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Downloads

Both Anikoto providers use the same preflight and downloader fallback order. Select Anikoto.cz with --provider anikoto2; self-identifying anikoto: and anikoto2: IDs route automatically. MegaPlay/KotoCDN HLS is passed through ani-cli-rs's tokenized loopback relay for the lifetime of yt-dlp/FFmpeg so wrapped transport-stream fragments can be consumed without transcoding.

Interactive download by anime name

ani-cli-rs --download "anime title"

Catalogs generally expose seasons as separate search results. Select the intended anime/season entry, then one or more episodes.

From version 0.6.0, ani-cli-rs preflights the complete selection before starting a transfer:

  1. resolve each episode sequentially;
  2. discard streams not marked downloadable;
  3. apply the requested quality independently to each episode;
  4. if every episode resolves, cache the selected links and start downloads in episode order;
  5. if an episode is unavailable, start no downloads and update no history.

Prompted terminal sessions return to the episode picker after availability failures. Explicit -e/--episode, -r/--range, continuation selections, and non-terminal runs fail instead of prompting.

Preflight means provider resolution, not an extra HTTP HEAD request. Some hosts reject probes that are not real media requests.

Scriptable download by show ID

ani-cli-rs download SHOW_ID 1 --title "Anime title" --output ./Downloads

This subcommand does not search by name and does not open selectors. Obtain the provider-prefixed ID with search --json.

Quality selection

ani-cli-rs -d -q best "title"
ani-cli-rs -d -q worst "title"
ani-cli-rs -d -q 720p "title"

If an explicit resolution is missing, quality selection falls back to the best available downloadable stream for that episode.

Download directory

Compatibility workflow:

$env:ANI_CLI_DOWNLOAD_DIR = "$HOME\Downloads\Anime"
ani-cli-rs -d "title"

ANI_CLI_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Downloads/Anime" ani-cli-rs -d "title"

Scriptable workflow uses --output.

Downloader order

Direct media

  1. aria2c with parallel connections and resume support;
  2. built-in Rust streaming downloader if aria2c is missing or fails.

Providers known to reject excessive parallel requests, including Mp4Upload, receive a lower connection limit.

HLS

  1. yt-dlp with aria2c as external downloader when both exist;
  2. yt-dlp without aria2c;
  3. FFmpeg;
  4. error if none succeeds.

Install the tools through the operating system and ensure their executable names are in PATH.

Anikoto subtitle tracks

Native MegaPlay sources can provide several external subtitle tracks. ani-cli-rs downloads every available track; there is intentionally no language picker before downloading. Select the preferred language from the media player's subtitle menu during playback.

When FFmpeg is available, subtitles are embedded into the final MP4 as selectable mov_text tracks. Each track receives:

  • its complete provider label as the track title;
  • an ISO 639 language tag when the provider label identifies a supported language;
  • the provider-designated default status, or the first track as a fallback default.

Language tags allow players such as VLC to display English, Polish, or another language instead of generic names such as Track 1. Unknown provider labels remain embedded with their original title and an undetermined-language tag.

If FFmpeg is unavailable or subtitle muxing fails, the completed video is preserved and downloaded subtitles remain beside it as sidecar files. The CLI reports this fallback. Installing FFmpeg and ensuring ffmpeg is available through PATH enables MP4 embedding.

Streams without external subtitle metadata are downloaded unchanged.

Why files use .part

Direct downloads are written as Title Episode N.mp4.part. After successful completion, ani-cli-rs atomically renames the file to Title Episode N.mp4.

This is intentional:

  • incomplete media never looks finished;
  • interrupted downloads can resume;
  • the final filename appears only after successful finalization.

There is currently no option to write directly to the final name. If .part remains, the transfer was interrupted or finalization failed. Rerun the same download to resume when the provider link and downloader permit it.

Do not confuse the media .part file with aria2's own temporary .aria2 control file.

aria2 configuration

ani-cli-rs explicitly loads an existing config from:

  • Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.aria2\aria2.conf
  • Linux/macOS: $HOME/.aria2/aria2.conf

The file is optional. Required command-line arguments for output naming, resume behavior, connection safety, and provider headers override conflicting config entries.

Example configuration:

console-log-level=warn
summary-interval=0
file-allocation=none

Do not force a global split/connection count that conflicts with hosts enforcing low parallel limits.

HTTP 403 from aria2

A few failed connection attempts do not necessarily mean the whole aria2 download failed; segmented downloads can retry and still complete. Check the final status and whether ani-cli-rs successfully renamed .part to .mp4.

Persistent 403 errors can mean:

  • the signed URL expired;
  • the provider binds the URL to another IP;
  • required referrer/origin headers were lost;
  • the provider rejects the configured connection count.

Rerun source resolution rather than reusing an old URL. If aria2 fails, ani-cli-rs attempts its documented fallback where possible.