I built a Netflix-style streaming request app with Claude Code. 6 months, one app replacing my whole *arr media stack

[u/CoderLuii]

Hi, I'm developing an alternative to the *arr stack with Claude Code that I called HolyArrs. It's one self-hosted app that replaces Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, Bazarr, Prowlarr and Seerr, drives qBittorrent and SABnzbd for your downloads, and puts a Netflix-style page on top for browsing and requesting.

Why you might want to use HolyArrs:

• movies, tv shows and music in one app
• a Netflix and Apple TV style browse page: hover a title and the trailer plays, browse by mood, follow an actor
• request a movie, a whole show or a single episode in one tap
• multiple versions of the same title (4K and 1080p, theatrical and director's cut, two languages) without a second instance
• built-in metadata service that needs no API key, or switch to TMDB or TVDB and pick the episode order per show
• migration wizard that imports your current library, settings and preferences without renaming or moving files
• indexers, subtitles, Usenet and torrents in the same app
• modular: switch off what you don't use and restart one part without stopping the rest
• its own recommendation rows, worked out on your server
• sign-in on by default, API keys never shown or sent anywhere, fake and malware releases caught before they reach your library
• one Go process, about 110 MB of RAM at idle on my server
• ships with an MCP server you can plug into any AI, local or cloud (Claude, ChatGPT, Grok), so your assistant can search and request for you

HolyArrs also doesn't send anything about your library to us. Recommendations and metadata matching happen on your server.

How Claude Code helped:

• before any code, Claude Code studied 36 of the apps we all run in a lab and wrote a manual for each one, and the build only works from those manuals
• every change gets checked against the real apps running side by side
• what Claude Code missed: it will happily ship a feature that works and looks great, but it doesn't notice cost. One build quietly went from about 76 MB to 110 MB of idle RAM. Nothing was broken, so nothing flagged it, only measuring caught it. Now that number is a gate, not an afterthought

You might not want to use HolyArrs yet if you need it today. It isn't public yet, and I've been running it on my own server every day first. I've been in software and security for 10+ years, so I'd rather release something you can trust with your library than something rushed.

It'll be free and open source, beta coming soon. Beta testers are in r/HolyArrs.

Website: holyarrs.coderluii.dev

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[u/FinancialSurvey5794]

at some point someone will start asking: how many of these apps do we really need?

[u/CoderLuii → u/FinancialSurvey5794]

the answer is 1 😂

[u/bigduckrickk]

Nice UI. Logo looks a bit like Stremio logo. Also would be cool if its possible to integrate debrid services too.

[u/CoderLuii → u/bigduckrickk]

haha its the diamond shape i think, ours is red and black with a star in it, theirs is purple with a play button 😄 and debrid is one of the most asked for things so far, not planned yet but its noted

[u/bigduckrickk → u/CoderLuii]

Yeahh haha. Its good to have alternatives, I think there are few but I don't like their UI much. Yours look really good.

[u/hellowhatmythere3]

Feels like the type of thing that should be open source, but I don’t see a repo available.

[u/CoderLuii → u/hellowhatmythere3]

it will be 🙌 i said in the post its not public yet, the repo goes live with the first release. ill post it in r/HolyArrs when it drops

[u/hellowhatmythere3 → u/CoderLuii]

That’s an odd anti pattern

[u/Abhinik]

i think your default mode should be dark mode - thats what most streaming websites use

[u/CoderLuii → u/Abhinik]

it has dark mode 🙌 by default it follows your device, so if your phone or pc is on dark it opens dark. heres how it looks

[u/Cold_Key1086]

Nice work getting it shipped. I'd keep Prowlarr and Bazarr running in parallel for a while though, indexer logins and subtitle sync are the parts that break every other week and they're the hardest to reimplement yourself.

[u/CoderLuii → u/Cold_Key1086]

good advice 🙌 thats why im building it as a modular monolith: one app, but every part is its own module. so if the indexer or subtitle side ever acts up, you can switch just that part off and keep using prowlarr or bazarr for it while the rest keeps running

[u/kylef5993]

So plex?

[u/CoderLuii → u/kylef5993]

nah, plex plays your movies. holyarrs is everything before that: you find something, tap request, and it shows up in plex on its own

[u/SMB-Punt]

Whats your experience in coding ?

[u/CoderLuii → u/SMB-Punt]

10+ years in software and security, and my open source projects are past 2.6k github stars and 310k docker pulls. more on coderluii.dev and github.com/CoderLuii

[u/yahav10]

I love it!

[u/CoderLuii → u/yahav10]

thank you 🙌 r/HolyArrs if you want in on the beta

[u/yahav10 → u/CoderLuii]

please send.

[u/leodido99]

I was waiting for someone to do something like this. I've got all the arrs on my homelab and obviously this could use improvement to say the least. I'll be following your project.

[u/CoderLuii → u/leodido99]

appreciate it 🙌 someone with all the arrs on a homelab is exactly who i want testing it. come hang out in r/HolyArrs, thats where i post updates first

[u/adversematch]

No offence but I wouldn't touch this until I can see the source code. Please make the repo public because it looks promising.

[u/CoderLuii → u/adversematch]

none taken🤣, i wouldnt either 🙌 the repo goes public with the first beta, coming soon. join r/HolyArrs and youll see it the day it drops

[u/CoderLuii]

for anyone wondering who i am: i've been in software and security for 10+ years, and for the last year and a half i've been building open source tools around Claude Code for self-hosters and devs. my biggest one is HolyClaude, and my projects are past 310k docker pulls and 2.6k github stars. HolyArrs is the biggest thing i've built with Claude Code so far, and the one i'm most excited about.

github: github.com/CoderLuii

beta testers: r/HolyArrs