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Increase Throughput

The default profile (batch size 2, hourly cap 4, cooldown 14 days) clears roughly 4 to 8 searches per day per instance. A backlog of several hundred items takes weeks at those defaults.

Raising throughput is safe when you do it one knob at a time and watch the Logs page. Indexers hand out rate limits and bans fast when hit with bursts; the defaults exist so you do not earn one.

Order of adjustments​

Tune in this order. After each change, watch the Logs page for a full day before moving to the next step.

  1. Raise Batch Size from 2 to 3 or 4. More items per cycle clears the backlog faster without any change to frequency.
  2. Lower Sleep (minutes) from 30 to 20 or 15. Cycles run more often. Watch for indexer errors.
  3. Raise Hourly Cap from 4 to 6 or 8. Only move this if indexers remain healthy after the first two changes.
  4. Enable Cutoff search once the missing backlog is under control. Cutoff defaults (batch 1, cap 1, cooldown 21 days) are intentionally more cautious because quality upgrades matter less than acquiring missing content. Quality profile tuning lives in TRaSH-Guides if you need help deciding what to mark cutoff-unmet.
  5. Enable Upgrade search last, only after both missing and cutoff backlogs are stable. Upgrade defaults (batch 1 hard- capped at 5, cap 1 hard-capped at 5, cooldown 90 days with a 7-day floor) cannot be loosened past the engine-enforced hard caps.

Common mistakes​

  • Raising two knobs at once. When indexer errors show up, you cannot tell which knob caused them.
  • Setting Hourly Cap = 0 without knowing your indexer's own per-hour limit. If your indexer caps you at 50 searches per day, disabling Houndarr's cap buys you nothing.
  • Expecting a big backlog to clear in days. 500 cutoff-unmet movies at cap 1 is roughly 24 searches per day. Even at cap 4, that is a week or more. Plan accordingly.

When to stop tuning​

Stop at the first profile where:

  • Logs show zero errors across a 7-day window.
  • Your *arr instance's Activity or History shows consistent grabs for items you expect to be available.
  • Your indexers stay healthy (no HTTP 429s, no bans, no account suspensions).

Beyond that, more aggressive tuning risks a ban faster than it clears the backlog.