## 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
Re: Issue #122
Fetches content type from search results - displays it on thumbnails in
results grid;
Fetches content type from book id detail page (dfaults to "Other") and
uses it to construct the `final_path`.
---------
Co-authored-by: Patricia Ritter <pritter@events.com>
Co-authored-by: CaliBrain <calibrain@l4n.xyz>
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>
Changed intermediate download file naming in backend.py to use
.crdownload extension. Refactored URL selection logic in book_manager.py
to adjust order and inclusion based on Cloudflare bypass and donator
key. Added extra Chromium arguments in cloudflare_bypasser.py to ignore
certificate and SSL errors for improved bypass reliability.
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
Stephon ParkerandCaliBrain
