Tdarr - Auto-Requeue Script

Automatically refills the Tdarr staging section whenever the number of actively processed files drops below a configurable threshold.

Features

Feature	What it does
Staging guard	Checks how many files are currently being processed.
Smart picker	Pulls up to BATCH_SIZE items from Status ▪ Processed (table2) whose New Size is "-".
GUI-identical requeue	Re-queues the files with one bulk-update-files call (same payload the web UI sends).
Retry + back-off	Network errors or timeouts are retried with exponential back-off.
Timeout-resilient	If bulk-update-files times out, the script checks if the operation succeeded anyway.
Internal scheduler	No cron needed – the script runs continuously and checks every TDARR_INTERVAL_MIN.
JSON / pretty logging	Toggle pretty output with LOG_PRETTY=1.
All settings via .env	No hard-coded values; perfect for CI or Docker.

File Selection Criteria

The script selects files based on the following logic:

• It queries the internal table2 (equivalent to the Status ▪ Processed tab in the Tdarr UI).

• It filters for files that have the “New Size” field set to "-", meaning:

  • The file was either skipped by a plugin decision or
  • The file was marked as “Transcode Success / Not Required”
  • And no new output file was produced (Tdarr left the file untouched).

• The top BATCH_SIZE of these files (sorted by Tdarr’s internal logic) are requeued.

This selection ensures that:

• You don’t accidentally requeue already optimized/transcoded files
• Only skipped or pass-through candidates get another chance (e.g., after plugin changes)

Requirements

• Tdarr Server ≥ 2.40 (the bulk-update-files endpoint exists since 2024)
• Node 18+ (ESM support)

Installation

git clone https://github.com/your-org/tdarr-auto-requeue.git
cd tdarr-auto-requeue
npm i axios, pino, minimist, dotenv

Configuration

Create a .env file in the project root (or set the variables in your CI / container manager):

# Tdarr connection
TDARR_URL=https://encode.computerliebe.org/api/v2
TDARR_API_KEY=tapi_XXXXXXXXXXXX

# Behaviour
TDARR_STAGING_LIMIT=50        # refill if staging count < 50
TDARR_BATCH_SIZE=50           # requeue at most 50 files per cycle
TDARR_INTERVAL_MIN=60         # how often the script runs (minutes)
TDARR_RETRIES=4               # API retries
TDARR_BACKOFF_MS=2000         # initial back-off in ms
BULK_TIMEOUT_MS=120000        # max wait time for bulk-update-files in ms

# Logging
LOG_LEVEL=info                # or debug / warn / error
LOG_PRETTY=1                  # pretty-printed logs

Tip: create a dedicated API key in Tdarr ▪ Tools ▪ API keys with Server write permissions only.

Usage

node tdarr_requeue.mjs            # runs once, or in interval mode if TDARR_INTERVAL_MIN is set

The script will automatically re-run every TDARR_INTERVAL_MIN minutes. No cron, systemd, or external timers needed.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
401 Unauthorized	API key wrong or missing.
FST_ERR_VALIDATION	Your server expects a different payload – update Tdarr or open an issue with the error JSON.
Files not visible after requeue	Refresh the Status ▪ Queued / Staging view; workers may take a few seconds to pick them up.
ECONNABORTED timeout	This is handled gracefully. If the staging count increased, the script proceeds.
“Too many open files”	Increase ulimit -n on the host; Tdarr can be I/O intensive.

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Happy transcoding!