Torrent RSS Feeds and Automation

Torrent RSS feeds give torrent clients a structured list of new uploads from a tracker. Add filter rules and downloads happen automatically — a new episode drops, your seedbox grabs it, no browser involved.

On Pulsed Media seedboxes, two approaches cover most situations: the built-in RSS manager in ruTorrent for simple subscriptions, and autodl-irssi for real-time automation on private trackers via IRC.

How torrent RSS feeds work

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an XML format. Trackers use it to publish new uploads as a machine-readable list — each torrent gets one entry with a title, upload timestamp, and a link to the .torrent file or magnet URI.

Torrent clients poll the feed URL on a schedule — typically every 15 to 30 minutes — and download anything matching your filters.

A typical RSS item in the underlying XML looks like this:

<item>
  <title>Example.Show.S02E04.1080p.x265-GROUP</title>
  <pubDate>Fri, 03 Apr 2026 14:22:00 +0000</pubDate>
  <enclosure url="https://tracker.example.com/download/12345.torrent"
             type="application/x-bittorrent"
             length="1073741824"/>
</item>

When the filter matches, the client fetches the .torrent and queues it.

RSS on public trackers

Public trackers offer RSS feeds without any login. Nyaa.si (anime and manga) lets you filter feeds by category, uploader, or search query through URL parameters. 1337x and similar sites offer per-category feeds.

Copy the feed URL, paste it into your client, set a filter — that is the whole process.

RSS on private trackers

Private trackers require authentication. The feed URL includes a per-user passkey or auth token:

https://tracker.example.com/rss?passkey=YOURTOKEN&category=5

Some trackers let you generate RSS URLs for specific queries directly in your account settings. Treat the URL like a password — sharing it hands over your tracker access.

The main problem with RSS on private trackers is the polling delay. On trackers that give bonus points for seeding early, a torrent can be swarmed or hit freeleech caps before your client polls the feed. If timing matters, IRC-based automation is a better choice.

Using RSS in ruTorrent

ruTorrent has a built-in RSS feed manager. To add a feed:

Open ruTorrent and click the RSS icon in the toolbar (or go to Settings → RSS)
Click Add feed and paste the feed URL
Set the polling interval (default is usually 15–30 minutes)
Add a filter: a regular expression to match torrent titles
Optionally set a label and download directory for matched items

Filters use regular expressions. S[0-9]{2}E[0-9]{2} matches any episode number pattern; (?i)1080p.*x265 matches 1080p x265 releases regardless of case.

This works well for public trackers and for private trackers where you do not need to be first. For competitive private trackers, autodl-irssi handles the timing problem.

autodl-irssi: real-time automation via IRC

autodl-irssi skips polling entirely. Most private trackers run IRC servers with dedicated announce channels — every new upload gets posted there within seconds. autodl-irssi connects to those channels, parses each announcement, and grabs the torrent immediately when a filter matches.

The difference is not subtle: RSS polling catches a torrent 15–30 minutes after upload. autodl-irssi catches it in under 10 seconds.

autodl-irssi is written in Perl and runs inside irssi, a terminal IRC client. It adds a tab to your ruTorrent interface for managing filters in the browser without editing config files by hand.

Filters can match on:

Torrent name (regular expression)
File size (minimum and maximum)
Upload category
Uploader name
Video format, resolution, or codec
Episode or season number
Freeleech status

Each filter specifies what to do on a match: add to rtorrent, save the .torrent to a watch folder, or run a script.

Setting up autodl-irssi on a Pulsed Media seedbox

The full installation guide covers the automated script and manual installation. The short version: log in via SSH and run:

wget https://pulsedmedia.com/remote/autodl.txt -O autodl.sh; bash autodl.sh

The script handles Perl dependencies, plugin setup, and the connection between irssi and ruTorrent.

Important: autodl-irssi is a third-party tool. Pulsed Media does not provide support for it. If autodl breaks something, support covers wiping and reprovisioning the seedbox — nothing more.

Other automation tools

Flexget

Flexget is a Python-based framework that works with RSS feeds, HTML scraping, and other sources. It is harder to configure than autodl-irssi but more flexible — useful for trackers without IRC announce channels or for pulling from non-torrent sources.

Configuration is YAML. Flexget sends matched torrents to rtorrent, qBittorrent, or Deluge, or drops them in a watch folder. It can run as a cron job or a background daemon.

Sonarr and Radarr

Sonarr (TV shows) and Radarr (movies) are media library managers. You tell them which shows or films you want and set quality preferences; they handle the rest by watching tracker RSS feeds and APIs.

Both work with rtorrent, qBittorrent, and Deluge via download client APIs. They use more memory than autodl-irssi and run as persistent services.

On a Pulsed Media seedbox, Sonarr and Radarr can run in a rootless Docker container — Docker rootless is a supported product feature on all plans. Pulsed Media support does not cover Sonarr/Radarr configuration, but they work without issue on the standard software stack.

Choosing between the approaches

Approach	Best for	Limitation
ruTorrent RSS manager	Public trackers, simple subscriptions	15–30 min polling delay
autodl-irssi	Private trackers, time-sensitive grabs	Tracker must have an IRC announce channel
Flexget	Complex or multi-source automation	More complex to configure
Sonarr / Radarr	Automated media library management	Higher memory use, runs as a persistent service