Getting cross-seed working with qpit & gluetun

[moppylinglong]

Hi all,
L:ove the project, have managed to do the basics so far, now installing cross-seed and notifiarr which I previously had setup on a Windows server. I'm having some issues trying to get cross-seed to talk to qbit. Cross-seed (for those who are unaware) scrapes your indexers for files you may have already downloaded from a different tracker to upload to other trackers to improve your ratio without downloading new files.

Part of the config file for cross-seed looks like this:

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torrentClients: ["qbittorrent:http://admin:password@localhost:8081/"]

I understand that I can't keep it as localhost (since I have qbit running behind a VPN via gluetun as per the YAMS installer) but how do I configure this so it can still speak to qbit?

I am very new to all of this, so please do let me know if I'm missing something very simple

[moppylinglong]

As an update I have:

Followed the advice here and added network_mode: "service:gluetun" to the cross-seed config. I have then followed the example here and added the ports used by cross-seed to the gluetun config file.

When I run the cross-seed daemon, I get the error: Attempt 1/6 failed, retrying in 60s: [qbittorrent@gluetun:8081] qBittorrent login failed: fetch failed

I assume the problem is that cross-seed is somehow not on the same network as the remaining containers? If I run

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docker network inspect yams_network

I can see sonarr, watchtower, lidarr, bazarr, gluetun, radarr, portainer & prowlarr there but not qbit or cross-seed (nor notifiarr which I am also trying to get up and running, but one thing at a time!)

[rogs]

Hey @moppylinglong!

Try keeping cross-seed out of the gluetun network, and using gluetun instead of localhost as hostname for connecting to qBittorrent.

Cheers!

Roger.

[moppylinglong]

Hi Roger,

Unfortunately, that did not fix the error. I have double and triple checked the API keys for the arr stack and username & PW for qbit that I have input into the config file.

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terry@yams:~$ docker run -v /opt/yams/config/cross-seed:/config ghcr.io/cross-seed/cross-seed daemon
Configuration file already exists.
2025-08-13 13:28:44 info: cross-seed v6.13.1
2025-08-13 13:28:44 info: Validating your configuration...
2025-08-13 13:28:44 warn: If using Automatic Torrent Management in qBittorrent, please read: https://www.cross-seed.org/docs/v6-migration#new-folder-structure-for-links
2025-08-13 13:28:44 info: Creating linkDir: /srv/media/downloads/torrents/cross-seed-links
2025-08-13 13:28:45 error: Attempt 1/6 failed, retrying in 60s: [qbittorrent@gluetun:8081] qBittorrent login failed: fetch failed

Looking at the docker compose for cross-seed, looks like it doesn't support PUID & PGID and has user 1000:1000 instead. Looking at the yams env file, the PUID and PGID is 1000, so shouldn't that work fine?

cross-seed compose below

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version: "2.1"
services:
  cross-seed:
    image: ghcr.io/cross-seed/cross-seed:6
    container_name: cross-seed
    user: 1000:1000 # this must match your torrent client (cross-seed does not support using PGID and PUID)
    ports:
      - "2468:2468"
    volumes:
      - /path/to/config/folder:/config
      - # You will need at least one extra volume for your media drive if using https://www.cross-seed.org/docs/tutorials/linking
    command: daemon
    restart: unless-stopped

[rogs]

For PUID & PGID you can use the env variables available here: https://yams.media/advanced/add-your-ow ... variables-.

You should use the same permissions, but this doesn't look like a permissions issue. For some reason, your new container can't communicate with qBittorrent. This is a networking issue.

Are you sure this is correct?

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torrentClients: ["qbittorrent:http://admin:password@localhost:8081/"]

And have you checked that everything is on the same network? https://yams.media/advanced/add-your-ow ... p-address-

[dkplex]

Hey, I don't want to hijack the thread, but I was able to connect to qbit this way.

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  torrentClients: [
    "qbittorrent:http://username:userpassword@gluetun:8080"
  ],
  

I'm trying to set this up as well, but running into a different issue.
I'll keep an eye on this if you're able to get it working, If I find a solution I'll post it here.

I tried chatting with people at cross-seed and they just blamed gluetun and also seem to really hate it.

my current setup: https://pastebin.com/KA9Q3Ku3

Hope this helps

[moppylinglong]

For PUID & PGID you can use the env variables available here: https://yams.media/advanced/add-your-ow ... variables-.

Yes, I have used 1000 as the PUID and PGID as those are the values in the .env files. I even tried changing the PUID and PGID for qbit in the main docker compose to 1000 just in case that was the issue but still get the same fetch error.

Are you sure this is correct?

torrentClients: ["qbittorrent:http://admin:password@localhost:8081/"]

Yes, I have checked, double checked, triple checked the admin and password. I have now also tried @localhost:8081 and @gluetun:8081, both returning the same fetch error.

And have you checked that everything is on the same network? https://yams.media/advanced/add-your-ow ... p-address-

I followed the static ip instructions and added cross-seed to the yams_network but when I run

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docker network -ls 

I cannot see cross-seed in the list of containers within that network. The listed containers in that network are: gluetun, prowlarr, sonarr, watchtower, radarr, portainer, bazarr & lidarr.

If I run

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$ docker inspect cross-seed ID -f "{{json .NetworkSettings.Networks }}"

I get this

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{"yams_network":{"IPAMConfig":{"IPv4Address":"172.60.0.21"},"Links":null,"Aliases":["cross-seed","cross-seed"],"MacAddress":"","DriverOpts":null,"GwPriority":0,"NetworkID":"9cf96a671e9047019d2bbd1398a861dbfa9d7e49abd1ec40153c446d11ece56c","EndpointID":"","Gateway":"","IPAddress":"","IPPrefixLen":0,"IPv6Gateway":"","GlobalIPv6Address":"","GlobalIPv6PrefixLen":0,"DNSNames":["cross-seed","d1ef0405b171"]}}

Which I believe tells me that have actually added it to the yams_network?

I'm tearing my hair out, I would love it if somebody could figure what is going wrong because everything else is working perfectly!

[moppylinglong]

Hey, I don't want to hijack the thread, but I was able to connect to qbit this way.

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  torrentClients: [
    "qbittorrent:http://username:userpassword@gluetun:8080"
  ],
  

I assume you have changed the port that qbit runs on manually? Doesn't yams set qbit to 8081? Out of desperation, I tried 8080 anyway but same fetch error.

[dkplex]

@moppylinglong

Sorry, I'm running yams v2 so my ports are slightly different. It sounds like you're on v3 and qbit would be 8081 for you.

I never got this to work, but as I mentioned I was running into another error than you. I plan on coming back to it when i have more time.

Best of luck

[moppylinglong]

@dkplex

Thanks, that makes sense. I guess you are running a VPN since you mentioned gluetun.

If you have some time, would you mind uploading your docker compose, custom compose and cross-seed config? I assume your .env file is unmodified?

Clearly there is a way for cross-seed to connect to qbit in a YAMS set up, since you've managed it (even if you're running into a different issue). I would really appreciate it, thanks