NexLoad

A fast, open-source Linux download manager with browser integration — inspired by Internet Download Manager.

Features

• Browser extension (Chrome/Edge/Firefox) with:
  • Floating "⬇ Download with NexLoad" button that appears above every video on any website
  • Right-click context menu: "Download link with NexLoad" / "Download video with NexLoad"
  • Auto-detects video URLs on YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter/X, TikTok, Facebook, and any site with <video> tags
• Video format selection dialog — choose resolution (1080p, 720p, 360p…) and codec before downloading
• Parallel multi-connection downloads — splits files into chunks for maximum speed
• Resume support — interrupted downloads pick up where they left off
• GTK4 native UI — clean, modern Linux interface
• yt-dlp integration — auto-downloads the yt-dlp binary on first video download if not installed

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Requirements

Requirement	Notes
Python ≥ 3.10	Standard library only (no pip dependencies)
GTK 4 + PyGObject	Usually pre-installed on GNOME desktops
yt-dlp	Auto-downloaded on first use; or sudo apt install yt-dlp
Chrome/Edge/Firefox	For browser extension

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Installation

git clone https://github.com/msh2050/nexload.git
cd nexload
./nexload.py

Or run as a module:

python3 -m nexload

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Browser Extension Setup

Chrome / Edge

1. Open chrome://extensions (or edge://extensions)
2. Enable Developer mode (top-right toggle)
3. Click Load unpacked
4. Select the extension/ folder inside this repo

Firefox

1. Open about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox
2. Click Load Temporary Add-on
3. Select extension/manifest.json

Permanent Firefox install: Pack the extension with web-ext build and install the .xpi

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How It Works

Browser tab                  Extension              NexLoad App
──────────────────────       ──────────────────     ───────────────────────
<video> element detected  →  content.js overlay  →  WebSocket (port 9119)
User clicks button        →  background.js       →  Format chooser dialog
                                                  →  yt-dlp subprocess
                                                  →  Download engine
Right-click link          →  context menu        →  Direct HTTP download

Architecture

File	Role
nexload/app.py	GTK4 Application, lifecycle
nexload/window.py	Main window, Add dialog, Format chooser
nexload/download_manager.py	Queue, concurrency (max 3 parallel)
nexload/downloader.py	Multi-threaded HTTP downloader with resume
nexload/video_info.py	yt-dlp subprocess wrapper, format parsing
nexload/ws_server.py	Pure-stdlib WebSocket server (RFC 6455)
extension/content.js	Video detection, floating button, DOM injection
extension/background.js	WebSocket client, context menus, message routing

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Configuration

Default download directory: ~/Downloads
WebSocket port: 9119
Max parallel downloads: 3
Parallel connections per file: 8

These constants are in nexload/__init__.py, nexload/download_manager.py, and nexload/downloader.py.

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License

MIT © 2026