## Changelog
### 🌐 Network Resilience
- **Auto DNS rotation**: New `CUSTOM_DNS=auto` mode (now default) starts
with system DNS and automatically rotates through Cloudflare, Google,
Quad9, and OpenDNS when failures are detected. DNS results are cached to
improve performance.
- **Mirror failover**: Anna's Archive requests automatically fail over
between mirrors (.org, .se, .li) when one is unreachable
- **Round-robin source distribution**: Concurrent downloads are
distributed across different AA partner servers to avoid rate limiting
### 📥 Download Reliability
- **Much more reliable downloads**: Improved parsing of Anna's Archive
pages, smarter source prioritization, and better retry logic with
exponential backoff
- **Download resume support**: Interrupted downloads can now resume from
where they left off (if the server supports Range requests)
- **Cookie sharing**: Cloudflare bypass cookies are extracted and shared
with subsequent requests, often avoiding the need for re-bypass entirely
- **Stall detection**: Downloads with no progress for 5 minutes are
automatically cancelled and retried
- **Staggered concurrent downloads**: Small delays between starting
concurrent downloads to avoid hitting rate limits
- **Source failure tracking**: After multiple failures from the same
source type (e.g., Libgen), that source is temporarily skipped
- **Lazy welib loading**: Welib sources are fetched as a fallback only
when primary sources fail (unless `PRIORITIZE_WELIB` is enabled)
### 🛡️ Cloudflare & Protection Bypass
- **DDOS-Guard support**: Internal bypasser now detects and handles
DDOS-Guard challenges with dedicated bypass strategies
- **Cancellation support**: Bypass operations can now be cancelled
mid-operation when user cancels a download
- **Smart warmup**: Chrome driver is pre-warmed when first client
connects (controlled by `BYPASS_WARMUP_ON_CONNECT` env var) and shuts
down after periods of inactivity
### 🔌 External Bypasser (FlareSolverr)
- **Improved resilience**: Retry with exponential backoff, mirror/DNS
rotation on failure, and proper timeout handling
- **Cancellation support**: External bypasser operations respect
cancellation flags
### 🖥️ Web UI Improvements
- **Simplified download status**: Removed intermediate states
(bypassing, verifying, ingesting) — now just shows Queued → Resolving →
Downloading → Complete
- **Status messages**: Downloads show detailed status like "Trying
Anna's Archive (Server 3)" or "Server busy, trying next...", or live
waitlist countdowns.
- **Improved download sidebar**:
- Downloads sorted by add time (newest first)
- X button moved to top-right corner for better UX
- Wave animation on in-progress items
- Error messages shown directly on failed items
- X button on completed/errored items clears them from the list
### ⚙️ Configuration Changes
- **`CUSTOM_DNS=auto`** is now the default (previously empty/system DNS)
- **`DOWNLOAD_PROGRESS_UPDATE_INTERVAL`** default changed from 5s to 1s
for smoother progress
- **`BYPASS_WARMUP_ON_CONNECT`** (default: true) — warm up Chrome when
first client connects
### 🐛 Bug Fixes
- **Download cancellation actually works**: Fixed issue where cancelling
downloads didn't properly stop in-progress operations
- **WELIB prioritization**: Fixed `PRIORITIZE_WELIB` not being respected
- **File exists handling**: Downloads to same filename now get `_1`,
`_2` suffix instead of overwriting
- **Empty search results**: "No books found" now returns empty list
instead of throwing exception
- **Search unavailable error**: Network/mirror failures during search
now return proper 503 error to client
Hey, made the tweaks we discussed, plus a couple related fixes :)
- Removed APP_ENV entirely. All dev-specific functionality is enabled
via `DEBUG: true` env var
- Set secure cookie handling to false by default, added to the readme to
enable if exclusively using HTTPS connection
- Fixed healthcheck potentially not working with auth enabled
- Removed APP_ENV from docker compose files and made sure app.db lines
are included in all versions.
APP_ENV in people's existing composes should get ignored entirely and
will be put on the default env, so no issues when updating.
This commit removes all references to the deprecated /request route
prefix
that was previously used for dual routing. The following changes were
made:
- Removed register_dual_routes() function that registered routes with
/request prefix
- Removed url_for_with_request() helper function for generating /request
URLs
- Removed call to register_dual_routes(app) at application startup
- Removed /request/ prefixed favicon routes
- Updated StatusEndpointFilter to remove /request/api/status log
filtering
- Removed unused flask_url_for import
All routes now only use the standard paths without the /request prefix.
This PR was coauthored by alexhb1 and davidemarcoli. It builds on the FE
rework created by alex, but adds a myriad of additional tweaks and
optimizations to make the frontend feel modern, fast, and responsive.
The summary of the changes is as follows:
### Architecture Changes
React/TypeScript Migration: Refactored frontend from template/JS
structure to React/TypeScript application for better maintainability and
scalability
WebSocket Integration: Implemented real-time updates for download status
and progress with automatic fallback to polling
Gevent Worker: Configured production WebSocket support
### UI/UX Improvements
<img width="1502" height="890" alt="Screenshot 2025-11-10 at 10 02
59 AM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/86bf8649-623f-413c-b8e5-656e687e55a8"
/>
Downloads Sidebar: Replaced bottom downloads section with sidebar
interface for better organization
<img width="201" height="450" alt="Screenshot 2025-11-10 at 10 07 52 AM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/92b98e7c-c3bc-4b7e-80f1-252c3a760e33"
/>
Status Badges: Color-coded download status indicators instead of plain
text
Pinned Header: Fixed header position for consistent navigation
Enhanced Book Cards: Improved layout and hover states with info modal
button
<img width="1474" height="899" alt="Screenshot 2025-11-10 at 10 08
18 AM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9216d8a3-f662-434d-80e6-2a69b96abc31"
/>
Download Progress: Circular progress indicator on download buttons
Toast Notifications: Added user feedback for actions
Spinner Feedback: Loading indicators on search and download buttons
Animations: Smooth transitions and fluid progress updates
### Mobile & Responsive Design
Mobile-friendly Layouts: Optimized book cards and search interface for
mobile
<img width="225" height="450" alt="Screenshot 2025-11-10 at 10 05 49 AM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c8236c1c-5837-4309-9577-46db7292a54b"
/>
Keyboard Handling: Improved mobile keyboard behavior with proper input
types
PWA Improvements: Enhanced progressive web app functionality
Responsive Search: Better search box width and positioning across
devices
### Developer Experience
Development Mode: Separate frontend dev server that works with existing
backend container
Makefile: Added build automation and development commands
Documentation: Updated README with frontend architecture details
### Bug Fixes
Fixed "Clear completed" functionality
Fixed dark mode toggle text
Fixed sticky header behavior
Fixed mobile search box positioning
Removed active downloads requirement for initial state view
### Additional Features
ESC Key: Close downloads sidebar with ESC key
Calibre-Web Button: Direct link to Calibre-Web instance
<img width="282" height="83" alt="Screenshot 2025-11-11 at 9 38 05 AM"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/273075be-9743-4e13-9e48-5bf498f6c067"
/>
Granular Status Tracking: More detailed download progress information
obtained via websockets
---------
Co-authored-by: Alex <alex.bilbie1@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Zack Yancey <yanceyz@proton.me>
Co-authored-by: davidemarcoli <davide@marcoli.ch>
Adding support for an external CloudFlare bypasser service and
introducing a new Docker image build with a dedicated target.
Key Changes
- Added `cloudflare_bypasser_external.py` for external bypasser
integration.
- Updated Docker Compose files to support the new service.
- Introduced a new Docker target for building a separate image for the
external bypasser.
- Refactored relevant modules to utilize the external bypasser when
configured.
- Documentation and configuration updates to reflect new options and
Docker targets.
Impact
- Users can now choose between internal and external CloudFlare
bypassing.
- New Docker image and target streamline deployment of the external
bypasser.
- Improved modularity and maintainability.
- No breaking changes for existing workflows.
Testing
- Manual and E2E tests performed for both bypasser modes.
- Docker Compose setups and new image build verified for development and
production.
Notes
Please review the new configuration options and Docker targets. Update
your environment and deployment scripts as needed. Feedback and
suggestions are welcome!
In response to #184, and for my own desperate need for PDFs, I
implemented this change.
The UI needs some tweaking, the functionality looks complete.
Before this pull request is merged, I'm modifying my docker compose as
follows to use the version that includes format options:
```diff
services:
calibre-web-automated-book-downloader:
- image: ghcr.io/calibrain/calibre-web-automated-book-downloader:latest
+ build:
+ context: https://github.com/mruijzendaal/calibre-web-automated-book-downloader.git
```
@calibrain Could you adjust the UI such that this fits better with the
rest of the application? I'm not well-versed with UIKit. Thanks in
advance for considering this pull request!
This commit adds user authentication, using Calibre-Web's app.db as its
authentication source, as requested in #56. It uses @prinzpi's
[comment](https://github.com/calibrain/calibre-web-automated-book-downloader/issues/56#issuecomment-2919335169)
as a starting point, but integrates the logic directly into the app.
This requires the user to specify the environment variable CONFIG_ROOT,
set to Calibre-Web's config directory (the directory that contains the
app.db database that holds the user's authentication information).
If the user does not wish to add authentication, they can simply leave
CONFIG_ROOT unset, or not pointing at Calibre-Web's app.db directory.
The Calibre dependency was due to the script testing for validity of the
downloaded file, as often they would be corrupted from aa. But CWA is
already doing that, so we are just having redundant code here.
For the cloudflarebypasser, I basically run my own version now, instead
of depending on an external library, this way we have better control for
debugging and on the docker image.
Fixes#18, #33, #27, #48, #65, #78, #86, #88, #89
---------
Co-authored-by: mik593 <91991279+mik593@users.noreply.github.com>
Alex
CaliBrain
BMillerCodesandBMillerCodes
Federico Della Rovere
Stephon ParkerandCaliBrain
Martijn Ruijzendaal
Timothy Allen
