Sonarr having issues properly sending releases to download client (NZBget)

Sonarr version: 4.0.16.2944-ls303 by linuxserver.io
Mono version (if Sonarr is not running on Windows): linuxserver docker package versions
OS: Docker on Debian 13
Debug logs: Hastebin
Description of issue:

I’m not sure exactly when this started as i only just recently noticed the issue but Sonarr has started to send numerous copies of the same episode to the download client. In my case this is NZBget. Not only is it sending multiple instances of the episode to the download client, they are being sent without the categorization set in Sonarr. The issue occurs for both automatic and manual searches. Trace logs show where 4 copies of the same episode with only one of them categorized correctly as “sonarr”.

it’s not a given that Sonarr will apply the category at all. Sometimes when grabbing releases, none will be categorized resulting in Sonarr ignoring them and not importing anything once the download is complete.

In the logged example, the show is using the “any” quality profile but I’ve swapped this around with no change in behavior. Using a profile with a specific quality that does not allow upgrades results in the same thing. It seems like Sonarr is just sending any/all matching releases over to NZBget.

Initially i thought the issue was Prowlarr but I configured the indexer directly in Sonarr with no change in behavior.

I’m running two instances of Radarr as well using the same Prowlarr instance, same indexer, and same downloader where the issue does not occur. I’ve been running Sonarr for years as almost a ‘set and forget’ with no issues at all until I noticed this duplicate issue.

I’ve done all i can think in terms of troubleshooting with no success. Pulling my hair out over this one so really appreciate any help.

Your logs only show one NZB sent to NZBget.

2026-02-16 07:01:22.8|Info|Nzbget|Adding report [Impractical.Jokers.S12E11.720p.WEB.H.264-JFF] to the queue.
2026-02-16 07:01:22.8|Trace|HttpClient|Req: [POST] http://pve-ct-nzbget.home.local:6789/jsonrpc: append("Impractical.Jokers.S12E11.720p.WEB.H.264-JFF.nzb", [blob 113840 bytes], "sonarr", 0, false, false, "", 0, "all", [...])
2026-02-16 07:01:22.8|Trace|ConfigService|Using default config value for 'proxyenabled' defaultValue:'False'
2026-02-16 07:01:25.1|Trace|HttpClient|Res: HTTP/1.1 [POST] http://pve-ct-nzbget.home.local:6789/jsonrpc: 200.OK (58 bytes) (2257 ms)
2026-02-16 07:01:25.1|Trace|HttpClient|Response content (58 bytes): {
"version" : "1.1",
"id" : "42160111",
"result" : 37668
}
2026-02-16 07:01:25.1|Info|DownloadService|Report sent to nzbget. Indexer NZBgeek (Prowlarr). Impractical.Jokers.S12E11.720p.WEB.H.264-JFF

Which is correctly sending the category by the looks of it.

I checked for other requests and there are only a few requests to NZBget which look to be related to fetching the queue to track downloads (queue, listgroups and history).

Are you sure these are actually being added by Sonarr and not some other tool?