Auto downloader for Series

[Oliver1403]

Feature Summary
Automatically download new episodes of a selected series as soon as they become available on AniWorld.

Problem Description
Currently, users have to manually check whether a new episode of a series has been released and then start the download themselves.
This is inconvenient, especially for ongoing series with weekly releases or when tracking multiple shows.

Proposed Solution
Add a feature that allows users to subscribe/watch a series.
The downloader periodically checks AniWorld for new episodes and automatically downloads them at the right time once they are released.

Use Cases

• Automatic download of new episodes for ongoing series
• Running the downloader via cron jobs or server setups
• “Set and forget” workflow: select a series once, downloads happen automatically
• No need to manually visit AniWorld to check for updates

Alternative Solutions

• Manually starting downloads
• Frequently checking the website
• Using external reminders without download automation

Implementation Ideas

• Add a “watch” or “follow” mode for series (by name or URL)
• Store the last downloaded episode per series
• Periodic polling (e.g. every X hours)
• Download only when a new episode is detected
• try to get the new episode from the release calendar and check with that
• Possible CLI flags:
  --watch
  --auto-download
• Optional notifications after successful downloads

Priority
Nice to Have

Additional Context
This feature would turn AniWorld-Downloader from a manual tool into a fully automated series downloader, ideal for currently airing shows.

Checklist
I have searched for existing feature requests before creating this
I have provided a clear description of the feature and its benefits

[Domekologe]

Hi
The PR from me have this feature, but after they are working on v4, which also have this implemented I am not sure if this will be approved :D
The only thing what the PR still does is, it "spam" the downloader part with "already downloaded" :D
alternative, what I have done in the past
Create a text file with the links and start an .cmd with this for example

aniworld --episode-file _input_seasonal.txt --language "German Sub" -o ""
This you can add in the Task Scheduler of the System for example

[Oliver1403]

I had made a Script with a Website that you Can ad the series and say at with time that series should be updated so that it doesn't go so hard on the looking up on all series but i think when it gets implemented in this libary I don't have the problem to write it new every time the libary updates

[Oliver1403]

And i hope someone have an idea to grasp the items from the release radar and auto update the series you have in your libary

[phoenixthrush]

I’m trying to clarify whether #138 really needs new core logic, because “auto downloading” is basically already possible today if the tool is run as a scheduled OS job. Our --episode-file does not only accept episode URLs; it can also contain series URLs and season URLs. When a series/season URL is processed, the tool re-scrapes that page on every run, lists all episodes, and that way newly released episodes are automatically found the next time the job runs. Whether something is “already downloaded” is decided by the target output filename: if that file already exists, it gets skipped. Since users can set and keep a stable naming template in settings, changing naming/output schemes multiple times is a user choice rather than a technical limitation of this approach. Multi-language also isn’t a collision issue because different audio/subs can be muxed into a single Matroska container if desired, and specials/OVAs are consistently normalized into Season00, so odd numbering is handled too. With that in mind, a cron/systemd timer/Windows Task Scheduler job that regularly runs something like aniworld --episode-file <file> ... can periodically check for new episodes, download what’s missing, and then exit.

So the scope question is: is “episode-file + scheduled job” considered sufficient as the official solution (maybe we just need to document it better), or do we explicitly want a first-class watchlist/subscription feature inside the tool (e.g., a subcommand like watchlist add/list/check)?

[Oliver1403]

My idea is to Scrape the new episodes
From the Websites and Check if the User is subscribed to a series where a new episode is released and then to download the new episodes so that it doesn't have to check all things and then to get a update loop where he checks every minute or so the new releases so that you get the new episode when it releases

[SiroxCW]

I added a function in v.4.0.0 which checks the recent 150 episodes from https://aniworld.to/neue-episoden.

I planned on adding a feature in the near future which checks every day (or custom interval) if there are new episodes for animes which are downloaded.
-> If yes, download the episode (or notify in some way). Does this sound good?

[Oliver1403]

Yes this sounds great but how much more load could it cost to do a check every let say every 15 minutes or so than you can have the episodes when they come out.

[Oliver1403]

Or is the customer interval your planning so customizable so that you can have aches every 15 minutes on the day

[SiroxCW]

Or is the customer interval your planning so customizable so that you can have aches every 15 minutes on the day

Yes the interval will support up to every 10mins I think. Its one single request, shouldn't really matter. I once downloaded for 3 days 24/7, I dont really think they have long-term rate limiting, only short-term

[Oliver1403]

Ok thanks then I can't wait for this feature to be released

[Domekologe]

Hi
I am not sure if this helps a bit
In my previous version I added this in the Web UI

Would be nice if it would be possible to add multiple timers

[SiroxCW]

I rather thought about having a global interval which updates everything every day or hour or whatever interval. I wouldn't see a use-case where I set the auto download with a own interval for specific titles.