What is Jackett ?
To put it simply, Jackkett enables you to browse torrents from multiple indexers like 1337x, torrentz etc at the same time without needing you to visit each site one by one. It basically makes finding stuff easier and more efficient.
On to the guide then.
- Open qbittorrent, go to view -> Search engine. At this point qbittorrent will check if you have python runtime installed, if you don't have it then it will prompt you to install python runtime. Just hit next and install it like every other software.
2.Now head over to this link and download Jackett.installer.windows.exe
3.Run the installer and install the program , make sure you install jackett as a windows service. This will let you start or stop jackett from windows tray.
4.Keep Jackett running and head over here .Now from this dashboard you can add your indexers, Click add indexer, use the search to search your favourite indexers and click on the tiny + button to add them, You can also add private indexers and configure them using the respectable options.
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Once you are done with adding indexers, copy you api key present on the top right by clicking on the copy to clipboard icon beside it.
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Now open qbittorrent again, click on search-> Search plugins ->Install a new one-> web link and paste this: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/qbittorrent/search-plugins/master/nova3/engines/jackett.py , The plugin should get installed and appear in the installed plugins section.
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Press windows+R key and search %localappdata%. Now go to qbittorrent ->nova3->engines->Jackett.json. Open it using note pad and paste the previously coppied api key to where it says "your api key here". Save it. You can also change where it says "false" to "true" so that the search results show the source indexer's name.
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Now you can search for anything from the qbittorrent app itself and it will automatically search all your added indexers and provide the best torrents. All thanks to Jackett plugin.
I was setting this up and couldn't find a straight forward guide so decided to make one after I figured it out myself. Hope it helps you in some way. Keep sailing 😄.
Legitimate question, why use Jackett/Prowlarr with Qbitorrent when Qbitorrent itself already has a search function with plugins for all kinds of indexers on it?
Cuz this way instead of installing a separate plugin for every single public and private indexer you use and slowing down your client, you can have just one. One plugin to rule them all.
Qbit just downloads stuff. Prowlarr just takes care of indexers and communicates with different services.
Better integration and you can even see historic download links in case you wamt that exact thing for example.