Apollo: The Full Media Server Build
The full automated media server build — request, download, organize, watch, with zero manual file handling. Available to paid Substack subscribers.
Apollo: The Full Media Server Build
You've got the Starter Kit working. Apollo is what comes next — once you're using the basic build every day and want the system to do the busywork for you.
What's in Apollo
The Starter Kit gets you a working media server in an afternoon. Apollo adds the automation layer that turns it into something you barely have to think about:
- Request portal — search for a movie or show from any device, hit one button, it appears in your library when it's ready
- Automatic downloading — finds the best version of what you asked for, drops it in the right folder
- Subtitle automation — pulls and syncs subtitles in your preferred language
- Quality profiles — keeps file sizes sensible without sacrificing playback quality
- Private network tunneling — your server stays off the open internet
- Multi-drive pooling — add storage as you need it, no manual rebalancing
What It Adds Technically
- Docker as the one new foundation (the rest is containers on top)
- *The arr stack — Sonarr (TV), Radarr (movies), Lidarr (music), Readarr (books), Bazarr (subtitles)
- Jellyseerr as the request portal — gives your household a Netflix-style search box
- Gluetun — VPN container so your server's traffic stays private
- mergerfs + SnapRAID — pool multiple drives into one logical volume with parity protection
- Automated backups of your library metadata
What You Don't Get (Yet)
This page is the stub — the full Apollo guide with every command, every wall I hit building it on real hardware, and exactly what got me past each one, lives on Substack. That's where the troubleshooting depth lives, and where you can ask me directly when you're stuck.
Get the Full Guide
The complete Apollo walkthrough is available to paid Resilient Tomorrow subscribers:
If you're not a subscriber yet, this is a good time to start — paid subscribers get the full Apollo guide, weekly strategies on food, energy, media, and the systems that actually matter, plus access to ask questions directly.