Skip to content

Getting started

This guide takes a fresh installation to its first downloaded chapter. It assumes Tankarr is running and reachable; if not, start with Installation.

1. Sign in and run the setup checklist

Open http://<your-server>:8787 and sign in: with the credentials you set in TANKARR_AUTH_USERNAME and TANKARR_AUTH_PASSWORD, or with the login Tankarr created and printed to its log on the first start (docker compose logs tankarr | grep "created one"). Change it under Settings → Security. Until the checklist is finished, a banner links to the Setup page, which checks four things in order:

  1. Library: the library folder is mounted, writable and has free space. Its location comes from the container mount (/library), not from the UI.
  2. Reader: which application opens your books. Tankarr's built-in reader works out of the box; you can also pick Komga, Kavita, Stump or a URL template, or none.
  3. Suwayomi sources: the engine that downloads chapters from manga sites.
  4. Optional indexers: Prowlarr with qBittorrent and/or SABnzbd, for torrent and Usenet releases of whole volumes.

Every step links to the matching tab of Settings. Each panel there has a test button that checks the values before you save them, and saved changes apply immediately, without a restart.

2. Choose your languages

In Settings → General set:

  • Default language: the language you read in, used for new series.
  • Search languages: the languages Tankarr is allowed to search, in order.

A series is followed in one language. Tankarr treats the language as a property of each release, so a Japanese manga can be downloaded in English while another series is followed in Italian.

3. Enable the Suwayomi engine

Suwayomi is an open-source server that runs Mihon/Tachiyomi-compatible source extensions. Tankarr can run it for you inside its own container ("managed" mode):

  1. Open Settings → Sources, turn Enabled on and leave Mode on managed.
  2. Enter the index URL of a Mihon/Tachiyomi-compatible Extension repository. Tankarr ships no repository and recommends none: it installs sources only from the repository you choose to trust.
  3. Click Install Suwayomi. Tankarr downloads the official Suwayomi-Server release from GitHub, verifies its checksum and starts it inside the container.
  4. Tankarr installs the repository's extensions for your search languages. NSFW extensions and extensions that need a full browser engine are left out.
  5. Click Test & load sources to probe every source, then choose which ones Tankarr may use. An empty selection means every installed source.

If you already run a Suwayomi server, choose external mode and enter its Server URL and login instead.

4. Optional: connect Prowlarr, qBittorrent and SABnzbd

Complete volumes, especially licensed English releases, are often easier to find on torrent trackers and Usenet than on manga sites. In Settings → Indexers & torrents:

  • Prowlarr indexers: enter the Prowlarr URL and API key, click the test button to load the indexers, and choose the categories (Books, EBooks and Comics by default).
  • Torrent client (qBittorrent): URL, user name, password and the Category Tankarr uses for its own torrents.
  • Usenet client (SABnzbd): URL, API key, category and the Completed folder (as SABnzbd sees it).

Both clients must share their download folder with Tankarr, see Download clients.

5. Add your first series

Open Add New and search the catalogue by title, or paste a MangaBaka URL. Results come from the MangaBaka catalogue, never from a download site; works already in your library are marked In library.

Pick a result, then choose:

  • Reading language: the language to download.
  • Monitor:
Option What Tankarr downloads
All chapters Every available chapter, then new releases as they appear
Future chapters Only chapters published after today
Existing chapters The chapters available today, without following new ones
None Nothing automatically: the series is tracked, you download by hand
  • Search for missing chapters as soon as the work is added, to start right away instead of waiting for the next scheduled pass.

Tankarr decides by itself whether a series is followed as chapters or as whole books (volumes), from what the sources actually offer, and never mixes the two. Download sources are mapped to the series in the background during the next minutes. A match that the rules cannot settle is never guessed: it waits for your decision on the System page.

6. Follow the downloads

  • Activity shows the queue: chapter jobs, torrents and Usenet downloads with live progress, grouped by series.
  • Wanted lists every monitored chapter or volume that is missing, what Tankarr already tried for it, and a manual search for each item.
  • Calendar shows past and expected releases of the series you follow.
  • History keeps every import and failure, with a retry button.
  • The series page lists chapters or books, lets you toggle monitoring per chapter or volume, search releases interactively (Interactive Search), choose covers, edit titles and inspect the downloaded files (Audit files).

Imported books appear in the library folder as soon as they are complete, and the built-in reader opens them immediately.

7. Bring your existing library

To add files you already own, put them in the folder mounted at /import and open Library Import. Tankarr groups CBZ, CBR, ZIP and PDF files and image folders into series, normalizes them to CBZ with ComicInfo.xml and files them in the library. The import folder is read-only for Tankarr: your originals are never modified or deleted.

8. Notifications and backups

  • Settings → Notifications sends notifications, through ntfy, a webhook, Discord, Telegram or Apprise, for imported chapters, failed downloads and decisions that need you.
  • Settings → Data keeps automatic application backups (seven by default) and a recycle bin for removed files. System can create a verified backup on demand; see Upgrading.

Next: How Tankarr works explains the rules behind identification, numbering and Wanted recovery, and Integrations covers every external service in detail.