:
    driver_opts:
      type: nfs
      o: addr=192.168.1.175,nolock,soft,nfsvers=4
      device: :/Plex_prerolls
  books:
    driver_opts:
      type: nfs
      o: addr=192.168.1.175,nolock,soft,nfsvers=4
      device: :/Books
  downloads:
    driver_opts:
      type: nfs
      o: addr=192.168.1.175,nolock,soft,nfsvers=4
      device: :/Downloads
services:
  sonarr:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/sonarr:latest
    container_name: sonarr
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
    volumes:
      - /var/lib/docker/volumes/sonarr_config:/config
      - tvshows:/TV_Shows
      - torrents:/Torrents
      - downloads:/Downloads
    ports:
      - 8989:8989
    networks:
      - plex_default
      - downloaders_default
  radarr:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/radarr:latest
    container_name: radarr
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
    volumes:
      - /var/lib/docker/volumes/radarr_config:/config
      - movies:/Movies
      - torrents:/Torrents
      - downloads:/Downloads
    ports:
      - 7878:7878
    networks:
      - plex_default
      - downloaders_default
  lidarr:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/lidarr:latest
    container_name: lidarr
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
    volumes:
      - /var/lib/docker/volumes/lidarr_config:/config
      - music:/Music
      - torrents:/Torrents
      - downloads:/Downloads
    ports:
      - 8686:8686
    networks:
      - plex_default
      - downloaders_default
  bazarr:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/bazarr:latest
    container_name: bazarr
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
    volumes:
      - /var/lib/docker/volumes/bazarr_config:/config
      - movies:/Movies
      - tvshows:/TV_Shows
    ports:
      - 6767:6767
    restart: unless-stopped
    networks:
      - downloaders_default
      - plex_default
  overseerr:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/overseerr:latest
    container_name: overseerr
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
    volumes:
      - /var/lib/docker/volumes/overseerr_config:/config
    ports:
      - 5055:5055
    networks:
      - plex_default
      - downloaders_default
  jellyseerr:
    image: fallenbagel/jellyseerr:latest
    container_name: jellyseerr
    environment:
      - LOG_LEVEL=debug
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
      - PORT=5055
    ports:
      - 5056:5055
    volumes:
      - /var/lib/docker/volumes/jellyseerr_config:/app/config
    healthcheck:
      test: wget --no-verbose --tries=1 --spider http://localhost:5055/api/v1/status
        || exit 1
      start_period: 20s
      timeout: 3s
      interval: 15s
      retries: 3
    restart: unless-stopped
  prowlarr:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/prowlarr:latest
    container_name: prowlarr
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
    volumes:
      - /var/lib/docker/volumes/prowlarr_config:/config
    ports:
      - 9696:9696
    networks:
      - plex_default
      - downloaders_default
networks:
  plex_default:
    external: true
  downloaders_default:
    external: true

Not exactly your use case, but maybe someone will find it useful:

I really like https://compose.ajnart.dev/ - the creator of homarr (a dashboard with a lot of integrations) build a tool for creating docker compose files.

You can configure what services you'd like to run or use a predefined template (e.g. "the dad" with Jellyfin, Nextcloud, Pihole, Homarr and Home Assistant).

You'd still have to understand what you are doing, of course.

What a wonderful rant!

Yams.media is a script with an easy to follow guide that will hold your hand through the entire setup. All you need to do afterwards is import your existing media using radarr/sonarr.

Late to the party but congrats on getting them up! Might I also suggest bazarr (https://github.com/morpheus65535/bazarr) so you don't have to find subtitles manually.

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

3 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 9 acronyms.

[Thread #18 for this comm, first seen 18th Jun 2026, 15:20] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

Glad you solved it yourself, but I'm still struggling to understand what happened, how did you have them all in a single folder if the filename for docker compose has to be one of a few predetermined things? I mean, you could have them all in a single file, which makes some things easier, but then you wouldn't have been able to move them into individual folders. Would you mind explaining what happened there so that if someone else in the future has the same issue they might find the solution here?

Also, note that even if someone had given you an example of a working docker file you would still have to configure the service. For future reference, this site is great and has working examples of docker compose files for a lot of services, e.g. https://hub.docker.com/r/linuxserver/radarr

Finally, welcome to the club, sorry you had a bad experience the first time, it's hard for us to know what's obvious and what isn't: https://xkcd.com/2501/