Cross-Seed Rules
Configure matching behavior in the Rules tab on the Cross-Seed page.
Matching
- Find individual episodes - When enabled, season packs also match individual episodes. When disabled, season packs only match other season packs. Episodes are added with AutoTMM disabled to prevent save path conflicts.
- Size mismatch tolerance - Maximum size difference percentage (default: 5%). Also determines auto-resume threshold after recheck.
- Skip recheck - When enabled, skips any cross-seed that would require a recheck (alignment needed, extra files, or disc layouts like
BDMV/VIDEO_TS). Applies to all modes including hardlink/reflink. - Skip piece boundary safety check - Enabled by default. When enabled, allows cross-seeds even if extra files share torrent pieces with content files. Warning: This may corrupt your existing seeded data if content differs. Uncheck this to enable the safety check, or use reflink mode which safely handles these cases.
Disc layouts (BDMV/VIDEO_TS) are treated more strictly: they only auto-resume after a full recheck reaches 100%.
Categories
Choose one of three mutually exclusive category modes:
Category Affix (default)
Adds a configurable affix to the matched torrent's category. Prevents Sonarr/Radarr from importing cross-seeded files as duplicates. AutoTMM is inherited from the matched torrent.
Affix Mode:
- Suffix (default): Appends the affix to the category (e.g.,
movies→movies.cross) - Prefix: Prepends the affix to the category (e.g.,
movies→cross/movies)
Affix Value: The text to add (default: .cross). Common examples:
.crossusing suffix mode →tv.cross,movies.crosscross/using prefix mode →cross/tv,cross/movies
Prefix mode with a trailing / creates nested categories1 in qBittorrent, making it easy to group all cross-seeds under a parent category. Filtering by cross returns all cross-seeds (cross/movies, cross/tv, etc.).
Avoid using a leading / in suffix mode (e.g., /cross-seed). This creates the cross-seed as a child of the original category1, so setting your category to movies in Radarr would also return movies/cross-seed torrents, potentially causing conflicts.
Use prefix mode instead if you want nested categories.
1 Nested categories require subcategories to be enabled (Instance Preferences → Files → Enable Subcategories).
Use indexer name as category
Sets category to the indexer name (e.g., TorrentDB). AutoTMM is always disabled; uses explicit save paths.
Custom category
Uses a fixed category name for all cross-seeds (e.g., cross-seed). AutoTMM is always disabled; uses explicit save paths.
Source Tagging
Configure tags applied to cross-seed torrents based on how they were discovered:
| Tag Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| RSS Automation Tags | Torrents added via RSS feed polling | ["cross-seed"] |
| Seeded Search Tags | Torrents added via seeded torrent search | ["cross-seed"] |
| Completion Search Tags | Torrents added via completion-triggered search | ["cross-seed"] |
| Webhook Tags | Torrents added via /apply webhook | ["cross-seed"] |
| Inherit source torrent tags | Also copy tags from the matched source torrent | - |
External Program
Optionally run an external program after successfully injecting a cross-seed torrent.
Category Behavior Details
autoTMM (Auto Torrent Management)
autoTMM behavior depends on which category mode is active:
| Category Mode | autoTMM Behavior |
|---|---|
| Category Affix | Inherited from matched torrent |
| Indexer name | Always disabled (explicit save paths) |
| Custom | Always disabled (explicit save paths) |
When autoTMM is inherited (affix mode):
- If matched torrent uses autoTMM, cross-seed uses autoTMM
- If matched torrent has manual path, cross-seed uses same manual path
When autoTMM is disabled (indexer/custom modes), cross-seeds always use explicit save paths derived from the matched torrent's location.
Save Path Determination
Priority order:
- Base category's explicit save path (if configured in qBittorrent)
- Matched torrent's current save path (fallback)
Examples:
Suffix mode (default):
tvcategory has save path/data/tv- Cross-seed gets
tv.crosscategory with save path/data/tv - Files are found because they're in the same location
Prefix mode:
moviescategory has save path/data/movies- Cross-seed gets
cross/moviescategory with save path/data/movies - Nested
cross/parent in qBittorrent groups all cross-seeds together
Best Practices
Do:
- Use autoTMM consistently across your torrents
- Let qui create cross-seed categories automatically
- Keep category structures simple
- Use prefix mode with
/(e.g.,cross/) if you want all cross-seeds grouped under one parent category
Don't:
- Manually move torrent files after adding them
- Create cross-seed categories manually with different paths
- Mix autoTMM and manual paths for the same content type