Install Tautulli on TrueNAS Scale

Tautulli is a monitoring and analytics dashboard for Plex — it tracks who is streaming, what they are watching, when they started, and how much bandwidth they are using, in real time.

What it is

Tautulli connects to your Plex server via its API and logs every stream — who is watching, what device they are using, the quality setting, bandwidth consumption, and playback progress. It is the Plex equivalent of a network monitoring tool: you do not need it to stream media, but once you have it, you wonder how you managed without.

It also handles notifications: email or webhook alerts when new content is added, when a user starts a stream, when a stream buffers, or when someone shares your server with an unauthorized user.

The hard part: connecting to Plex and setting up notifications

The install is trivial. The hard part is configuring Tautulli's connection to Plex and setting up useful notifications that do not spam you.

The mistake everyone makes: entering http://localhost:32400 as the Plex URL. On TrueNAS Scale with Docker networking, localhost inside the Tautulli container points to Tautulli itself. Use the NAS IP.

Notification rules

How to install it

Docker Compose (TrueNAS Scale custom app)

services:
  tautulli:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/tautulli:latest
    container_name: tautulli
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Europe/London
    ports:
      - 8181:8181
    volumes:
      - /mnt/apps/tautulli/config:/config

After deploy:

# Open the web UI at http://<nas-ip>:8181
# Initial setup wizard guides you through Plex connection

Initial configuration

1. Open Tautulli at http://<nas-ip>:8181
2. Setup wizard runs on first launch:
3. Plex Media Server IP: http://<nas-ip>:32400
4. Plex Media Server Port: 32400
5. Plex Token: paste from Plex settings or Preferences.xml
6. Test Connection → should return "Successfully connected to Plex"
7. Finish wizard → Tautulli starts logging streams immediately

Configuration that matters

Plex connection

Notification agents

Logging

Dashboard

What I'd tell anyone building this

• Tautulli does not replace Plex's built-in analytics. Plex has basic "Now Playing" and "History" pages. Tautulli adds per-user analytics, notification rules, and historical trends that Plex does not provide.

• The Plex token expires if you change your password. If Tautulli stops connecting after a password change, grab a new token from Plex → Settings → General → Authorized Devices.

• Notifications are optional but useful. The most valuable notification is "stream buffers" — it tells you when transcoding is struggling, which means you need to adjust quality settings or enable hardware transcoding.

• Tautulli does not control Plex. It is read-only — it monitors streams but cannot pause, stop, or transcode. For control, use the Plex web UI or mobile app.

• The database grows over time. Tautulli's SQLite database stores every stream event. After a year, it can reach several hundred MB. Configure log retention in Settings → General → Database to keep it manageable.

Get it

Links:

• Tautulli official site
• Tautulli wiki
• LinuxServer.io Tautulli image

Quick install (Docker Compose):

services:
  tautulli:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/tautulli:latest
    container_name: tautulli
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Europe/London
    ports:
      - 8181:8181
    volumes:
      - /mnt/apps/tautulli/config:/config

Log in at http://<nas-ip>:8181, run the setup wizard, and connect to your Plex server.