Skip to content

FAQ and troubleshooting

General questions

What is Tankarr?

A self-hosted application that manages a manga, manhwa, manhua, webtoon and comics library the way Sonarr manages TV series: you add the works you follow, choose a language and a monitoring profile, and Tankarr finds, downloads, verifies, names and files every chapter or volume into a CBZ library.

How is it different from Suwayomi, Komga or Kavita?

They solve different problems, and Tankarr works with all of them. Suwayomi is a source engine and reader that runs Mihon/Tachiyomi extensions; Tankarr can run it for you and uses it as one of its download channels. Komga, Kavita and Stump are readers and library servers; Tankarr fills the library they read, and can trigger their scans and publish metadata and covers to them.

Is there a Sonarr or Radarr for manga?

That is the gap Tankarr fills: monitored series, Wanted, Activity, Calendar, History, interactive search and Prowlarr indexers with qBittorrent and SABnzbd, for manga and comics.

Does Tankarr include manga sources or content?

No. Tankarr ships no content and no source of its own. It automates the extensions, indexers and clients that you choose to configure. You are responsible for complying with the laws of your country and the terms of the services you use. Please support the authors and official publishers of the works you read.

Which languages are supported?

Any language that your sources carry. The language is recorded per release, so different series can follow different languages. Indexer releases are checked with OCR before import, because a release name is only a claim about its language.

Can I use Tankarr in my language?

The interface is available in English and Italian. Each browser chooses for itself: Tankarr follows the browser language, and Settings → General → Interface language overrides it for that browser only. Messages produced by the server (log lines, job errors, notifications) and file names stay in English. Translations are plain JSON files; Development explains how to add a language.

Which extension repository should I use?

Tankarr does not ship, host or recommend one. The managed Suwayomi server installs extensions from whatever Mihon/Tachiyomi-compatible repository you enter under Settings → Sources → Extension repository; choosing and trusting it is your decision, exactly as it is in Mihon or Suwayomi.

Does it need an account anywhere?

No. The MangaBaka catalogue and the other metadata sources are public and need no key. Prowlarr, qBittorrent, SABnzbd, Komga and Stump use the credentials of your own servers.

Troubleshooting

The container is "unhealthy" right after an update

The health check calls /api/ready, which succeeds only after the library, the download queue and the deletion recovery have finished their safe start. On a large library this takes minutes. The web interface already works in the meantime; GET /api/system/ready (signed in) tells you what is still pending. If it stays unhealthy, check that the library folder is mounted and writable.

What is my password? / Tankarr refuses to start

Unless you set TANKARR_AUTH_USERNAME and TANKARR_AUTH_PASSWORD, the first start creates the user admin with a random password and prints it to the log: docker logs tankarr 2>&1 | grep "created one". Until you save your own login under Settings → Security, it is also in /config/generated-login.json. A login saved on the Settings page is stored in /config/metadata.env. The two variables must be set together: setting only one stops Tankarr on purpose.

"Too many failed sign-in attempts"

After five wrong passwords from the same address Tankarr waits before it accepts the next attempt, up to a minute. Wait and try again with the right password.

"Permission denied" when writing to the library

Tankarr runs as PUID:PGID inside the container, 1000:1000 unless you set them. Set them to the owner of your folders (id -u and id -g on the host, 99:100 on Unraid) or give that user write access to the host folders. See File permissions.

Setup stays on "Library identity"

Tankarr binds a configuration to one library through a marker file, .tankarr-library-id, at the library root and a copy in /config. A fresh installation writes both on its first start, so the check normally passes by itself. When it stays red, the detail names the cause:

  • cannot write the identity file: the library folder is not writable by PUID:PGID; fix the ownership as described above and restart;
  • marker is missing, the volume may be unmounted: /config remembers a library that is not mounted at /library. Mount it, or, for a new and empty library, remove /config/.tankarr-library-id and restart;
  • does not match: /library holds another installation's library; point Tankarr at its own or at an empty folder.
  • not provisioned, yet this configuration already records downloaded files: /config comes from an installation whose library is not the folder mounted now, and neither side carries an identity. Mount the right library, or start from an empty /config for a new one.

Version 0.9.0 never wrote the marker on a new installation and stayed on this step; update the image.

Installing the managed Suwayomi server fails

The container needs outbound HTTPS access to GitHub to download the Suwayomi-Server release and to the extension repository. On a small host, check that the container has at least 1.5 GB of memory; the Java heap can be tuned in Settings → Sources (TANKARR_SUWAYOMI_MANAGED_HEAP_MB).

A source fails with Cloudflare or "403" errors

Some sites only answer after a browser challenge or a captcha. The managed Suwayomi engine does not run a challenge solver or an embedded browser, so the extensions that need one are not installed. A source that keeps failing is ranked lower automatically and recovers its place when it works again; System shows the health of every source.

A torrent or Usenet download finished but was not imported

Check, in order:

  1. Paths: the folder the client writes to must be mounted into Tankarr and configured as described in Download clients.
  2. Review: Activity shows why a release waits. Releases whose numbering is ambiguous, or whose pages contradict the expected language, stop in review instead of entering the library; decisions wait on System → To confirm.
  3. Tesseract: the OCR language check needs Tesseract, which the Docker image includes. When running from source, install tesseract-ocr.

New files take a while to appear in Komga or Stump

When Tankarr manages the reader (Komga or Stump), it starts a scan when the download queue drains and every six hours as a safety net (TANKARR_KOMGA_REFRESH_INTERVAL_MINUTES). Other readers scan the folder on their own schedule; you can always start a scan from the reader itself.

A downloaded chapter is wrong or unreadable

Open the series and use Audit files: it lists every downloaded file with its source, page count and detected anomalies, and lets you retire a bad file or reject a source that keeps supplying wrong files for that series. Tankarr also measures page geometry after every import and replaces chapters that are clearly unreadable when another source has them.

Where are the logs?

docker logs tankarr shows the application log, and System → Logs shows its last lines, filters them by level and downloads the log files (logs/tankarr.log in the data directory, rotated at 5 MB). The level is set under Settings → General (advanced) or with TANKARR_LOG_LEVEL; debug is verbose, so use it while investigating a problem. The System page also lists alerts, pending decisions and the health of every integration, and can produce redacted diagnostics for a bug report.

What runs in the background?

System → Scheduled tasks lists every recurring job (the release monitor, Wanted recovery, the metadata refresh, the download-client poll, the torrent orphan sweep, the nightly maintenance, the Komga refresh, the update check and the managed Suwayomi maintenance) with its schedule, its last run and its next one, and a Run now button that starts one pass at once. A task that is already running is left alone.

Still stuck?

Search the issues and discussions, or open a new one with the version you run and the relevant, redacted log lines.