Command line and automation

GDM can be driven without its window in three ways:

• The app's own command line, the same switches as IDM's: hand a download to the running app from a script, a batch file or another program.
• misterdownloadmanager-cli, a separate command-line tool: download files, videos and torrents in a terminal, with progress, without the app.
• The automation API: other programs list the running app's downloads (as JSON) and pause, start, remove or delete them, over a local, token-protected channel. AI assistants use it through GDM's MCP server: see AI assistants.

To run the whole app without a window, on a home server or a NAS, see Run GDM on a server (misterdownloadmanager --headless); to control it from a phone, Control GDM from your phone.

The examples use Windows' paths; on macOS and Linux the programs have the same names without .exe.

The app's command line

misterdownloadmanager.exe /d URL [/p folder] [/f name] [/a] [/n] [/s]

Switches can start with / or -, in any case. If GDM is running, the command goes to it; if not, GDM starts and carries it out. For example:

misterdownloadmanager.exe /d https://example.com/files/report.pdf /p D:\Reports /n
misterdownloadmanager.exe /d https://example.com/big.iso /a
misterdownloadmanager.exe /s

misterdownloadmanager-cli

It comes with every download of GDM, next to the app (the installer puts it in GDM's folder). It works on its own: the app needn't run, except for status and api.

misterdownloadmanager-cli help <command> shows every option. A command that fails (the app isn't running, it answers with an error, a download breaks) exits with code 1. For example:

misterdownloadmanager-cli get https://example.com/big.iso -o D:\Downloads -c 16 --checksum sha256:9f86d0…
misterdownloadmanager-cli video-get "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqz-KE-bpKQ" -f "b[height=720]"
misterdownloadmanager-cli torrent-get "magnet:?xt=urn:btih:…" --files 0

JSON for scripts and programs

With --json (before or after the command), every command prints JSON instead of text, one object per line, for scripts and AI agents to read:

Sizes are in bytes (null while unknown), speeds in bytes per second. A failure prints {"error": "…"} and exits with code 1. For example:

misterdownloadmanager-cli --json get https://example.com/big.iso -o D:\Downloads
{"event":"progress","downloaded":4194304,"size":1073741824,"speed":52428800,"connections":8,"segments":8}
…
{"event":"done","path":"D:\\Downloads\\big.iso","size":1073741824,"seconds":20.4}

The automation API

Other programs can ask the running app what it is downloading, and pause, start, remove or delete downloads. The API is off by default; turn it on with misterdownloadmanager-cli api on (and off with api off).

How a program talks to GDM

1. While it runs, GDM listens on a port of 127.0.0.1 (this computer only) and writes the port and a secret token to ipc.json in its data folder: - Windows: %APPDATA%\misterdownloadmanager\ipc.json - macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/misterdownloadmanager/ipc.json - Linux: ~/.local/share/misterdownloadmanager/ipc.json - A portable copy: data\ipc.json next to the program.

The token changes at every start; only programs that can read your data folder (yours) can use it. 2. Connect to that port and send one line of JSON: the token and the command's fields, e.g. {"token": "<token>", "query": "list"}. 3. GDM answers with one line: ok for a command, or a JSON object for a question.

What it understands

An unknown question or action is answered {"error": "…"}, as is a question while the API is off (then with "code": "api-off", for programs to check: the error text may change). A wrong token is answered denied.

Every request and answer is described, field by field, in a JSON Schema: automation-api.schema.json (also at https://misterdownloadmanager.com/automation-api.schema.json). It is made from the code the app answers with, so it stays exact; programs can check what they send and read against it, or generate their types from it.

Examples

PowerShell (Windows):

$ep = Get-Content "$env:APPDATA\misterdownloadmanager\ipc.json" | ConvertFrom-Json
$client = New-Object Net.Sockets.TcpClient("127.0.0.1", $ep.port)
$stream = $client.GetStream()
$writer = New-Object IO.StreamWriter($stream); $reader = New-Object IO.StreamReader($stream)
$writer.WriteLine((@{ token = $ep.token; query = "list" } | ConvertTo-Json -Compress))
$writer.Flush()
$reader.ReadLine() | ConvertFrom-Json | Select-Object -ExpandProperty downloads | Format-Table file, status, downloaded, size
$client.Close()

Python:

import json, os, socket

ipc = os.path.join(os.environ["APPDATA"], "misterdownloadmanager", "ipc.json")  # see above elsewhere
ep = json.load(open(ipc))
with socket.create_connection(("127.0.0.1", ep["port"])) as s:
    s.sendall((json.dumps({"token": ep["token"], "query": "list"}) + "\n").encode())
    answer = json.loads(s.makefile().readline())
for d in answer["downloads"]:
    print(d["file"], d["status"], d["downloaded"], d["size"])

To add a download instead, send {"token": "…", "url": "https://example.com/a.zip", "silent": true}.