Let the home server do the downloading.

The same MDM, without a window

misterdownloadmanager --headless runs MDM with its list, categories, queues, Scheduler, speed limits and torrents, but no window. Its folders and port come from flags or the environment. It stops cleanly, saving its list, when the system stops it. It runs on any Linux machine with MDM installed, and on Windows and macOS the same way.

Docker and Unraid

A Dockerfile and a Compose file come with MDM's source. For now you build the image yourself; a published image comes later. The first build is long, up to an hour on a small server, and the image is small, about 175 MB, with no desktop libraries.

Give it a folder for its settings and one for the downloads, where each category gets its own folder. Mount a network share there and the files land straight on it. On Unraid, a template maps the folders and runs MDM as nobody:users, as Unraid's shares expect.

Control it from your phone or your browser

The remote control is on in this mode. The log prints the address to open and a pairing code with a QR code: pair your phone as with the remote control, and misterdownloadmanager-cli pair makes a new code at any time.

In the browser extension, Send downloads to → Another Mister Download Manager (a server) sends the downloads it catches, and Download with Mister Download Manager on a link, to the server instead of your computer. The browser's cookies stay behind, so a download that needs you signed in to a site stays with your computer.

What a server doesn't do

Video pages and image galleries need helpers that the image doesn't include. Nothing opens a window, so a download that would ask a question, such as a duplicate, takes the choice set in the settings, or isn't added. Don't publish the port on the internet: reach your home network through a VPN instead.

Server mode is new, so please tell us how it goes.