Install Qar

One command covers every supported distribution. It works out which one you are on, adds the repositories Jellyfin and Qar need, installs both, and opens the ports a TV on your network uses.

$ curl -fsSL https://get.qar.lol | sudo bash

Before you paste that

It is a shell script run as root, and you should not take our word for what it does. Read it first, or follow the package-manager steps below, which do the same thing a line at a time.

Step by step

Debian / Ubuntu

Debian 12+, Ubuntu 22.04+

Add the Jellyfin repository, which Qar depends on

curl -fsSL https://repo.jellyfin.org/jellyfin_team.gpg.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/jellyfin.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/jellyfin.gpg] https://repo.jellyfin.org/debian $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jellyfin.list

Add the Qar repository

curl -fsSL https://repo.qar.lol/KEY.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/qar.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/qar.gpg] https://repo.qar.lol/deb stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/qar.list

Install

sudo apt update && sudo apt install qar

Fedora

Fedora 41+

Add RPM Fusion, which is where Jellyfin and a full FFmpeg come from

sudo dnf install -y https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm

Add the Qar repository

sudo rpm --import https://repo.qar.lol/KEY.gpg
sudo curl -fsSL -o /etc/yum.repos.d/qar.repo https://repo.qar.lol/qar.repo

Install Qar and Jellyfin

sudo dnf install qar
sudo dnf install jellyfin jellyfin-firewalld
sudo systemctl enable --now jellyfin

Let Jellyfin read the library, and open the ports a TV needs

sudo usermod -aG qar jellyfin && sudo systemctl restart jellyfin
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=jellyfin
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=3000/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

RHEL / Rocky / AlmaLinux

Enterprise Linux 9

EL9 ships Node.js 16, which is too old — enable 20

sudo dnf module enable nodejs:20 -y

Add EPEL, CRB and RPM Fusion

sudo dnf install -y epel-release
sudo /usr/bin/crb enable
sudo dnf install -y https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/el/rpmfusion-free-release-9.noarch.rpm

Add the Qar repository and install

sudo rpm --import https://repo.qar.lol/KEY.gpg
sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/qar.repo <<'EOF'
[qar]
name=Qar - Self-hosted media management
baseurl=https://repo.qar.lol/rpm
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
repo_gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://repo.qar.lol/KEY.gpg
EOF
sudo dnf install qar jellyfin

Then what

Open http://localhost:3000/setup and the wizard takes it from there — disks, VPN, and how much you want Qar doing on its own. Nothing downloads until you have chosen whether to use a VPN.

For artwork and the Discover catalogue, the wizard offers Sail, which means no API keys to go and find. If you would rather use your own, that path is here.