Windows

This guide sets up the Recyclarr server as a Windows service. Windows starts the server at boot, without anyone logging in, and starts it again if it fails. The server then syncs on its built-in schedule and accepts commands from the CLI.

Run every command on this page in PowerShell as Administrator.

Install

Install Git as described in the manual installation prerequisites. The Git installer adds git to the system PATH, which the service needs.

Download the Windows ZIP from the manual installation page. Then extract it to C:\Program Files\Recyclarr:

Expand-Archive "$HOME\Downloads\recyclarr-win-x64.zip" "C:\Program Files\Recyclarr" -Force

The folder now contains recyclarr.exe (the CLI) and recyclarr-server.exe.

Create the Configuration Directory

The service runs as the built-in LocalService account and uses C:\ProgramData\recyclarr as its configuration directory. Your YAML configuration, settings.yml, sync state, logs, and downloaded resources all go there.

Create the directory and let the service account write to it:

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "C:\ProgramData\recyclarr"
icacls "C:\ProgramData\recyclarr" /grant "NT AUTHORITY\LocalService:(OI)(CI)M"

Put your YAML configuration in C:\ProgramData\recyclarr\recyclarr.yml. See Getting Started for what to put in the file, and File Structure for the configs and includes subdirectories.

Create the Service

Register the service. In PowerShell, type sc.exe, not sc; sc is an alias for Set-Content.

sc.exe create recyclarr DisplayName= "Recyclarr" start= auto `
  binPath= "C:\Program Files\Recyclarr\recyclarr-server.exe" obj= "NT AUTHORITY\LocalService"

Tell Windows to start the server again after it fails:

sc.exe failure recyclarr reset= 86400 actions= restart/60000/restart/60000/restart/60000
sc.exe failureflag recyclarr 1

The first command restarts the server one minute after each failure. The second command makes Windows also restart the server when it stops because of an internal error, not only when it crashes.

Set the Environment

The service needs two environment variables: RECYCLARR_CONFIG_DIR for the configuration directory, and RECYCLARR_API_KEY for the API key. The server does not start without the key. Windows services read environment variables from the service's registry entry. This command creates a random key and stores both variables there:

$bytes = New-Object byte[] 32
[Security.Cryptography.RandomNumberGenerator]::Create().GetBytes($bytes)
$key = -join ($bytes | ForEach-Object { $_.ToString("x2") })

Set-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\recyclarr" -Name Environment `
  -Type MultiString -Value @(
    "RECYCLARR_CONFIG_DIR=C:\ProgramData\recyclarr",
    "RECYCLARR_API_KEY=$key"
  )

$key

Keep the key that the last line shows. The CLI needs it.

Always use an absolute path for RECYCLARR_CONFIG_DIR. A Windows service starts in C:\Windows\System32, so a relative path points there.

Start the Service

sc.exe start recyclarr

sc.exe query recyclarr shows RUNNING while the server runs. You can also manage the service in the Services app (services.msc).

Logs

The server writes log files to C:\ProgramData\recyclarr\logs\server\. It does not write to the Windows Event Log. If the service stops right after it starts, look in the newest log file for the cause, such as a configuration that is not valid or a missing API key.

Run CLI Commands

The CLI sends commands to the server over HTTP. To use the service, give the CLI the server address and the API key in %APPDATA%\recyclarr\cli.yml (the CLI settings file for your own Windows user):

server:
  base_url: http://localhost:7982
  api_key: your-key-here

Then run commands from a normal PowerShell window:

& "C:\Program Files\Recyclarr\recyclarr.exe" sync

Without cli.yml, each command starts its own temporary server and does not use the service. The server listens on port 7982 on the local machine only. To change this, see the server settings.

Configuration Changes

The server reads your YAML configuration and settings.yml once, when it starts. After you change them, restart the service:

Restart-Service recyclarr

Upgrade

Windows locks the executable while the service runs. Stop the service, extract the new release over the old files, and start the service again:

sc.exe stop recyclarr
Expand-Archive "$HOME\Downloads\recyclarr-win-x64.zip" "C:\Program Files\Recyclarr" -Force
sc.exe start recyclarr

Remove the Service

sc.exe stop recyclarr
sc.exe delete recyclarr

This keeps C:\ProgramData\recyclarr. Delete that folder too if you no longer need your configuration.