Scripts welcome. IDM's switches included.

IDM's switches, unchanged

The app understands the same switches as IDM: /d for the address, /p for the folder, /f for the file name, /a to queue it without starting, /n to skip the Download File Info window, and /s to start the main download queue. A batch file or another program that drives IDM this way can drive MDM by changing the program's name.

misterdownloadmanager.exe /d https://example.com/files/report.pdf /p D:\Reports /n

If MDM is running, the command goes to it; if not, MDM starts and carries it out. On macOS and Linux the program has the same name, without .exe.

A downloader for the terminal

misterdownloadmanager-cli comes with every download of MDM and works without the app running. get downloads a file over several connections with a progress line, Ctrl+C pauses it and resume carries on later. video-get downloads a video, and torrent-get a torrent or only some of its files. video-info and torrent-info say what there is to choose before you download. misterdownloadmanager-cli help <command> lists every option, and a command that fails exits with code 1.

JSON for scripts and programs

With --json, every command prints JSON, one object per line: a progress line every half second while a file downloads, then the path, size and time when it's done. Sizes are in bytes, speeds in bytes per second, and a failure prints an error object, so a script or an AI agent reads the result without parsing text. The formats are listed command by command.

An API for the running app

Other programs can ask the running app for its downloads, as JSON, and pause, start, remove or delete them. They connect to a port on this computer only, with a secret token that changes at every start and that only your own programs can read. The API is off until you turn it on with misterdownloadmanager-cli api on, and status, pause, start, remove and delete use it from the command line.

Every request and answer is described field by field in a JSON Schema, made from the code the app answers with, so programs can check what they send or generate their types from it. AI assistants use the same API through MDM's MCP server.

More to script

playlist-get downloads a playlist's or channel's videos, and gallery-get a picture gallery. get takes up to 128 connections with -c, --dns to choose who turns names into addresses, and --adapter to send a download through one network adapter or not at all. The app's /startup starts it hidden in the notification area. The API's list also gives the queues, the categories and the free space, and it starts and stops a queue by name.