Firelink

A fast, focused desktop download manager for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Features · Install · Browser Extension · Development · Release Notes

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Why Firelink

Firelink is a cross-platform desktop download manager for direct transfers, browser capture, media extraction, scheduling, and clear file placement.

It combines a Rust/Tauri backend with a React and TypeScript interface. Bundled aria2, yt-dlp, FFmpeg, Deno, and SQLite support the download and media workflows.

The current desktop release is 1.1.1, paired with Firelink Companion 2.0.5.

This release adds YouTube playlist downloads, live connection controls, clipboard capture, and clearer byte-level progress. It also improves slow-transfer recovery, authenticated browser captures, and startup consent handling.

Features

• Segmented downloads with aria2, retries, speed limits, and connection controls.
• Media downloads with yt-dlp, FFmpeg, Deno, live progress, speed, and ETA.
• Playlist downloads for YouTube playlists with queueing and efficient large-list rendering.
• Add window for metadata, duplicates, location choices, captured links, clipboard-prefilled URLs, and live connection limits.
• Persistent queues with pause, resume, retry, redownload, sorting, multi-select, and bulk actions.
• Scheduling with start/stop windows, speed rules, and post-queue actions.
• File organization with categories, default folders, a collapsible Folders section, per-download overrides, and reveal/trash actions.
• Browser handoff through local pairing, signed requests, Add window review, replay protection, and server checks.
• Desktop integration with tray controls, notifications, sounds, sleep prevention, and secure credential storage.
• Diagnostics with engine health checks, structured logs, and package verification.

Installation

Download desktop builds from GitHub Releases.

Platform	Package	Notes
macOS Apple silicon	.dmg	Not notarized. If macOS blocks the first launch, approve Firelink in System Settings -> Privacy & Security.
Windows x64	NSIS .exe installer	Unsigned. Windows SmartScreen may warn until code signing is added.
Windows x64 portable	.zip archive	Extract to a writable folder and launch firelink.exe. See the expandable notes below.
Linux x64	.deb, .rpm, or .AppImage	Use .deb for Debian-family systems, .rpm for Fedora/RPM-family systems, or AppImage as the self-contained package. AppImage may need executable permission.

Bundles include the required engines. Users do not need aria2, yt-dlp, FFmpeg, Deno, Python, Homebrew, or another package manager.

The native packages use the distribution's normal desktop runtime dependencies. AppImage is self-contained but uses the normal per-user application-data locations.

Windows portable ZIP notes

The portable ZIP is an opt-in secondary distribution. Extract it to a writable folder and launch firelink.exe:

• Keep the extracted folder writable; avoid Program Files, read-only media, and folders that block SQLite or WebView writes.
• Settings, queues, logs, and WebView data stay beside firelink.exe under data/.
• Close Firelink before moving or copying the folder, and close the installed app before launching the portable copy.
• Credentials, browser cookies, and URL query/fragment data are not saved in portable queue records. Active downloads that depend on them must be added again after restart.
• Saved site passwords remain in the Windows credential store and are not copied into the archive.
• The folder contains the extension pairing credential, so treat it as sensitive and do not share it.
• Saved absolute download locations may need to be selected again after moving the folder to another drive.
• The installer remains the supported path for firelink:// browser launch registration.

Browser Extension

  

Firelink Companion connects browser links and downloads to the desktop app.

What it adds:

• Automatic capture for regular browser downloads.
• Explicit Fetch media actions from the popup and page context menu.
• Context-menu actions for links and selected text.
• Firefox and Chromium support.
• Signed local requests using the token from Settings -> Integrations.
• Fallback to the browser download when Firelink is closed or rejects a handoff.
• Captured links always open Firelink's Add window before anything is added to the download list.

Install the extension, open Firelink, then pair it from Settings -> Integrations. Firefox users can install it from Mozilla Add-ons. Chromium users can load firelink-chromium.zip from the extension releases with the manual Chromium instructions.

Use the latest Firelink Companion release with Firelink 1.1.1. The source is in the Firelink-Extension repository, which this repo vendors as the Extensions/Browser submodule.

Platforms

Target	Status
macOS arm64	Supported. Native build, engine checks, launch smoke test, ad-hoc-signed DMG workflow.
Windows x64	Supported. Native build, engine checks, silent installer smoke test, NSIS installer.
Linux x64	Supported. Native build, bundled-engine checks, package/AppImage launch smoke tests, .deb, .rpm, and AppImage.

Development

Requirements

• Node.js 22 or newer
• npm
• Rust and Cargo
• Tauri 2 platform prerequisites

Clone the repository with its browser-extension submodule:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/nimbold/Firelink.git
cd Firelink

Install dependencies and launch the desktop app:

npm install
npm run tauri dev

Run the core checks:

node --test scripts/*.node-test.js
npm test -- --run
npm run build
cd src-tauri
cargo test --all-targets

Create a production bundle:

npm run tauri build

macOS uses locked payloads in src-tauri/binaries. Provision Windows and Linux payloads from checksum-pinned archives:

node scripts/provision-engines.js --target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
node scripts/provision-engines.js --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

Build staging includes only the current target. See engines.lock.json, engine-sources.lock.json, and RELEASE.md.

Repository Structure

.
├── src/                  React and TypeScript interface
├── src-tauri/            Rust backend, Tauri config, and native tests
├── scripts/              Engine provisioning, release, and smoke-test tooling
└── Extensions/Browser/   Firelink Companion submodule

Help and Project Status

• Report bugs or request improvements in GitHub Issues.
• Read CHANGELOG.md for release history.
• Review RELEASE.md for packaging policy and release verification.

Technology & Credits

Firelink is made possible by these open-source projects:

• Tauri 2 for the lightweight desktop runtime
• Rust and Tokio for native application logic
• React and TypeScript for the interface
• Zustand for frontend state management
• SQLite for persistent local data
• aria2 for segmented downloading
• yt-dlp, FFmpeg, and Deno for media extraction and processing

License

Firelink is available under the MIT License.