Glowfic Downloader (TypeScript port)

Minimal TypeScript port that downloads Glowfic threads, sections, and boards and outputs JSON compatible with the Python version's JSON.

Install

For the CLI (global):

npm install -g glowfic-dl

Then run:

glowfic-dl <urls...> [options]

Or use npx (no global install required):

npx glowfic-dl <urls...> [options]

For programmatic/library use:

npm install glowfic-dl

Node 18+ required.

Programmatic usage (library)

import {
  fetchThread,
  fetchSection,
  fetchBoard,
  fetchStructure,
  Thread,
  Section,
  Board,
} from "glowfic-dl";

// Thread
const t: Thread = await fetchThread("https://glowfic.com/posts/5506");

// Section
const s: Section = await fetchSection("https://glowfic.com/board_sections/703");

// Board
const b: Board = await fetchBoard("https://glowfic.com/boards/215");

// Auto-detect (returns a discriminated union)
const any = await fetchStructure("https://glowfic.com/posts/5506");
if (any.kind === "thread") {
  console.log(any.thread.posts.length);
}

CLI

Usage:

glowfic-dl <urls...> [options]

Examples:

# Write a single thread to stdout
glowfic-dl https://glowfic.com/posts/5506 --stdout

# Dry-run multiple URLs into an output directory
glowfic-dl https://glowfic.com/posts/5506 https://glowfic.com/boards/215 --output-dir out --dry-run

# Save to a specific file (overwrite if it exists)
glowfic-dl https://glowfic.com/posts/5506 -o out/thread.json --force

# Fetch concurrently with 8 workers
glowfic-dl https://glowfic.com/board_sections/703 https://glowfic.com/boards/215 --output-dir out --concurrency 8

Options:

• -o, --output <path>: output file path (for a single URL). When passing multiple URLs, prefer --output-dir.
• --output-dir <dir>: directory to write outputs (default: 'out' when not using -o or --stdout).
• -f, --format json: output format (currently only JSON).
• --markdown: convert post content HTML to Markdown before saving (default: true).
• --stdout: write JSON to stdout instead of files (one JSON per URL; multiple URLs produce multiple lines).
• --dry-run: print what would be downloaded and where, without writing anything.
• --force: overwrite existing files if they already exist.
• --concurrency <n>: number of parallel downloads when passing multiple URLs (default: 4).

Notes:

• Uses the classic view for consistent HTML parsing.
• Only public content is supported in this MVP. Authentication and EPUB output are planned next.

Dev

npm run dev  # runs the CLI in dev mode

Roadmap

• Authenticated requests (private posts)
• EPUB generation in TypeScript (feature parity with Python)