dl

dl is a smart download dispatcher that routes URLs to the best tool. It can run yt-dlp, gallery-dl, aria2c, curl, wget, or its own minimal HTTP fetcher based on URL patterns, file sizes, and MIME types defined in a simple config file.

Features

• Auto-detects the best download backend via pattern based rules.
• Loads configuration from TOML/JSON, auto-generating a default template on first run.
• Prints verbose logging, supports dry-runs, forced tools, per-profile rule sets, and additional custom arguments.
• Ships as a standard Python package (PEP 621) published as open-dl-py, so pip install open-dl-py or pipx install open-dl-py yields a dl console script.
• Emits actionable install hints for missing helper tools, covering pip/pipx, Homebrew, apt/.deb, and dnf/.rpm flows.

Installation

The project follows a standard src/ layout and exposes a dl console script. Common installation paths:

pip

python3 -m pip install open-dl-py

pipx

pipx install open-dl-py

From source checkout

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install -e .

Helper Tool Installation Matrix

dl depends on external CLIs. If one is missing, the dispatcher prints install instructions for every detected package ecosystem (pip/pipx, Homebrew, apt/.deb, dnf/.rpm). The table below mirrors the built-in hints.

Tool	pip	pipx	Homebrew	Debian/Ubuntu (apt)	Fedora/RHEL (dnf)
yt-dlp	python3 -m pip install yt-dlp	pipx install yt-dlp	brew install yt-dlp	sudo apt install yt-dlp	sudo dnf install yt-dlp
gallery-dl	python3 -m pip install gallery-dl	pipx install gallery-dl	brew install gallery-dl	(use pip/pipx)	(use pip/pipx)
aria2c	(system package)	(system package)	brew install aria2	sudo apt install aria2	sudo dnf install aria2
curl	(bundled with OS)	(bundled with OS)	brew install curl	sudo apt install curl	sudo dnf install curl
wget	(system package)	(system package)	brew install wget	sudo apt install wget	sudo dnf install wget

When no manager is detected locally, the hints fallback to the full matrix to make it easy to copy/paste commands for any environment. For downloaded package files the same commands work (sudo apt install ./pkg.deb for .deb, sudo dnf install ./pkg.rpm for .rpm).

Usage

The CLI exposes a number of switches:

# Download a single URL
dl https://example.com/big.iso

# Force a tool and inspect what would run
dl -n -T curl https://example.com/file

# Use the audio profile with verbose logging
dl -P audio -vv https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ

# Read URLs from stdin
cat urls.txt | dl --probe-timeout 2

# Inspect what dl would do for a URL without running it
dl --explain https://example.com/file.iso

# Browse configured tools, profiles, and rules
dl --list-tools
dl --list-profiles
dl --list-rules
dl --list-installers

# Emit JSON logs with timestamps and also tee them to a file
dl --log-format json --log-timestamps --log-file ~/dl.log https://example.com/file

# Use the vibrant theme with forced colors (even when piped)
dl --log-theme vibrant --log-color always https://example.com/file

When dl falls back to plain curl (no rule args configured), it now injects -L -O automatically so responses are saved to files rather than dumped to your terminal.

Configuration

dl keeps all routing logic in a single TOML or JSON config file. On first run the dispatcher auto-generates ~/.config/dl/config.toml (or config.json when TOML support is missing). Override the location with --config /path/to/config or by setting DL_CONFIG.

The top-level keys are:

• default_tool: fallback command when no rule matches (curl, wget, python-http, etc).
• default_args: extra arguments appended when the default tool kicks in.
• rules: an array of rule objects. Each rule understands:
  • name: label shown in --explain output.
  • match: regular expression applied to the URL.
  • tool: command name to run when the rule matches.
  • args: list of arguments passed to the tool before user supplied -A/--tool-arg.
  • profiles: optional list of profile names; empty list means “all profiles”.
  • when_minsize / when_maxsize: optional size guards (accepts 50M, 1G, etc).
  • when_mime: optional MIME glob (video/*, application/pdf, …).

A minimal TOML example:

default_tool = "curl"
default_args = [ "-L", "-O" ]

[[rules]]
name = "ytdlp_video"
match = "youtube\\.com|youtu\\.be"
tool = "yt-dlp"
args = [ "-f", "bv*+ba/b" ]
profiles = [ "default", "video" ]

[[rules]]
name = "audio_profile"
match = "youtube\\.com|youtu\\.be"
tool = "yt-dlp"
args = [ "-x", "--audio-format", "mp3" ]
profiles = [ "audio" ]

Use dl --show-config to print the effective JSON form (after merging defaults), and dl --list-rules / --list-tools / --list-profiles to sanity-check your edits.

Introspection & Planning

• dl --show-config-path prints the resolved config path (auto-generated if needed).
• dl --show-config still dumps the full effective configuration as JSON.
• dl --list-tools, --list-profiles, and --list-rules provide quick summaries of how URLs map to tools.
• dl --list-installers reports which helper package managers were detected for install hints.
• dl --explain URL [...] now implies --dry-run and prints the exact rule, tool, arguments, and probe information for each URL.

Logging

You can tune how status output is rendered without editing the code:

• --log-format {plain,json} switches between human-friendly and structured logs.
• --log-timestamps/--no-log-timestamps toggles ISO 8601 timestamps in log lines.
• --log-file PATH mirrors stderr logging to the given file within the same format.
• --log-theme {default,vibrant} selects the ANSI palette used when coloring plain logs.
• --log-color {auto,always,never} controls whether color is emitted (auto only colors when stderr is a TTY).

Builtin Downloader Controls

When falling back to the builtin python-http downloader you can now fine-tune its behavior:

• --download-timeout SECONDS (default 30) feeds the urllib timeout.
• --download-retries N retries failed builtin downloads N times (defaults to 2, making 3 attempts total).
• --chunk-size BYTES changes the streaming chunk size (default 65536).
• --probe-user-agent STRING customizes the HEAD probe User-Agent, and --no-install-hints or DL_NO_INSTALL_HINTS=1 silences missing tool guidance outright.

Environment Variables

dl honors a few convenience variables so you can set defaults in your shell profile:

• DL_PROFILE sets the default -P/--profile.
• DL_TOOL sets the default forced tool (-T/--tool) without typing the flag.
• DL_TOOL_ARGS="--foo --bar=baz" injects extra tool args via shell-style parsing (applied before repeated -A flags).
• DL_NO_INSTALL_HINTS=1 disables all helper tool hints even when a command is missing.
• DL_LOG_FORMAT=plain|json, DL_LOG_TIMESTAMPS=1, DL_LOG_THEME=default|vibrant, DL_LOG_COLOR=auto|always|never, and DL_LOG_FILE=/path/to/file.log provide defaults for the corresponding CLI switches.

Development

python -m pip install -U pip build
python -m build

Run the binary from the repository root without installing:

python main.py --help