Settings reference
Everything in Settings, by tab. Settings opens on an Overview tab — health cards (sources, metadata, libraries, storage, downloading, notifications) plus a "Needs attention" list that links straight to whatever needs fixing. The other tabs are Library, Downloading, Sources, Metadata, Plugins (appears when an installed plugin puts its settings there), Sign-in, and Notifications; Library and Sources show a small rail on the left (their sub-panels — plugin sources appear there too) with one panel at a time on the right. Edits reveal a save bar at the bottom; library changes apply immediately. Values persist to settings.json next to the app. Plugins add their own panels; those are documented with each plugin.
Metadata
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Source | Where series and issue data comes from. BackIssue metadata service (the default) works with no setup — cached data with enrichment, no rate-limit pauses, authenticated by a key your install provisions for itself. ComicVine directly queries the official API with your own key. |
| ComicVine API key | Only used when the source is ComicVine (free at comicvine.gamespot.com). |
| Proxy URL | Optional HTTP(S) forward proxy for ComicVine calls only (e.g. http://user:pass@proxy:port). Useful when CV is unreachable or rate-limits your IP; rotating-proxy services work well since each request may exit from a fresh IP. |
| Service URL | Self-hosting the metadata service? Point lookups at your own instance. Blank = the built-in service. Ignored when the source is ComicVine. |
| Use enriched metadata | When the endpoint supports it, matched series also get a content rating, publication status (Ongoing/Cancelled/Completed), and end year — shown on the series page. Series rated Mature/Explicit/Adult are flagged mature automatically; your manual flag choices always win. The official ComicVine API ignores this setting. |
Library
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Libraries | Named libraries (see Libraries), each with a type, its own folders (first = where new downloads file; the rest are extra scan locations), an optional per-library folder pattern, and a Mature flag. Managed here; changes apply immediately. |
| Folder pattern | How each series' folder is built under a root, from tokens — default {publisher}/{series} ({year}). See Naming patterns. |
| File pattern | How issue files are named — default {series} V{year} #{issue}. Tokens: {publisher} {series} {year} {issue} ({issue:2} sets pad width) {issueTitle} {date} {edition}. A live example previews as you type; blank = default. |
| Rename downloads | On (default): downloaded files are named to the file pattern. Off: completed downloads keep the source's original filename, still filed into the comic's folder. |
| Download format | cbz (default, recommended — taggable) or pdf. |
| Tag on download | Write ComicVine metadata for every file as it's imported (recommended: on). |
| Tag placement | Where tags are written: Embedded puts ComicInfo.xml inside the archive (default); Sidecar puts it in a .xml next to the file and never modifies the archive — share/seed-safe, and .cbr files stay unconverted. Each library can override this. |
| Library concurrency | Parallel workers for library scans/verification (default suits most disks; raise for fast NVMe, lower for busy NAS shares). |
Accounts & access
Account and role management lives on the Users page, not in Settings — see Users & access. The one account-related toggle in Settings is:
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Allow self-registration | When on, the login page offers a sign-up tab; new accounts are created as viewers. Off by default. |
There is no username/password field here anymore — the old single HTTP Basic login was replaced by the user system. (TRUST_PROXY is an environment variable, not a setting; set it when running behind a reverse proxy.)
With the SSO (OpenID Connect) plugin installed, a Sign-in section appears here too: the provider configuration and a Disable password login toggle (admins keep a password fallback). See Signing in with an identity provider.
Notifications
Outbound channels come from the Notifications Hub plugin — one collapsible card per channel (Discord, Telegram, Pushover, ntfy, generic webhook), each with its own category filter and test button. Without the plugin this section only points you at it; the in-app notification bell records all events regardless.
Downloading
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Source priority | Drag-ordered list of enabled sources; searches try them top-to-bottom, first match wins. |
| Download concurrency | Parallel download workers (default 4). More = faster batches, but be considerate of your sources. |
| Download on add | When on (the default), adding a volume immediately queues its missing issues. Off = volumes are added empty and you download by hand. |
Usenet
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Enable Usenet | Master toggle for the source. |
| Newznab indexers | One or more indexer entries (URL + API key). |
| Client | sabnzbd or nzbget. |
| Client host / port / SSL | Where the client's API lives. |
| API key (SAB) / Username & password (NZBGet) | Client credentials. |
| Category | Download category for BackIssue's NZBs (e.g. backissue). |
| Completed folder (client's view / BackIssue's view) | The finished-downloads folder as each side sees it — set both when they run on different machines or in Docker. |
| Poll seconds / Timeout minutes | How often the monitor checks the client, and when to give up on a stuck download. |
Torrents
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Enable torrents | Master toggle. |
| Torznab indexers | One or more entries (URL + API key) — Prowlarr/Jackett provide these. |
| Client | qBittorrent. |
| qB host / port / SSL / username / password | qBittorrent Web UI connection. |
| Category | qBittorrent category for BackIssue's torrents. |
| Completed folder (client's view / BackIssue's view) | Same two-path mapping as Usenet. |
| Poll seconds / Timeout minutes | Monitor cadence and give-up threshold. |
| 0-day query | Search phrase for the weekly pack (a sensible default is provided). |
| 0-day: add new series | When importing a weekly pack, also add series you don't track yet (default: only fill gaps in series you already track). |
Schedules
Each scheduled job has a cron expression and an enable toggle — see Automation:
| Job | Settings |
|---|---|
| Releases check | releaseCheckCron / releaseCheckEnabled |
| ComicVine match | cvMatchCron / cvMatchEnabled |
| Watch indexer RSS | rssWatchCron / rssWatchEnabled (default every 15 minutes, off) |
| Search new releases | recentSearchCron / recentSearchEnabled (default every 6 hours, off), plus recentSearchDays (how recent counts as "new", 1–90, default 14) |
| Wanted search | wantedSearchCron / wantedSearchEnabled, plus wantedSearchBatch (issues per run, 1–200) |
| Zero-day pack | zeroDayCron / zeroDayEnabled |
| Back up database | backupCron / backupEnabled (default weekly Monday 05:00, on) |
Plugins register schedules of their own (e.g. the AirDC++ announce watch) — they appear under System → Jobs alongside these.
Advanced
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Release provider URL | Where the weekly-releases list is fetched from. Leave at default unless you host an alternative. |
| Window mode | For sources that drive a real browser: visible, hidden, or headless. Some sites block headless browsers — hidden is the safe default. |
| Action delay (ms) | Politeness pause between actions against external sites (default 500). Raising it is kinder to sources; lowering it risks blocks. |
Legacy keys from older versions (libraryDir, nzbClientUrl, hour-based schedule fields, ComicTagger paths) are still read and migrated automatically — you don't need to touch them.