Itchio-Downloader provides a small CLI and library for downloading free games from itch.io. Games can be fetched by URL or by name and author—no API key or GUI is required. See the API Reference for all functions and types. More guides are available in docs/README.md.

Motivation

I built this tool to create a launcher for free games and released it so others can do the same. It's the only known way to download itch.io games programmatically without an API key or developer access.

Features

Direct Downloads: Get games by URL or by name and author—no desktop GUI or Butler.
Batch Operations: Download multiple games in one run.
Customization: Rename files and choose download directories.
Simplicity: Only a URL or author and title is required.
No API Key Required: Works without an API key.

Usage Policy

Only download free games and follow the itch.io Terms of Service. Don't bypass payment restrictions. This project isn't affiliated with or endorsed by itch.io.

Quick Start

Requires Node.js 18+. For a full setup guide see docs/Installation.md.

Install the package:

pnpm add itchio-downloader
# or install globally for the CLI
pnpm add -g itchio-downloader
# or
yarn add itchio-downloader

If installed globally you can run the command directly:

itchio-downloader --help

See docs/CLI.md for CLI options and docs/Debugging.md for verbose logging.

Usage

Importing the package

const { downloadGame } = require('itchio-downloader');

Downloading a Single Game

Download a game by URL or by name and author:

// Using a direct URL:
await downloadGame({ itchGameUrl: 'https://baraklava.itch.io/manic-miners' });

// Using name and author and optional params:
await downloadGame({
  name: 'manic-miners',
  author: 'baraklava',
  downloadDirectory: 'full file path', // Optional
});

Downloading Multiple Games

Provide an array to download multiple games. Mix URLs or name/author combinations. Use concurrency to limit downloads or set parallel: true to run them all concurrently:

async function downloadMultipleGames() {
  const gameParams = [
    { name: 'manic-miners', author: 'baraklava' },
    { itchGameUrl: 'https://anotherdev.itch.io/another-game' },
    { itchGameUrl: 'https://moregames.itch.io/better-game', parallel: true },
  ];

  await downloadGame(gameParams, 2); // up to 2 downloads or set parallel to run all at once
}
downloadMultipleGames();

See docs/Advanced-Usage.md for more concurrency and custom path examples.

Tracking Progress

Provide an onProgress callback to monitor download progress:

await downloadGame({
  itchGameUrl: 'https://baraklava.itch.io/manic-miners',
  onProgress: ({ bytesReceived, totalBytes }) => {
    if (totalBytes) {
      const pct = ((bytesReceived / totalBytes) * 100).toFixed(1);
      console.log(`Progress: ${pct}%`);
    }
  },
});

The CLI displays similar progress automatically when run directly.

Command Line Usage

Build the CLI with pnpm run build-cli, then run itchio-downloader with your options. The --concurrency flag limits how many downloads run at once when supplying a list of games. Full details are in docs/CLI.md.

# Example limiting concurrency
itchio-downloader --url "https://baraklava.itch.io/manic-miners" --concurrency 2

Configuration Options

The downloadGame function accepts the following parameters within DownloadGameParams:

name: Game name (use with author).
author: Author's username.
itchGameUrl: Direct URL to the game.
desiredFileName: Custom file name.
downloadDirectory: Where to save files.
writeMetaData: Save metadata JSON (default true).
concurrency: Number of downloads at once when using an array.
parallel: If true, run all downloads concurrently with Promise.all.
onProgress: Callback invoked with download progress information.

Types

export type DownloadGameParams = {
   name?: string,
   author?: string,
   desiredFileName?: string,
   downloadDirectory?: string,
   itchGameUrl?: string,
   writeMetaData?: boolean,
   parallel?: boolean
   onProgress?: (info: DownloadProgress) => void
};

export type DownloadGameResponse = {
   status: boolean,
   message: string,
   metaData?: IItchRecord,
   metadataPath?: string,
   filePath?: string
};

Example Output

Example response:

const response = {
   status: true,
   message: 'Download and file operations successful.',
   metadataPath: 'C:\\Users\\Aquataze\\Desktop\\itchDownloader\\testOutput\\manic-miners\\manic-miners-metadata.json',
   filePath: 'C:\\Users\\Aquataze\\Desktop\\itchDownloader\\testOutput\\manic-miners\\ManicMinersV1.0.zip',
   metaData: {
      title: 'Manic Miners: A LEGO Rock Raiders remake',
      coverImage: 'https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzEzMTQ1NzA1LnBuZw==/315x250%23c/i%2BJ4qs.png',
      authors: [[Object]],
      tags: [],
      id: 598634,
      commentsLink: 'https://baraklava.itch.io/manic-miners/comments',
      selfLink: 'https://baraklava.itch.io/manic-miners',
      author: 'baraklava',
      name: 'manic-miners',
      domain: '.itch.io',
      itchGameUrl: 'https://baraklava.itch.io/manic-miners',
      itchMetaDataUrl: 'https://baraklava.itch.io/manic-miners/data.json'
   }
};

Documentation

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Fork the repo and submit a pull request. For major changes, open an issue first. See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

Update tests as needed. Run pnpm test and build the CLI with pnpm run build-cli. Publishing runs the prepublishOnly script to build the CLI.

Development Setup

Clone the repository and install dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/Wal33D/itchio-downloader.git
cd itchio-downloader
pnpm install

pnpm install installs ts-jest and other dev dependencies required for the test suite. Running tests without installing these packages will result in a "Preset ts-jest not found" error.

Run the tests with:

pnpm test

Release Procedure

Update the version in package.json.
Document changes in CHANGELOG.md.
Run pnpm publish (the prepublishOnly script builds the CLI).

Maintenance

Dependabot monitors dependencies and opens PRs.

License

ISC License.

FAQs

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Package last updated on 04 Jul 2025

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Install

itchio-downloader