Tdarr Autoscaler

Dynamic Tdarr worker scaling based on Plex activity.

Automatically scales Tdarr workers down when users are streaming on Plex and scales them back up when Plex becomes idle.
Designed to prevent CPU/GPU contention between Plex transcoding and Tdarr processing --- especially useful on Intel QSV, NVENC, or limited-resource servers.

Inspired by https://github.com/triw0lf/tdarr-autoscale

Overview

tdarr-autoscaler.py monitors Plex activity via Tautulli and dynamically adjusts Tdarr worker limits using the Tdarr API.

It can:

Detect active playback sessions
Optionally count only active transcodes (ignores Direct Play / Direct Stream)
Apply different worker limits for:
- Idle (day)
- Active streaming (day)
- Idle (night)
- Active streaming (night)

Requirements

Python 3.8+
requests library

Install dependency:

pip install requests

Configuration

Edit the CONFIGURATION section inside tdarr-autoscaler.py:

#######################
# CONFIGURATION
#######################

# Tdarr settings
TDARR_URL = "http://tdarr-ip:port"

# Worker type - what does your Tdarr use for transcoding?
# Options: "GPU" (Intel QSV, NVENC, etc.), "CPU" (software encoding), or "BOTH"
WORKER_TYPE = "GPU"

# Tautulli settings
TAUTULLI_URL = "http://tautulli-ip:port"
TAUTULLI_API_KEY = ""  # Settings > Web Interface > API Key

# Do not count Direct Play / Direct Stream since they are very easy on CPU/GPU
COUNT_TRANSCODES_ONLY = True

# Worker limits - adjust to your hardware capability
WORKERS_IDLE = 1          # No one watching (daytime)
WORKERS_ACTIVE = 0        # Someone is streaming
WORKERS_NIGHT = 1         # No one watching (night)
WORKERS_NIGHT_ACTIVE = 0  # Streaming during night

# Night mode hours (24h format)
NIGHT_START = 0   # Midnight
NIGHT_END = 5     # 5 AM

Adjust worker values according to your hardware capacity and desired behavior.

Usage

Option 1 --- Run as Tautulli Notification Script (Recommended)

Copy tdarr-autoscaler.py into your Tautulli scripts folder
Edit the configuration section
In Tautulli, go to:

Settings → Notification Agents
Add a new Script notification agent
Select tdarr-autoscaler.py
Enable the following triggers:
- Playback Start
- Playback Stop
- Playback Pause
- Playback Resume
- Transcode Decision Change
Leave Conditions and Arguments empty

Option 2 --- Run Manually

chmod +x tdarr-autoscaler.py
./tdarr-autoscaler.py

Option 3 --- Run via Cron

Example (runs every 5 minutes):

*/5 * * * * /path/to/tdarr-autoscaler.py >> /path/to/tdarr-autoscaler.log 2>&1

How It Works

Queries Tautulli API for current activity
Counts all sessions or only transcoding sessions (if enabled)
Detects whether current time is within configured night window
Sets Tdarr worker limits via Tdarr API
Logs actions with timestamps

Recommended Use Cases

Single-GPU home servers
Intel iGPU (QSV) systems
Low-power NAS setups
Systems where Plex transcoding must always take priority
Mixed Tdarr + Plex workloads on shared hardware

License

MIT

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