Downly

Downly is a self-hosted, web-based download manager built with Next.js. It leverages the power of aria2c to provide a user-friendly interface for managing downloads, complete with real-time progress updates, pausing, and resuming capabilities.

Features

• Web-based UI: Manage your downloads from any browser on your network.
• Resumable Downloads: Pause and resume downloads at any time, thanks to aria2c's --continue feature.
• Real-time Updates: Track download progress, speed, and ETA in real-time without refreshing the page, powered by Server-Sent Events (SSE).
• Persistent Queue: Your download list is saved in a SQLite database, so you won't lose track of your files.
• Auto-Resume on Startup: Incomplete downloads are automatically resumed when the application starts.
• File Management: Choose to delete files from the disk when removing them from the download list.
• Modern Tech Stack: Built with Next.js, React, and TypeScript for a fast and reliable experience.

Tech Stack

• Framework: Next.js (App Router)
• Language: TypeScript
• Styling: Tailwind CSS with shadcn/ui
• Database: SQLite
• Download Engine: aria2c (via Node.js child_process)
• Real-time Communication: Server-Sent Events (SSE)

Getting Started

Follow these instructions to get a local copy up and running.

Prerequisites

• Node.js: Version 20 or later is recommended.
• aria2c: You must have aria2c installed and accessible in your system's PATH.

To check if you have aria2c installed, run:

aria2c --version

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/bipinmdr07/downly.git
   cd downly

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   # or
   yarn install
   # or
   pnpm install

3. Set up environment variables: Create a .env file by copying the example file:

   cp .env.example .env

   Open the .env file and configure the variables.

   # This must be set to 'nodejs' for the backend logic to run.
   NEXT_RUNTIME=nodejs
   
   # Set the absolute path where your files will be downloaded.
   # Example for Linux/macOS: DOWNLOAD_LOCATION=/home/youruser/Downloads
   # Example for Windows: DOWNLOAD_LOCATION=C:\Users\youruser\Downloads
   DOWNLOAD_LOCATION=/path/to/your/downloads

4. Run the application:

   npm run dev

5. Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser to start using Downly.

Setting up downly as a systemctl service.

Install downly

npm i -g downly

Get downly installed location

which downly

Create a systemctl service

touch /etc/systemd/system/downly.service

Open copy the content below replace <Full path to download location>, <Full path to db location> and <which downly> and save

[Unit]
Description="A simple download manager built with NextJS using feature of aria2c."
Documentation=https://www.npmjs.com/package/downly
After=network.target
Wants=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=$USER
Group=$USER
ExecStart=<which downly> start -l <Full path to download location> -d <Full path to db location>
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Alias=downly.service

enable the service

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable downly.service

How It Works

• The frontend, built with React and Next.js, provides the user interface for adding and managing downloads.
• When a new download is added, a request is sent to a Next.js API route.
• The API route creates an entry in a local SQLite database and spawns a aria2c child process to handle the file download.
• The server continuously monitors the stdout output from the aria2c process, parsing it to extract progress percentage, download speed, and ETA.
• This progress information is broadcasted from the server to all connected clients in real-time using Server-Sent Events (SSE).
• Pausing a download sends a SIGINT signal to the aria2c process. Resuming starts a new aria2c process with the --continue flag, allowing it to pick up where it left off.
• The application's instrumentation.ts file ensures that any non-completed downloads from previous sessions are automatically resumed upon server startup.