File Placement

Friendarr places completed downloads into a directory structure compatible with Plex, Emby, and Jellyfin libraries.

Directory Layout

{completedPath}/
├── movies/
│   └── Movie Title (Year)/
│       └── Movie Title (Year).mkv
└── tv/
    └── Show Title/
        └── Season 01/
            └── Show Title - S01E01.mkv

Configuring Paths

Path	Env Var	Description
Completed	COMPLETED_PATH	Root for final media files
Incomplete	INCOMPLETE_PATH	Temp directory for in-progress downloads

Both can be overridden at runtime via settings.

Two-Stage Download

1. Download → {incompletePath}/{jobId}-{filename} — the file streams directly to a temp location
2. Place → {completedPath}/movies/... or {completedPath}/tv/... — the file is hard-linked to its final destination
3. Cleanup → The temp file is removed

If the incomplete and completed directories are on the same filesystem, hard links avoid copying data — the second stage is instant.

Filename Sanitization

Filenames and folder names are sanitized to remove characters that are invalid on most filesystems:

• < > : " / \ | ? * → removed
• Multiple spaces → collapsed to single space
• Leading/trailing dots and spaces → trimmed

Movie Convention

{completedPath}/movies/{Title} ({Year})/{Title} ({Year}).{ext}

TV Convention

{completedPath}/tv/{Show Title}/Season {SS}/{Show Title} - S{SS}E{EE}.{ext}

The season and episode numbers come from the download request's destination.seasonNumber and content-disposition header from the media server.