QBittorrent

qBittorrent is a BitTorrent client available on all Pulsed Media seedbox plans alongside rTorrent and Deluge. On servers, it runs as qbittorrent-nox (no X11/GUI) and is managed through its built-in Web UI.

qBittorrent uses the libtorrent-rasterbar library (same as Deluge). Its Web UI looks similar to the desktop version of qBittorrent, which makes it familiar to users coming from the Windows or macOS client.

How qBittorrent works on PM seedboxes

qBittorrent runs as a daemon (qbittorrent-nox) on your seedbox. Start it from the PM web panel. The Web UI is accessible at the URL and port shown in your panel.

The interface shows your torrent list, download/upload speeds, and per-torrent details. Most features from the desktop version are available in the Web UI: categories, tags, RSS feeds, search, and bandwidth scheduling.

Downloaded files are stored in ~/data/. Transfer them to your machine using SFTP, rsync, or rclone. See Downloading from seedbox.

Sequential downloading

qBittorrent can download file pieces in order from start to finish instead of the usual random-piece order that BitTorrent uses. This lets you start watching a video file before the entire download completes.

To enable it, right-click a torrent and select "Download in sequential order." You can also enable "Download first and last pieces first" for media files where the container header and index are at the beginning and end.

Sequential downloading reduces swarm efficiency (you contribute fewer rare pieces to other peers), so use it only when you actually need to preview content during download.

RSS feed automation

qBittorrent has built-in RSS feed support with filtering rules. You can subscribe to RSS feeds from trackers and set regex rules to automatically download matching torrents.

This is useful for keeping up with TV series, Linux ISOs, or any content published on a regular schedule. Configure RSS feeds from the RSS tab in the Web UI.

Sonarr, Radarr, and *ARR integration

qBittorrent has a native API that the *ARR suite (Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, Prowlarr) uses for torrent management. If you run *ARR tools on your seedbox for automated media acquisition, qBittorrent is the cleanest integration path. The ARR tools add and monitor torrents through qBittorrent's API without needing a plugin or bridge.

rTorrent integration with *ARR tools requires ruTorrent API or XML-RPC configuration. Deluge integration uses the Deluge API. Both work, but qBittorrent requires the least configuration for *ARR.

When to choose qBittorrent

qBittorrent is the right choice when:

You run Sonarr, Radarr, or other *ARR tools and want the simplest integration
You need sequential downloading for media preview
You prefer an interface similar to the desktop qBittorrent you already know
You want built-in RSS feeds without plugins

When to consider alternatives

rTorrent for lower resource usage, autodl-irssi, and the ruTorrent plugin ecosystem
Deluge for execute-on-completion scripts and a different plugin architecture

All three clients are available on every PM seedbox plan.