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 desktop download manager for fast transfers, browser capture, media extraction, scheduling, and clear file placement.

It is now a cross-platform Rust/Tauri app with a React and TypeScript interface. A native backend coordinates downloads with aria2, yt-dlp, FFmpeg, Deno, and SQLite.

Features

• Segmented downloads with aria2, retries, speed limits, and connection controls.
• Media downloads with yt-dlp, FFmpeg, and Deno.
• Add window for metadata, duplicates, location choices, and captured links.
• 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, 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.
Linux x64	.AppImage	Make executable before launching if your desktop environment does not do that automatically.

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

Browser Extension

  

Firelink Companion sends 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 from Mozilla Add-ons. Chromium users can use the manual load-unpacked flow with firelink-chromium.zip from the extension releases. Firelink Companion 2.0.2 is the matching extension release for Firelink 1.0.2.

The extension lives in Firelink-Extension. This repo also vendors it as the Extensions/Firefox 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, engine checks, xvfb launch smoke test, 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/Firefox/   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.