Questions and answers

What is Rookparcel?

A lean BitTorrent client in the spirit of µTorrent 2.2.1: small native programs, low RAM and CPU use, and a list that stays responsive with tens of thousands of torrents.

There are four programs: rookparcel, the native Windows GUI; Rookparcel.app, the native macOS GUI; rookparcel-gtk, the GTK 4 GUI for Linux and BSD; and rookparcel-nox, a headless daemon with its own Web UI for every platform. The engine is our own Rust port of libtorrent-rasterbar 2.0.11: libtorrent's code is the reference, nothing of it is linked.

Rookparcel is made by DukeCorp1996. The source is on GitHub.

Is it ready to use?

Mostly. 1.0.1 was the first stable release, and settings and torrents carry over from one version to the next. But it has been used mostly by its author so far, and some dialogs and settings have had little use, so keep a copy of anything you care about elsewhere, and please report what breaks.

What changed in each release is on the News page. Each release's notes list its known limitations, and what is still unchecked is in PLAN.md.

Is it free? What does the license allow?

Rookparcel is free for noncommercial use under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0. In plain words:

• You may use it for personal use, study, hobby projects, and in charities, schools, research and public institutions, at no cost.
• You may share it and change it, on the same terms, keeping the license and its copyright notice with every copy.
• Commercial use needs separate permission from DukeCorp1996.

That makes Rookparcel source-available rather than open source in the OSI sense, which is also why Linux distributions will not package it; its own AppImages, Flatpak and tarballs are the way to get it. The code ported from libtorrent stays available under libtorrent's BSD-3-Clause license as well (third-party notices).

This is a summary; the license text is what counts.

Where are my settings? What are portable mode and profiles?

Portable mode: put an empty file named rookparcel.ini next to the program, and Rookparcel keeps its settings and torrents in that folder instead, as µTorrent did: next to rookparcel.exe on Windows, next to rookparcel-gtk or the .AppImage file on Linux and BSD, next to Rookparcel.app on a Mac (not in the Flatpak). rookparcel-nox follows the same rule, in a nox folder there. The first start downloads into the folder's Downloads, and paths inside the folder are kept relative to it, so the whole folder can live on a USB stick or move to another computer and the torrents carry on without a recheck. A portable folder written by this version needs this version or a later one.

Profiles: start a program with --profile work (or use File > Profiles) to run a separate Rookparcel with its own settings, torrents, listen port and window, next to the usual one: one behind a VPN, one for private trackers, one to try a new setting. Each profile lives in profiles/work inside the folders above. The .torrent and magnet: associations belong to one profile at a time, the one where you ticked them. rookparcel-nox --profile work works the same way, with its own Windows service or rookparcel-nox@work systemd unit; see docs/DAEMON.md.

Which languages does it speak?

English and 34 more: Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian Bokmål, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese. Arabic, Hebrew and Persian use right-to-left layouts.

Every language is built into every program; there are no language files to download. By default Rookparcel follows your system's language; choose another in Preferences > General > Language (“User interface”), in the GUIs and in the Web UI alike.

The translations are machine-made and nobody has reviewed them yet. If yours reads oddly, please open an issue with a correction. Translators can try a table without rebuilding: ROOKPARCEL_LANG=file.lng loads it.

How do the Web UI and remote mode work?

rookparcel-nox is the headless daemon. With --webui it serves its own Web UI: the µTorrent 2.2.1 main window in a browser, with push updates instead of polling, keyboard shortcuts, a dark mode and a layout for phones.

rookparcel-nox run --webui 8080 --webui-pass PASS

That listens on 127.0.0.1 only; open http://127.0.0.1:8080 and log in as admin. To use it from other machines, give an address (--webui 0.0.0.0:8443) and serve it over HTTPS with --webui-https, which makes a self-signed certificate on first use; compare the fingerprint your browser shows with the certificate SHA-256 line the daemon prints.

From the Windows GUI (1.1.7 and later): Preferences > Web UI serves the same page from rookparcel.exe itself, over that window's torrents, as µTorrent did. Tick Enable Web UI, set a password and OK; the page shows the URL (http://127.0.0.1:8080/ by default). "Allow connections from other computers" listens on every address (let the port through the firewall), and "Use HTTPS" makes a self-signed certificate. Labels and settings changed in the browser show up in the window, and the other way round. From 1.1.17 the page's RSS Downloader edits the window's own feeds and filters; the alternative speed limits stay in the window. The GTK GUI has no such page yet.

Remote mode: either desktop GUI can drive a rookparcel-nox on another machine, through the same port. Choose File > Connect to Remote..., or start the GUI with --remote, and give the host, port, login and whether to use HTTPS. A certificate your system does not trust is shown by its fingerprint and remembered once you accept it. The window then works on the remote daemon's torrents; the password is never stored.

The same port also serves a subset of qBittorrent's Web API, for tools written for qBittorrent (such as Sonarr, Radarr or Prowlarr). It is a subset, so not every call is there. Running the daemon as a service: docs/DAEMON.md; the design: docs/WEBUI.md.

How do I search for torrents?

From 1.1.17, through a Prowlarr or Jackett you run yourself. Rookparcel asks them over Torznab, the search API they share; it has no search plugins or site scrapers of its own, so nothing breaks when a site changes. Search works in the Windows GUI, the GTK GUI and the Web UI.

No Prowlarr or Jackett? From 1.1.59, Manage Sources has a "Get the Search Helper (Jackett)..." button: Rookparcel downloads Jackett's own release for you, keeps it in its own folder, runs it only while you search, and lets you tick the public sites it searches. The step-by-step guide with screenshots: Searching for torrents on Windows.

With your own Prowlarr or Jackett:

1. Get a Torznab URL and the API key. In Prowlarr, copy an indexer's Torznab feed URL, and the API key from Settings > General. In Jackett, use the all indexer's Torznab URL and Jackett's API key.
2. Open Manage Sources from the menu beside the search box (the arrow beside it on Windows; in the Web UI, Find > Manage Sources), add the source and press Test.
3. Pick a source, or All sources, type in the search box and press Enter. In the results, sort them and add the ones you want.

API keys are stored encrypted on Windows and never shown again. Proxy: a source on this computer or your local network is reached directly; a public one goes through the proxy, if you set one (Preferences > Connection).

Can Sonarr, Radarr or Prowlarr use Rookparcel?

Yes, as a qBittorrent download client: turn on the Web UI (above), then in Sonarr, Radarr or Prowlarr add a download client of type qBittorrent with Rookparcel's host, port, user name and password. This works with rookparcel-nox and with the Windows GUI's Web UI. Categories are Rookparcel's labels, and an add without a folder goes to its category's folder. Tags are accepted but not kept.

API key and subnet whitelist (1.1.17 and later): Web UI Preferences > Authentication has an optional API key, which the apps send as Authorization: Bearer, and an optional list of subnets whose requests need no login. Both are off by default and need the current password to change. The whitelist never applies to requests that come through a proxy.

Host names, as in Docker: to block DNS rebinding attacks, the Web UI answers only requests addressed to an IP address, localhost or a name you allowed. If the other program reaches Rookparcel by a host name (http://rookparcel:8080, http://nas.lan:8080), its connection test fails with "unexpected Host header". Open the Web UI by IP address, then add the name in Preferences > Web UI > Server domains (for example rookparcel;*.lan); from 1.1.17 the Windows GUI's own Preferences > Web UI has the same field. Or give the other program the IP address instead.

Remove Completed (1.1.7 and later) removes a download once Rookparcel has stopped it at its seeding goal (Preferences > Queueing > Seeding Goal, or the ratio and time the indexer asks for). A goal set to limit the upload rate instead keeps the torrent seeding, so nothing is removed.

What does Rookparcel send, and to whom?

The update check. From 1.0.1 on, Rookparcel checks for a newer release when it starts and every 12 hours after that. It downloads one small text file, https://balls0fsteel.github.io/Rookparcel/update.txt, which names the newest versions, and compares them with its own. The request carries only the User-Agent Rookparcel/<version>: no ID, no settings, nothing about your torrents. As with any web request, GitHub, which hosts this site, sees your IP address. If a newer version is out, Rookparcel asks once and keeps a note in its status bar; nothing is downloaded without your yes. A Rookparcel installed by the Windows setup can then fetch the new setup and the release's SHA256SUMS from GitHub, check the file, close and install over itself; a portable copy and the GTK GUI open the release page instead.

To turn the check off: Preferences > General > Privacy. From 1.1.17 rookparcel-nox checks too, prints a line and shows a link in its Web UI when a newer version is out; start it with --no-update-check, or turn it off in the Web UI's Preferences > General > Privacy.

Torrent search asks only the Prowlarr or Jackett sources you added. A public source is reached through your proxy, if you set one; a source on your own machine or network is reached directly.

BitTorrent itself. Like every BitTorrent client, Rookparcel tells the trackers, the DHT and the peers of your torrents your IP address, and they can see what you download and share. A proxy (Preferences > Connection) can carry that traffic instead.

This website sets no cookies, has no analytics or trackers, and loads nothing from other sites. GitHub Pages serves it, under GitHub's privacy statement.

Can I use it on private trackers?

Not yet. Private trackers accept only clients they have whitelisted, and Rookparcel's client ID, PA, is not whitelisted anywhere yet. Rookparcel always reports itself honestly as Rookparcel (it never borrows another client's ID), so using it there could get an account into trouble. Registering the ID with the client lists is still to do.

Why do Windows and macOS warn about it?

The programs are not code-signed. So Windows SmartScreen says “Windows protected your PC” the first time (More info > Run anyway), and macOS Gatekeeper refuses the ad-hoc signed app until you open it with a right-click. The download page has the steps. To check that a file is the one that was published, compare its checksum.

Is it related to µTorrent or qBittorrent?

No. Rookparcel is an independent project, not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of these:

• µTorrent and BitTorrent, Inc. Rookparcel recreates the look and behaviour of µTorrent 2.2.1, but uses none of its code, artwork, translations or trademarks.
• libtorrent-rasterbar. The engine is a port of libtorrent 2.0.11 and keeps its BSD-3-Clause license and copyright notices; the names of libtorrent and its authors are not used to promote Rookparcel.
• qBittorrent. Rookparcel contains no qBittorrent code, artwork or Web UI. Its compatible Web API follows qBittorrent's published documentation so that existing tools can talk to it.

Other product names are trademarks of their owners and are used only to identify those products.

How do I report a problem?

Open an issue on GitHub with your system, the file you downloaded and what happened. For a crash or a stuck torrent, the Logger tab or the output of rookparcel-nox run --verbose helps.

Looking for a manual? See Documentation; a proper user guide is planned for a later version.