Sonarr/Sonarr · error · WebException

Remote website tried to redirect without providing a locatio

Error message

Remote website tried to redirect without providing a location.

What it means

Raised inside DownloadFromWebUrl when the indexer responds with a 3xx redirect (301/302/303) but the Location header is absent or null. Auto-redirect is explicitly disabled (request.AllowAutoRedirect = false) so Sonarr can detect magnet-redirects, and a redirect without a target is treated as a protocol violation. Wrapped later as WebException -> ReleaseDownloadException.

Source

Thrown at src/NzbDrone.Core/Download/TorrentClientBase.cs:166

                    response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.SeeOther)
                {
                    var locationHeader = response.Headers.GetSingleValue("Location");

                    _logger.Trace("Torrent request is being redirected to: {0}", locationHeader);

                    if (locationHeader != null)
                    {
                        if (locationHeader.StartsWith("magnet:"))
                        {
                            return DownloadFromMagnetUrl(remoteEpisode, indexer, locationHeader);
                        }

                        request.Url += new HttpUri(locationHeader);

                        return await DownloadFromWebUrl(remoteEpisode, indexer, request.Url.ToString());
                    }

                    throw new WebException("Remote website tried to redirect without providing a location.");
                }

                torrentFile = response.ResponseData;

                _logger.Debug("Downloading torrent for episode '{0}' finished ({1} bytes from {2})", remoteEpisode.Release.Title, torrentFile.Length, torrentUrl);
            }
            catch (HttpException ex)
            {
                if (ex.Response.StatusCode is HttpStatusCode.NotFound or HttpStatusCode.Gone)
                {
                    _logger.Error(ex, "Downloading torrent file for episode '{0}' failed since it no longer exists ({1})", remoteEpisode.Release.Title, torrentUrl);
                    throw new ReleaseUnavailableException(remoteEpisode.Release, "Downloading torrent failed", ex);
                }

                if ((int)ex.Response.StatusCode == 429)
                {
                    _logger.Error("API Grab Limit reached for {0}", torrentUrl);
                }

View on GitHub (pinned to da2284d7ea)

Solutions

Open the .torrent URL in a browser/curl -i and verify a Location header is present on any redirect.
If a reverse proxy/CDN strips Location, fix the proxy config to preserve it.
Update or correct the indexer grab URL so it does not rely on a broken redirect.
Report the empty-redirect bug to the indexer if it reproduces on their endpoint.

Example fix

// before: any missing Location is a hard WebException
throw new WebException("Remote website tried to redirect without providing a location.");

// after: tolerate and retry the original URL or surface a clearer error
_logger.Warn("Redirect {0} from {1} had no Location; retrying original URL",
    response.StatusCode, torrentUrl);
throw new ReleaseDownloadException(remoteEpisode.Release,
    "Redirect from indexer missing Location header", ex);

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Inspect redirect responses for a Location before relying on them
var location = response.Headers.GetSingleValue("Location");
if ((int)response.StatusCode is >= 300 and < 400 && location.IsNullOrWhiteSpace())
{
    _logger.Warn("Redirect {0} from {1} lacks Location; ignoring redirect",
        response.StatusCode, torrentUrl);
    // fall through to treat response body as the torrent, or retry
}

Type guard

static bool HasUsableRedirect(HttpResponse r)
    => (int)r.StatusCode is >= 300 and < 400
       && r.Headers.GetSingleValue("Location").IsNullOrWhiteSpace() == false;

Try / catch

try { /* fetch torrent */ }
catch (WebException ex) when (ex.Message.Contains("redirect without providing a location"))
{
    _logger.Warn("Indexer returned a Location-less redirect for {0}", torrentUrl);
    // mark indexer as degraded, try alternate release
}

Prevention

Do not assume 3xx always carries Location - validate before following.
Ensure reverse proxies preserve the Location header.
Log redirect chains for indexer endpoints to catch stripping early.
Prefer direct .torrent URLs over redirect-dependent ones.

When it happens

Trigger: The .torrent URL returns MovedPermanently/Found/SeeOther and the response headers contain no 'Location' value (locationHeader == null at TorrentClientBase.cs:154-166). Happens with misconfigured indexers, reverse proxies that strip the Location header, or server bugs.

Common situations: A CDN or reverse proxy (nginx, Cloudflare) rewrites redirect responses and drops the Location header; the indexer endpoint was deprecated and issues an empty redirect; a captive portal redirects without a Location; the server returns a 302 body but the header name casing is unusual and GetSingleValue misses it.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of Sonarr/Sonarr@da2284d7ea (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3ecef89411d3c580. Report an issue: GitHub.