I would like to add something to this request if possible. Like described, series are required to be filled in. Overseerr clearly sees the difference between anime and series. It would be nice if you can assign instance 1 to series and instance 2 to anime and that the chosen media (by the end user) will be automatically send accordingly (series for series instance, anime to anime instance). This way we don't have to resort to giving end-users advanced options which cause all kinds of mess.

A potential way to implement this would to extend the functionality used to determine Default/4K servers, adding a third optional check box (Anime Server) to the section pictured below (Add Sonarr Server), and using that to determine whether to show/require the standard TV settings or not.

@rekonnected Wouldn't an anime server be mutually exclusive to 4K? At least, 4K anime isn't really a "thing". The general UX issue I see with checkboxes is that you need to ensure they are compatible with all options, as well as options that might get added later. Something else like a combo/list control would be better suited in a situation where there's mutual exclusivity.

I also struggle to understand why we need a toggle for this anyway. Wouldn't we simply need to remove the "required" validation on the TV/Series fields, and as the OP states, simply validate that at least one or both are present? If I only fill in the anime fields, that's effectively the same as checking the box you are proposing.

Overseerr can then handle other parts of the UI based on which fields were set up (Series, Anime, or both), for example: If only anime is configured, then when users request TV series, that server will not be an available choice. Likewise for Anime. I realize this last part goes out of scope, but just something to think about that might influence the UX for this.

This sounds logical. Would love to see the thoughts on this by the developers. This can significantly improve the usability of overseerr. We're now forced, if you want easy requesting of media for your users and not have them request using advanced options, to use 1 instance of sonarr. This is very impractical for many reasons. Would love to see the thoughts of the developers on this topic, and if it is even possible.

Would also be keen to see this implemented.

As per some other user comments though I think it would make sense to set this up so it is a little 'smarter'
If a server has two instances of sonarr, one for tv and one for anime, then it would be great if the correct instance was automatically selected when a user is requesting an anime vs tv show.

begone stale bot

+1 for this functionality

Seriously, stale bots are the worst. It forces folks to post "+1" and other unhelpful comments just to fight the bot and prevent issues from getting closed without any human involvement or rationale.

I understand the purpose of the bot. An open source project only has so many contributors and it's impossible to get to every single issue. However, I do not believe a bot improves this situation. It just limits visibility of legitimate issues that might otherwise get worked on based on some type of prioritization methodology.

I encourage the Overseerr developers to consider disabling the bot in favor of prioritization (something as simple as sorting by upvotes is common and certainly more useful than closing issues, in my view).

Thanks again to everyone for the hard work on Overseerr!

Would also love to see this implemented, I think it would be an amazing addition building on exisiting functionality. Right now I run two overseerr instance, one for normal media and one for anime, and since it is recommended to have two different sonar instances(one for normal media one for anime) this would go hand in hand with that, eliminating the need for two instances, greatly simplifying the experience for the end user.

+1 avoiding polluting my tv and 4k tv sonarr servers with anime would be highly appreciated. Currently my non-technical users/family members have no way to choose which server it gets sent to (by design), so only I can add anime for them.

bump, this is a much needed feature.

I've recently been thinking about this and I personally think the best way around this issue is to separate Anime from regular instances. Currently when setting up a sonarr instance you select the profiles for both anime and non-anime shows. Like what was suggested, we need a tick box to mark a sonarr instance as anime or not, and when requesting any anime content it first checks for an anime instance and if there isn't one, it then uses the default instance settings. Naturally in the case of the anime instance, the anime profiles should be used. This was everything remains backwards compatible with previous builds for everyone who wants to use the current functionality.

instance

That is a good idea. It would be nice to also get an answer from the developers, since this has been open for a year.

any updates devs? surely this functionality would help a bunch of people

This issue is the main reason that I only run 1 sonarr even though 2 sonarr would be ideal. Very much needed!!

I have a version locally which adds this. I'll make a pull request for this soon, not sure if it'll be accepted though.

@thempc thank you for doing this (even if it gets rejected)

I have a version locally which adds this. I'll make a pull request for this soon, not sure if it'll be accepted though.

Not all heroes wear capes

I have a version locally which adds this. I'll make a pull request for this soon, not sure if it'll be accepted though.

Hello mate, this is awesome news. How far integrated is this? Will the instance be automatically chosen based on the type of media requested?

I have a version locally which adds this. I'll make a pull request for this soon, not sure if it'll be accepted though.

Hello mate, this is awesome news. How far integrated is this? Will the instance be automatically chosen based on the type of media requested?

Happy you like it, currently it's in the review process so there will feedback at some point to the code changes, to which there will likely be more code changes, so integration-wise we're just beginning to get this merged in (if the dev team wants this).

As for the chosing of instances, that is all automated based on media type yes. If you have two Sonarr or Radarr instances, one with the Anime default, and one without, all Anime type requests automatically go to the Anime instance, while non-anime goes to the other default non-anime instance.

If on the other hand, only one Default server (non-anime) is setup, all anime requests are directed there instead. Making this a non-destructive setup, working for both people who have single and multiple instance setups.

I have a version locally which adds this. I'll make a pull request for this soon, not sure if it'll be accepted though.

Hello mate, this is awesome news. How far integrated is this? Will the instance be automatically chosen based on the type of media requested?

Happy you like it, currently it's in the review process so there will feedback at some point to the code changes, to which there will likely be more code changes, so integration-wise we're just beginning to get this merged in (if the dev team wants this).

As for the chosing of instances, that is all automated based on media type yes. If you have two Sonarr or Radarr instances, one with the Anime default, and one without, all Anime type requests automatically go to the Anime instance, while non-anime goes to the other default non-anime instance.

If on the other hand, only one Default server (non-anime) is setup, all anime requests are directed there instead. Making this a non-destructive setup, working for both people who have single and multiple instance setups.

If you need help testing stuff out, feel free to reach out. Would be more than happy to run your fork for now and test stuff with you.

Well, I've been testing and fleshing things out since making the pull request. I think it's in a pretty solid place atm. If anyone wants to test/use it while its under review, you can grab this branch:

https://github.com/thempc/overseerr/tree/feature-default-anime-instance-checkbox

You'll need to follow the standard Overseerr compilation instructions.

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

Just bumping to prevent going stale.

Edit: Removed a previous comment, it wasn't very contributing.

I have been following this and oidc support for a long time, at this point it might make sense to send the PRs to jellyseerr instead. Counter to the name it still supports plex, but i personally run jellyfin now anyway.

@speatzle I asked about it in their #development channel, in case you wish to follow.

Edit: Jellyseerr team said to just wait for Overseerr integration, so I guess we stuck again.

@thempc Thanks for the work you've put into this.
From what I can see everything works pretty well using the web interface.

However I was trying to use requestrr to request a show via overseerr and I got following warning in the logs:
There is no default Sonarr server configured. Did you set any of your Sonarr servers as default?

Are the changes in your PR only on the webui or are these also applicable to the api and is this a requestrr issue?

@Infray I continued here: #3664 (comment) to keep talk my code implementation separate from the topic as a whole.