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hydra

hydra• Pinned

hydra: An open-source network file retriever and download accelerator for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

What problem it solves

Downloads can slow down or stall when connections degrade or mirrors have different speeds. Hydra addresses this by partitioning work across connections and mirror sources, then continuously rebalancing it while providing CLI, desktop, and browser-based interfaces.

Key features

  • Adaptive multi-source engine — Downloads are split across connections and mirrors, with work rebalanced between peers. Stall detection helps identify degraded connections early.

    Source: README

  • Command-line download management — The `hydra` and `hya` commands support `wget` and `curl` conventions and provide an interactive TUI for managing queued downloads.

    Source: README

  • Cross-platform desktop app — The desktop application provides categorized download management and detailed progress on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It also supports scheduling, retries, localized interfaces, and portable profiles.

    Source: README

  • Browser download integration — Extensions for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari can hand downloads to the desktop application. The integration can capture downloads, expose context-menu actions, and intercept media streams.

    Source: README

  • Protocol, integrity, and plugin support — The engine supports several network protocols and verifies downloads with checksum and bitrot protection. Plugins can add download sources and protocol engines through a shared API used by both interfaces.

    Source: README

Quick start

Copied verbatim from the project's README.

brew install ja7ad/tap/hydra
hydra https://example.com/archive.tar.gz

Who it may suit

This project may suit users who want resilient multi-source downloads from a terminal, a desktop application, or a browser. Developers may also find its plugin API and plugin SDK useful when extending sources and protocol engines.

Topics to discuss

  • How should plugins for additional sources and protocol engines be designed?

  • Which integrity and repair workflows are most useful for long-running downloads?

  • How can browser capture and portable profiles be improved across supported platforms?

Written by ReadmeX AI from the project's README, source and public GitHub data; it may contain mistakes.

Read the original README https://github.com/ja7ad/hydra#readme

ReadmeX opened this community for a trending project; it is not run by the project. Maintainers can claim it from the community page.

github.comhttps://github.com/ja7ad/hydra

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