⬇️ abx-dl
A simple all-in-one CLI tool to auto-detect and download everything available from a URL.
uvx abx-dl --plugins=title,wget 'https://example.com'
set -Eeuo pipefail
output_dir="$(mktemp -d)"
image="${ABXDL_IMAGE:-archivebox/abx-dl:latest}"
trap 'rm -rf "$output_dir"' EXIT
docker run --rm \
--env OUTPUT_UID="$(id -u)" \
--env OUTPUT_GID="$(id -g)" \
--volume "$output_dir:/out" \
--entrypoint bash \
"$image" \
-c 'set -Eeuo pipefail
cleanup() { chown -R "$OUTPUT_UID:$OUTPUT_GID" /out; }
trap cleanup EXIT
/venv/bin/abx-dl "$@"' \
-- --no-install --max-urls=1 --plugins=title,wget 'https://example.com'
test -s "$output_dir/index.jsonl"
test -s "$output_dir/title/title.txt"
test -s "$output_dir/wget/example.com/index.html"
grep -q 'Example Domain' "$output_dir/title/title.txt"
grep -q 'Example Domain' "$output_dir/wget/example.com/index.html"
✨ Ever wish you could yt-dlp, gallery-dl, wget, curl, puppeteer, etc. all in one command?
abx-dl is an all-in-one CLI tool for downloading URLs "by any means necessary".
It's useful for scraping, downloading, OSINT, digital preservation, and more.
abx-dl provides a simpler one-shot CLI interface to the ArchiveBox plugin ecosystem.
🍜 What does it save?
abx-dl --plugins=wget,title,screenshot,pdf,readability 'https://example.com'
abx-dl runs all plugins by default (and auto installs dependencies). You can specify --plugins=wget,favicon,title or filters like --output=html,pdf,ico,text/ to limit plugin selection.
- HTML, JS, CSS, images, etc. rendered with a headless browser
- title, favicon, headers, outlinks, and other metadata
- audio, video, subtitles, playlists, comments
- snapshot of the page as a PDF, screenshot, and Singlefile HTML
- article text,
gitsource code - and much more...
🧩 How does it work?
abx-dl uses the Plugin Library (shared with ArchiveBox) to run a collection of downloading and scraping tools.
Plugins are loaded from the installed abx-plugins package (or from ABX_PLUGINS_DIR if you override it) and execute in distinct phases:
- Install phase runner reads plugins
config.json:required_binariesand emitsBinaryRequestEvents forabxpkg.binary_service.BinaryService, which resolves or installs binaries using built-in providers such as env, pip, npm, brew, apt, cargo, and browser-specific providers.BinaryCacheServiceand theabx-dlcache backend then project resolved state intoderived.env. - CrawlSetup hooks (
on_CrawlSetup__*) launch/configure expensive crawl-scoped processes like chrome, or trigger side effects. they emit no stdout JSONL records. - Snapshot hooks (
on_Snapshot__*) run per URL to extract content and emit onlyArchiveResult,Snapshot, andTagrecords
⚙️ Configuration
Configuration is handled via environment variables plus a user config file under the platformdirs user config path (<user-config>/abx/config.env). Runtime-derived cache entries such as resolved binary paths are stored separately in <user-config>/abx/derived.env:
abx-dl config # show all config (global + per-plugin)
abx-dl config --get WGET_TIMEOUT # get a specific value
abx-dl config --set TIMEOUT=120 # set persistently (resolves aliases)
Output is grouped by section:
# GLOBAL
TIMEOUT=60
USER_AGENT="Mozilla/5.0 ..."
...
# plugins/wget
WGET_BINARY="wget"
WGET_TIMEOUT=60
...
# plugins/chrome
CHROME_BINARY="chromium"
...
Common options:
TIMEOUT=60- default timeout for hooksUSER_AGENT- default user agent string{PLUGIN}_BINARY- path or name of the binary to use (e.g.WGET_BINARY=wgetorCHROME_BINARY=/usr/bin/chromium){PLUGIN}_ENABLED=True/False- enable/disable specific plugins{PLUGIN}_TIMEOUT=120- per-plugin timeout overrides
Aliases are automatically resolved (e.g. --set USE_WGET=false saves as WGET_ENABLED=false).
One-off config is easy via env vars or CLI args:
env \
TIMEOUT=120 \
WGET_TIMEOUT=120 \
abx-dl \
--dir=./config-example \
--plugins=title,wget \
--timeout=90 \
'https://example.com'
📦 Install
uv tool install abx-dl
abx-dl version
uvx abx-dl version
abx-dl install wget title
🔠 Usage
abx-dl --plugins=title,wget --dir=./downloads --timeout=120 'https://example.com'
# Default command - a bare URL archives with all enabled plugins:
abx-dl 'https://example.com'
# Select plugins by output type (mimetypes, categories, or file extensions):
abx-dl --output=html,pdf,video/ 'https://example.com'
abx-dl -o text -o image -o mp4 'https://example.com'
# Limit work to a subset of plugins by name:
abx-dl --plugins=wget,title,screenshot,pdf 'https://example.com'
# Skip auto-installing missing dependencies (emit warnings instead):
abx-dl --no-install 'https://example.com'
# Specify output directory (default is current working dir):
abx-dl --dir=./downloads 'https://example.com'
# Set timeout:
abx-dl --timeout=120 'https://example.com'
Commands
abx-dl <url> # Download URL (default shorthand)
abx-dl plugins # Check + show info for all plugins
abx-dl plugins wget ytdlp git # Check + show info for specific plugins
abx-dl install wget ytdlp git # Pre-install plugin dependencies
abx-dl config # Show all config values
abx-dl config --get TIMEOUT # Get a specific config value
abx-dl config --set TIMEOUT=120 # Set a config value persistently
Installing Dependencies
Many plugins require external binaries (e.g., wget, chrome, yt-dlp, single-file).
By default, abx-dl lazily installs missing dependencies as needed when you download a URL.
Use --no-install to skip plugins with missing dependencies instead. install runs only the pre-run dependency pipeline (required_binaries → BinaryRequestEvent → BinaryEvent) without starting crawl setup or snapshot extraction:
abx-dl install wget title
abx-dl plugins wget title
abx-dl 'https://example.com' # auto-installs missing deps on-the-fly
abx-dl --no-install 'https://example.com' # skips plugins with missing deps and emits warnings
abx-dl install wget singlefile ytdlp # installs dependencies for specific plugins only
abx-dl plugins # checks which dependencies are available/missing
Every hook executable declares its dependencies in an abxpkg run --script --deps-from=... shebang. Compatible host binaries are selected first and projected into ABXPKG_LIB_DIR/env/bin; otherwise the configured managed provider installs and projects the dependency. The explicit install command and --no-install dependency check use the same abxpkg resolution path.
The normal runtime flow is:
CrawlEvent(internal lifecycle root)CrawlSetupEvent→ pluginon_CrawlSetup__*hooksCrawlStartEvent→SnapshotEventSnapshotEvent→ pluginon_Snapshot__*hooksSnapshotCleanupEvent/CrawlCleanupEvent
Hook output contract:
- hook dependencies are driven by plugin
required_binariesand resolved by each hook's abxpkg shebang on_CrawlSetup__*hooks emit no stdout JSONL recordson_Snapshot__*hooks emit onlyArchiveResult,Snapshot, andTag- the TUI and services consume structured events derived from those hook records
Dependencies are installed to <user-config>/abx/lib/{arch}/ using the appropriate package manager:
- pip packages →
<user-config>/abx/lib/{arch}/pip/venv/ - npm packages →
<user-config>/abx/lib/{arch}/npm/ - brew/apt packages → system locations
You can override the install location with ABXPKG_LIB_DIR=/path/to/lib abx-dl install wget.
Output Structure
By default, abx-dl writes results into the current working directory. Each run creates an index.jsonl manifest plus one subdirectory per plugin that produced output. If you want to keep runs isolated, cd into a scratch directory first or pass --dir=/path/to/run.
mkdir -p /tmp/abx-run && cd /tmp/abx-run
uvx --from abx-dl abx-dl --plugins=title,wget 'https://example.com'
./
├── index.jsonl # Snapshot metadata and results (JSONL format)
├── title/
│ └── title.txt
├── favicon/
│ └── favicon.ico
├── screenshot/
│ └── screenshot.png
├── pdf/
│ └── output.pdf
├── dom/
│ └── output.html
├── wget/
│ └── example.com/
│ └── index.html
├── singlefile/
│ └── output.html
└── ...
All Outputs
index.jsonl- snapshot metadata and plugin results (JSONL format, ArchiveBox-compatible)title/title.txt- page titlefavicon/favicon.ico- site faviconscreenshot/screenshot.png- full page screenshot (Chrome)pdf/output.pdf- page as PDF (Chrome)dom/output.html- rendered DOM (Chrome)wget/example.com/...- mirrored site filessinglefile/output.html- single-file HTML snapshot- ... and more via plugin library ...
Available Plugins
See the abx-plugins marketplace.
Snapshot / Extraction Plugins
ytdlp- downloads media plus sidecars: audio, video, images/thumbnails, subtitles (.srt,.vtt), JSON metadata, and text descriptions.gallerydl- downloads gallery/media sets as images, videos, JSON sidecars, text sidecars, and ZIP archives.forumdl- exports forum/thread archives as JSONL, WARC, and mailbox-style message archives.git- clones repository contents including text, binaries, images, audio, video, fonts, and other tracked files.wget- mirrors pages and requisites as HTML, WARC, images, CSS, JavaScript, fonts, audio, and video.archivedotorg- saves a Wayback Machine archive link as plain text.favicon- saves site favicons and touch icons as image files.modalcloser- setup helper only; no direct archive files.consolelog- saves browser console events as JSONL.dns- saves observed DNS activity as JSONL.ssl- saves TLS certificate/connection metadata as JSONL.responses- saves HTTP response metadata as JSONL and can record referenced text, images, audio, video, apps, and fonts.redirects- saves redirect chains as JSONL.staticfile- saves non-HTML direct file responses such as PDF, EPUB, images, audio, video, JSON, XML, CSV, ZIP, and generic binary files.headers- saves main-document HTTP headers as JSON.chrome- manages shared browser state and emits plain-text and JSON runtime metadata.seo- saves SEO metadata such as meta tags and Open Graph fields as JSON.accessibility- saves the browser accessibility tree as JSON.infiniscroll- page-expansion helper only; no direct archive files.claudechrome- saves Claude-computer-use interaction results as JSON plus PNG screenshots.singlefile- saves a full self-contained page snapshot as HTML.screenshot- saves rendered page screenshots as PNG.pdf- saves rendered pages as PDF.dom- saves fully rendered DOM output as HTML.title- saves the final page title as plain text.readability- extracts article HTML, plain text, and JSON metadata.defuddle- extracts cleaned article HTML, plain text, and JSON metadata.mercury- extracts article HTML, plain text, and JSON metadata.claudecodeextract- generates cleaned Markdown from other extractor outputs.htmltotext- converts archived HTML into plain text.trafilatura- extracts article content as plain text, Markdown, HTML, CSV, JSON, and XML/TEI.papersdl- downloads academic papers as PDF.parse_html_urls- emits discovered links from HTML as JSONL records.parse_txt_urls- emits discovered links from text files as JSONL records.parse_rss_urls- emits discovered feed entry URLs from RSS/Atom as JSONL records.parse_netscape_urls- emits discovered bookmark URLs from Netscape bookmark exports as JSONL records.parse_jsonl_urls- emits discovered bookmark URLs from JSONL exports as JSONL records.parse_dom_outlinks- emits crawlable rendered-DOM outlinks as JSONL records.search_backend_sqlite- writes a searchable SQLite FTS index database.search_backend_sonic- pushes content into Sonic search; no local archive files declared.claudecodecleanup- writes cleanup/deduplication results as plain text.hashes- writes file hash manifests as JSON.- and more via the
abx-pluginsmarketplace...
AI Skill
This repo includes an abx-dl skill for coding agents that need to run the standalone ArchiveBox extractor pipeline without a full ArchiveBox install.
- Skill source:
skills/abx-dl/SKILL.md - skills.sh page: https://skills.sh/archivebox/abx-dl/abx-dl
Architecture
abx-dl is built on these components:
abx_dl/plugins.py- Plugin discovery fromabx-pluginsorABX_PLUGINS_DIRabx_dl/executor.py- Hook execution engine with config propagationabx_dl/config.py- Environment variable configurationabx_dl/cli.py- Rich CLI with live progress display
Related Projects
abxbushttps://abxbus.archivebox.io https://github.com/archiveBox/abxbusabxpkghttps://abxpkg.archivebox.io https://github.com/archiveBox/abxpkgabx-pluginshttps://abx-plugins.archivebox.io https://github.com/ArchiveBox/abx-pluginsarchiveboxhttps://archivebox.io https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox- And lots more...
For more advanced use with collections, parallel downloading, a Web UI + REST API, etc.
See: ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox
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