# rakshasa/rtorrent

rTorrent BitTorrent client

Repository: https://github.com/rakshasa/rtorrent
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/rtorrent
Homepage: https://github.com/rakshasa/rtorrent/wiki
Language: C++
License: GPL-2.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: rtorrent, torrent, torrent-client, bittorrent, bittorrent-client
Last push: 2026-08-26T09:21:14+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 99/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 99, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5448, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 7, "gap_med": 16.5, "n_releases_24m": 29}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4849, forks 480 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:01.394524+00:00)

## What it is
rTorrent is a ncurses-based BitTorrent client written in C++ for high-performance torrent downloading and seeding. It can run interactively in a terminal (ideal with tmux/screen) or as a daemon controlled via XMLRPC.

## Use cases
- download torrents from the command line
- run a headless torrent daemon on a server controlled via XMLRPC
- seed torrents inside tmux or screen sessions
- automate torrent downloads with watch directories
- manage torrents remotely over RPC
- tune torrent performance on a low-resource box

## When to choose
- you want a lightweight, high-performance terminal torrent client
- you need a headless torrent daemon on a Linux server
- you prefer keyboard-driven ncurses interfaces over GUI clients
- you want scriptable torrent management via XMLRPC

## When to avoid
- you want a graphical point-and-click torrent client
- you need a simple one-click downloader on the desktop
- you are unwilling to build against a version-matched libtorrent dependency

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: cli, gui
- domain: developer-tools, networking
- platform: cross-platform, cli
- tags: bittorrent, torrent-client, ncurses, file-sharing, xmlrpc, daemon, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- rakshasa/rtorrent (main) score 99

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:01.394524+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:18:25.724116+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/rakshasa/rtorrent (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:01.394524+00:00, sha d60e47c59fc8)
  - homepage: https://github.com/rakshasa/rtorrent/wiki (fetched 2026-08-29T09:01:02.503659+00:00, sha 37df6ca42e60)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.