qbt-rules 0.3.2rc2

A powerful Python-based rules engine for qBittorrent automation

qbt-rules

A powerful Python-based rules engine for automating torrent management in qBittorrent using declarative YAML configuration.

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What is qbt-rules?

qbt-rules is a Python-based rules engine that automates torrent management through the qBittorrent Web API v5.0+. Define YAML-based rules to automatically categorize, tag, pause, resume, delete, and manage torrents based on flexible conditions.

Key Features:

• Declarative YAML Rules - No coding required, just write rules
• Multiple Trigger Types - Manual, scheduled (cron), webhooks (on_added, on_completed)
• Powerful Conditions - Complex logic with AND/OR/NOT groups, 17+ operators
• Rich Field Access - Dot notation access to all torrent metadata (info., trackers., files.*, etc.)
• Idempotent Actions - Safe to run repeatedly, actions skip if already applied
• Dry-Run Mode - Test rules without making changes
• Comprehensive Logging - Trace mode for debugging

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Quick Start

Installation

Option 1: Install from PyPI (recommended)

# Install the package
pip install qbt-rules

# Create config directory
mkdir -p ~/.config/qbt-rules

# Download example configs
curl -o ~/.config/qbt-rules/config.yml \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/andronics/qbt-rules/main/config/config.example.yml
curl -o ~/.config/qbt-rules/rules.yml \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/andronics/qbt-rules/main/config/rules.example.yml

# Edit config with your qBittorrent credentials
nano ~/.config/qbt-rules/config.yml

Option 2: Install from source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/andronics/qbt-rules.git
cd qbt-rules

# Install in editable mode with development dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Copy example configs
cp config/config.example.yml config/config.yml
cp config/rules.example.yml config/rules.yml

# Edit config with your qBittorrent credentials
nano config/config.yml

Your First Rule

Create a simple rule in config/rules.yml:

rules:
  - name: "Auto-categorize HD movies"
    enabled: true
    stop_on_match: true
    conditions:
      trigger: on_added
      all:
        - field: info.name
          operator: matches
          value: '(?i).*(1080p|2160p|4k).*'
    actions:
      - type: set_category
        params:
          category: "Movies-HD"
      - type: add_tag
        params:
          tag: "movies"

Run It

Using console script (after pip install):

# Test with dry-run (shows what would happen)
qbt-rules --dry-run

# Apply rules (defaults to manual trigger)
qbt-rules

# Enable trace logging for debugging
qbt-rules --trace

# Run with specific trigger
qbt-rules --trigger scheduled

# Process specific torrent
qbt-rules --trigger on_completed --torrent-hash abc123...

Using Python module:

python -m qbt_rules.cli --dry-run

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How It Works

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    TRIGGER ACTIVATION                       │
│  (Manual, Scheduled, on_added, on_completed)               │
└────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┘
                         │
                         ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              FETCH TORRENTS FROM qBittorrent               │
│         (Optional: Apply filters by category/state)         │
└────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────────┘
                         │
                         ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                   FOR EACH TORRENT:                        │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  Evaluate Rules in File Order                        │  │
│  │  ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │  │
│  │  │  Check Conditions (all/any/none groups)        │  │  │
│  │  │  ├─ Access fields (info.*, trackers.*, etc.)   │  │  │
│  │  │  ├─ Apply operators (==, >, contains, etc.)    │  │  │
│  │  │  └─ Combine with AND/OR/NOT logic             │  │  │
│  │  └────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┘  │  │
│  │               │                                       │  │
│  │               ├─ Match? ──► Execute Actions          │  │
│  │               │             (stop, categorize, etc.)  │  │
│  │               │                                       │  │
│  │               └─ No Match? ──► Next Rule             │  │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Rules execute top-to-bottom. Use stop_on_match: true to prevent later rules from running after a match.

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Core Concepts

Triggers

Trigger	Description	Use Case
manual	Run on-demand via CLI	Testing, one-time bulk operations
scheduled	Run by cron/systemd timer	Regular cleanup, maintenance
on_added	Webhook when torrent added	Auto-categorize new downloads
on_completed	Webhook when download completes	Post-processing, seeding rules

📖 Detailed Trigger Documentation

Conditions

Combine conditions with logical groups:

• all - AND logic (all conditions must match)
• any - OR logic (at least one condition must match)
• none - NOT logic (no conditions can match)

Available Operators:

==, !=, >, <, >=, <=, contains, not_contains, matches, in, not_in, older_than, newer_than, smaller_than, larger_than

📖 Detailed Condition Documentation

Available Fields

Access torrent data using dot notation across 8 API categories:

Prefix	Description	Example Fields
info.*	Main torrent info	info.name, info.size, info.ratio, info.state
trackers.*	Tracker data (collection)	trackers.url, trackers.status, trackers.msg
files.*	File list (collection)	files.name, files.size, files.progress
properties.*	Extended properties	properties.save_path, properties.comment
transfer.*	Global transfer stats	transfer.dl_speed_global, transfer.up_speed_global
app.*	Application info	app.version, app.api_version
peers.*	Peer data (collection)	peers.ip, peers.client, peers.progress
webseeds.*	Web seed data (collection)	webseeds.url

📖 Complete Field Reference

Actions

Execute one or more actions when conditions match:

Action	Description
stop / start / force_start	Control torrent state
recheck / reannounce	Maintenance operations
delete_torrent	Remove torrent (optionally with files)
set_category	Set torrent category
add_tag / remove_tag / set_tags	Manage tags
set_upload_limit / set_download_limit	Speed limiting

📖 Detailed Action Documentation

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Example Rules

Auto-Categorize by Content Type

- name: "Categorize TV shows"
  enabled: true
  stop_on_match: true
  conditions:
    trigger: on_added
    all:
      - field: info.name
        operator: matches
        value: '(?i).*[Ss]\d{2}[Ee]\d{2}.*'
  actions:
    - type: set_category
      params:
        category: "TV-Shows"

Cleanup Old Completed Torrents

- name: "Delete old seeded torrents"
  enabled: true
  conditions:
    trigger: scheduled
    all:
      - field: info.state
        operator: in
        value: ["uploading", "pausedUP", "stalledUP"]
      - field: info.completion_on
        operator: older_than
        value: 2592000  # 30 days
      - field: info.ratio
        operator: ">="
        value: 2.0
  actions:
    - type: delete_torrent
      params:
        delete_files: false

Force Seed Low-Seeded Content

- name: "Force start underseded torrents"
  enabled: true
  conditions:
    trigger: scheduled
    all:
      - field: info.num_complete
        operator: "<="
        value: 2
      - field: info.state
        operator: in
        value: ["pausedUP", "stalledUP"]
  actions:
    - type: force_start

Pause Large Downloads

- name: "Pause very large downloads"
  enabled: true
  conditions:
    trigger: on_added
    all:
      - field: info.size
        operator: larger_than
        value: "50 GB"
      - field: info.state
        operator: in
        value: ["downloading", "metaDL"]
  actions:
    - type: stop
    - type: add_tag
      params:
        tag: "large-download"

📖 More Examples

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Deployment

Scheduled Execution with Cron

# Run every hour
0 * * * * qbt-rules --trigger scheduled

# Run daily at 3 AM
0 3 * * * qbt-rules --trigger scheduled

# Custom trigger at midnight
0 0 * * * qbt-rules --trigger nightly_cleanup

Systemd Timer

Create /etc/systemd/system/qbt-rules.service:

[Unit]
Description=qbt-rules - qBittorrent Automation
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/qbt-rules --trigger scheduled
User=qbittorrent
Environment="PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin"

Create /etc/systemd/system/qbt-rules.timer:

[Unit]
Description=Run qbt-rules hourly

[Timer]
OnCalendar=hourly
Persistent=true

[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target

Enable:

sudo systemctl enable qbt-rules.timer
sudo systemctl start qbt-rules.timer

Docker

FROM python:3.11-slim

WORKDIR /app

# Install the package
RUN pip install qbt-rules

# Copy configuration files
COPY config/ /app/config/

# Run scheduled trigger every hour
CMD ["sh", "-c", "while true; do qbt-rules --trigger scheduled; sleep 3600; done"]

📖 Deployment Guide

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Documentation

Complete documentation is available on the GitHub Wiki:

• Getting Started - Installation and first rule
• Configuration Reference - config.yml and rules.yml
• Rules Architecture - How rules are evaluated
• Triggers - Manual, scheduled, webhooks
• Conditions - Operators and logical groups
• Available Fields - Complete field reference
• Actions - All available actions
• Examples - Real-world use cases
• FAQ - Common questions
• Troubleshooting - Debug and fix issues
• Advanced Topics - Performance, security, extending

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Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• qBittorrent v5.0+ with Web UI enabled
• Dependencies: requests, pyyaml

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see the Contributing Guide on the wiki.

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Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for version history and release notes.

Latest Release: v0.3.0 - 2024-12-13

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License

This project is released into the public domain under the Unlicense.

You are free to use, modify, and distribute this software for any purpose without attribution.

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Happy automating! 🚀

For detailed documentation, visit the GitHub Wiki.