Lifecycle Rules

The lifecycle rule engine lets you define conditions to automatically identify and act on media in your library. It uses a flexible rule group structure with AND/OR logic.

Concepts

Rule Sets

A rule set is a named collection of rules and actions. Each rule set targets a specific media type (movies, series, or music).

Rule Groups

Rules are organized into groups that use either AND or OR logic:

• AND: All rules in the group must match
• OR: At least one rule in the group must match

Groups can be nested to create complex conditions.

Rules

Each individual rule consists of:

1. Field — what property to evaluate (e.g., playCount, resolution, addedAt)
2. Operator — how to compare (e.g., equals, greaterThan, before)
3. Value — the target value

Rules can be negated (NOT) to invert their logic.

Available Fields

Over 50 fields are available for rule conditions.

Media Fields

Field	Description	Operators
playCount	Number of times played	equals, greaterThan, lessThan, etc.
lastPlayedAt	When last played	before, after, inLastDays
addedAt	When added to library	before, after, inLastDays
title	Media title	equals, contains, matchesWildcard
parentTitle	Series name (for episodes)	equals, contains, matchesWildcard
year	Release year	equals, greaterThan, lessThan, etc.
contentRating	Content rating (PG, R, etc.)	equals, notEquals
rating	Critic rating	greaterThan, lessThan, etc.
audienceRating	Audience rating	greaterThan, lessThan, etc.
studio	Production studio	equals, contains
genre	Genre(s)	equals, contains
duration	Duration in minutes	greaterThan, lessThan, etc.

Video Fields

Field	Description
resolution	4K, 1080P, 720P, etc.
videoCodec	H.264, H.265, AV1, etc.
videoBitrate	Video bitrate
videoBitDepth	8-bit, 10-bit
videoProfile	Baseline, Main, High
videoFrameRate	Frame rate (23.976, 24, etc.)
aspectRatio	16:9, 4:3, 2.39:1, etc.
dynamicRange	SDR, HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, HLG
scanType	progressive, interlaced

Audio Fields

Field	Description
audioCodec	AAC, AC3, FLAC, etc.
audioChannels	Channel count (2, 6, 8, etc.)
audioProfile	Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD MA, etc.
audioSamplingRate	Sampling rate (48000, etc.)
audioBitrate	Audio bitrate
audioLanguage	Audio track language
audioStreamCount	Number of audio tracks

File Fields

Field	Description
fileSize	File size (in MB)
container	File container (MKV, MP4, etc.)
subtitleLanguage	Subtitle track language
subtitleStreamCount	Number of subtitle tracks

External / *arr Fields

These fields require configured Sonarr, Radarr, or Lidarr integrations.

Field	Description
arrTag	Tags in *arr instance
arrQualityProfile	Quality profile name
arrMonitored	Whether monitored in *arr
arrRating	Rating in *arr

Seerr Fields

These fields require a configured Seerr integration.

Field	Description
seerrRequested	Whether requested in Seerr
seerrRequestDate	When the request was made
seerrRequestCount	Number of requests
seerrRequestedBy	Who requested it
seerrApprovalDate	When approved
seerrDeclineDate	When declined

Operators

Operator	Applicable Types	Description
equals	text, number	Exact match
notEquals	text, number	Not an exact match
greaterThan	number	Greater than value
greaterThanOrEqual	number	Greater than or equal
lessThan	number	Less than value
lessThanOrEqual	number	Less than or equal
contains	text	Substring match (case-insensitive)
notContains	text	Does not contain substring
matchesWildcard	text	Wildcard match (* = any characters, ? = single character)
notMatchesWildcard	text	Does not match wildcard pattern
before	date	Before a specific date
after	date	After a specific date
inLastDays	date	Within the last N days

Building Rules

Using the Rule Builder

1. Create a Rule Set: Give it a name and select the target media type
2. Add rules: Select a field, operator, and value
3. Group rules: Use AND/OR groups to combine conditions
4. Nest groups: Create sub-groups for complex logic
5. Toggle rules: Enable/disable individual rules or groups without deleting them
6. Negate rules: Apply NOT to invert a rule’s logic
7. Reorder: Drag rules to change their position within a group

Example: Identify Old, Unwatched Movies

Create a rule set with an AND group containing:

• playCount equals 0 — Never watched
• addedAt before 2023-01-01 — Added over a year ago
• resolution notEquals 4K — Not 4K quality

Example: Find Duplicate Quality

Create a rule set with an OR group:

• resolution equals 480P
• resolution equals SD
• videoCodec equals mpeg2video

Previewing Matches

Before executing any actions, use the Preview feature to see which media items match your rules:

• Shows a count of matching items
• Displays a paginated list (50 per page) with metadata
• Updates in real time as you modify rules

Actions

Actions determine what happens to matched media. Configure them in the Actions tab of a rule set.

Available Actions

Action	Description	Requires
Delete	Remove from *arr and optionally delete files	Sonarr/Radarr/Lidarr
Unmonitor	Stop monitoring for upgrades in *arr	Sonarr/Radarr/Lidarr
Do Nothing	Track matches without taking action	—

Tags can be added or removed as a supplementary operation alongside any action (including Do Nothing).

Configuring Actions

Each action links a rule set to an *arr instance:

1. Select the *arr integration (e.g., “My Radarr”)
2. Choose the action type (delete, unmonitor, do nothing)
3. Set action-specific options (e.g., delete files toggle)
4. Optionally configure tags to add or remove
5. Set priority — actions execute top-to-bottom

Caution

The Delete action permanently removes files from your *arr instance and, optionally, from disk. Preview your matches carefully before enabling deletion rules.

How Rules Are Evaluated

Rules are evaluated in two steps:

1. Step 1 — Local data: Rules based on your media’s own properties (resolution, play count, dates, file size, etc.) are evaluated first using your database — this is fast.

2. Step 2 — External data: Rules based on Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, or Seerr data (tags, quality profiles, monitored status, requests) require live lookups to those services, so they run after Step 1 narrows down the results.

Note

Rules using external data (Step 2) are slower because they query your integrations. Use local-data rules to narrow your matches first for best performance.

Scheduling

Lifecycle processing runs on two independent schedules (configured in Settings → Scheduling):

• Detection: Evaluates rules and identifies matching media
• Execution: Performs configured actions on matched media

Both can be run manually via the Run Now button at any time.

Limitations

• *arr actions require the corresponding integration to be configured and reachable
• Rules using integration data are slower and scale with the number of matches
• File size rules accept input in MB but are stored and compared in bytes
• Wildcard matching uses * (any characters) and ? (single character), not regex