Jackett is a free, open source indexer proxy for Windows, Linux and macOS. It connects torrent trackers with applications that accept Torznab, TorrentPotato or RSS feeds. Jackett translates each application’s request into a tracker search, reads the response and returns results through a common interface.
Giving each tracker a configuration
The browser dashboard contains an indexer catalog. You add a tracker, complete its particular settings and test the connection. Public trackers can work without account credentials, while private trackers may require a username, password or session information.
Jackett keeps each indexer’s configuration separately. Its dashboard shows the tracker type, tags and available categories alongside test and configuration controls. You can change settings, remove an indexer or test the whole collection. Test results reveal connection or authentication failures before another application sends searches.
Feeds for other applications
Each indexer supplies feed addresses that you can copy into another program. The receiving application also needs Jackett’s API key. For example, a Torznab consumer submits a query to the indexer’s endpoint, and Jackett returns an XML response with release information and download links.
Requests can contain keywords, category IDs and other search parameters. Some indexers also accept identifiers or specialized searches for television, movies, music and books. Jackett’s capabilities response reports the search modes and parameters that an individual indexer accepts. It rejects queries that the indexer cannot handle.
An RSS reader can use an indexer’s RSS address instead. Search text and category parameters narrow that feed to matching releases.
Searching in the dashboard
Manual Search provides a query box, tracker selection and category selection. You can choose several trackers and categories for the same search. Jackett queries the relevant indexers and combines their successful responses into one results table.
The table identifies each release’s tracker, title, category and size, with seeder and peer information where the tracker supplies it. Individual indexer reports show result counts, errors and elapsed search time. These reports distinguish a search that finds nothing from an indexer that fails to respond correctly.
Result actions open a tracker’s details page, retrieve a torrent file or follow a magnet link. With a blackhole directory, Jackett can also write a torrent or magnet file to its server. That directory must already exist, and the server account needs permission to write there.
Choosing the search scope
Jackett offers individual, filter and aggregate endpoints. These determine which indexers receive an application’s query:
| Endpoint scope | Indexer selection |
|---|---|
| Individual | Targets one indexer and its particular categories and search modes. |
| Filter | Chooses indexers by type, tags, language, test outcome or current status. |
| All | Queries every indexer that you configure and combines their results. |
Filter expressions can combine conditions or exclude matches. The aggregate endpoint gives up individual control over category mappings and search modes. A slow indexer can also delay the complete aggregate response.
Reusing search results
Jackett’s internal cache retains results from indexer searches. When a later query can use those results, it avoids another request to the tracker. The dashboard exposes the cache contents for browsing.
You control whether the cache operates and how long entries remain valid. An API request can also skip the cache to fetch a fresh response.
How tracker definitions work
Many indexers use YAML definitions that describe their login settings, search requests and result parsing. A definition can select rows from HTML or read JSON fields. Jackett turns those fields into titles, links, categories and other release metadata.
Category mappings connect a tracker’s own category IDs with common Newznab-style categories. The definition also declares search capabilities, so a consumer can discover which requests make sense for that tracker. Changes to a tracker’s page layout can require changes to its definition.
Dashboard access and diagnostics
Jackett can listen locally or accept connections from other devices. An administrator password controls dashboard access, while API clients authenticate with the API key. A reverse proxy can expose the dashboard and endpoints under a matching base path.
Logs record search activity and errors. Enhanced logging adds debugging information and response details when an indexer fails. You can enable it, repeat an indexer test and inspect the resulting log. Restarting Jackett turns enhanced logging off again.
