Real-Debrid

type: realdebrid

zurg started as a Real-Debrid server and still knows it best. It is the only backend with per-file selection and a separate __downloads__ list and CDN host selection and a dedicated .strm token.

Get the API token

Turn off automatic remote traffic first

On your account page make sure Use my Remote Traffic automatically when needed is unchecked. Left on it spends your remote traffic allowance on ordinary streaming without telling you.

Configure it

zurg: v1
providers:
  - type: realdebrid
    token: YOUR_RD_API_TOKEN
mount_path: "/zurg_mnt/zurg"

On a fresh container install let setup write that for you.

cd ~/zurg
docker compose run --rm zurg setup \
  --no-service --skip-downloads --mount-path /zurg_mnt/zurg \
  --provider realdebrid

On an install that already has a config.yml use the Dashboard at http://localhost:9999/config/ or edit the file. Then restart.

docker compose restart zurg

The one provider a container can seed from the environment

Real-Debrid is the only account the running daemon will create a config for by itself. TOKEN or RD_TOKEN in your compose environment: block seeds config.yml on the run that creates it. MOUNT_PATH seeds the mount.

    environment:
      - TOKEN=YOUR_RD_API_TOKEN
      - MOUNT_PATH=/zurg_mnt/zurg

Both are read only on that first run. Once the file exists it is the only source of truth. A stale variable can never quietly undo a mount path you set in the Dashboard. Startup warns when a MOUNT_PATH is being ignored for that reason.

Extra keys this backend uses

providers:
  - type: realdebrid
    token: PRIMARY_RD_TOKEN
    strm_link_token: RD_TOKEN_FOR_STRM
    download_tokens:
      - SECOND_RD_TOKEN
      - THIRD_RD_TOKEN

download_tokens are backup API tokens on the same service. They take over when the active token's bandwidth allowance is spent. They use this entry's catalog and their own torrent libraries are never imported.

strm_link_token resolves the reads arriving at /strm/ so a player opening a .strm file does not spend the token your live mount is streaming on. It falls back to token when unset.

Both are worth having here because Real-Debrid is one of the two backends that rotates credentials at all.

What Real-Debrid does that the others do not

Per-file selection. Adding a release can fetch part of it. So force_select_playable_files has something to act on and repair can narrow itself to just the broken files instead of re-adding the whole release.
A second list called downloads. __downloads__ at the mount root is the unrestricted-links list that only Real-Debrid has. Clearing it in bulk needs a web session cookie. So the Dashboard button is the only route. An install with no Real-Debrid account is told so rather than shown a false success.
CDN host selection. rd_cdn_host_preference picks between Real-Debrid's own choice and its Cloudflare twins and a specific country. See CDN and host selection.
Repair. A Real-Debrid link recorded against a file can stop working while the torrent still reports healthy. That is the whole reason zurg has a repair subsystem and it is the one backend that needs it.

Limits worth knowing

Two adds on one account need 20 seconds between them. Measured against the live API on 2026-08-17. Six clean release names added ten seconds apart were refused six times out of six. The same six twenty seconds apart were accepted six times out of six. zurg paces its own adds to that floor.

A refused add looks exactly like a blocked filename. Real-Debrid answers both with 451 infringing_file. The throttle also has memory. Once tripped it keeps refusing through minutes of quiet. One production repair sweep spent four hours adding nothing because three adds landed within thirteen seconds of each other at the start of it.

Some releases are refused on their name alone. Since 14 October 2026 that is eleven strings. WEB-DL, WEB.x264 and WEB.H264 count only in exactly that case, so web-dl, Web-Dl and the scene's WEB.h264 go through. WEBRip, BDRip, HDRip, DVDRip, HDTV.x264, HDTV.XviD, BluRay.x264 and p.BluRay.DTS count in any case. That last one needs a p right before it as in 1080p.BluRay.DTS. A 2002.BluRay.DTS release is fine. Only the exact separator counts. WEB.DL and WEB-x264 and BluRay-x264 all go through. A release named with one of them is refused on the first request every time whatever is behind it. A file inside a release whose own name matches is accepted but will not stream. zurg knows the patterns and refuses those grabs locally rather than spending an add slot and two sixty second retries on a certain failure.

A second copy of content the account already holds never downloads. Real-Debrid takes the add and then fetches nothing for it. The instance sits at 0 percent with 0 seeders forever.

The torrent list carries no file detail. Each torrent needs its own info call. That is why zurg keeps an on-disk info cache. A cold scan of a large library is the expensive case and the cache is what stops it repeating.

Three keys pace the API and the defaults suit an ordinary account.

api_rate_limit_per_minute: 250
torrents_rate_limit_per_minute: 75
fetch_torrents_page_size: 5000

Check it worked

curl -fsS -X POST http://localhost:9999/api/providers/realdebrid/test
ls /zurg_mnt/zurg/__realdebrid__/ | head

When it goes wrong

RD Permission denied in the log. The key was revoked or rotated. Get a new one from real-debrid.com/apitoken and update the entry in the Dashboard or in config.yml.

Every grab comes back 451. Either the release name is one Real-Debrid refuses outright or adds arrived too close together and the throttle is still holding. It clears with quiet and not with retries.

The mount lists nothing on a first start. A large library takes a while to load. /dav/movies/ answers 503 until it has finished.

Links pass verification and then serve nothing. Turn on use_range_verification so zurg checks with a one byte ranged GET rather than a HEAD. Some networks and some Real-Debrid servers answer a HEAD incorrectly.