KGet

A modern, lightweight wget clone written in Rust for fast and reliable file downloads from the command line.

KGet browser extension

Send links, images, videos and (optionally) every browser download to KGet. Works in Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Brave and Firefox (Manifest V3, plain JS/HTML/CSS, no build step). The extension talks to KGet through native messaging: the browser starts kget native-host, which forwards requests to the KGet daemon (started automatically). Downloads keep running after the browser closes.

Features

Context menu “Download with KGet” on links, images, video, audio and the page itself.
Toolbar popup with live progress, speed and ETA, plus Pause, Resume, Cancel, Open, Show in folder and Remove. You can also paste a link there.
Intercept browser downloads (off by default): matching downloads are cancelled in the browser and handed to KGet. You can filter them by file extension, minimum size and domain (include and exclude lists). If KGet is unavailable, the browser downloads the file itself.
Send cookies (off by default): sends the site’s cookies for that one URL as a Cookie header, so downloads that need a login work.
Turbo mode default: parallel connections for HTTP downloads.
A clear “KGet is not connected” screen with the command to run.

Files are saved in KGet’s download directory (daemon.download_dir in KGet’s config, default ~/Downloads). The extension can only suggest a file name, never a folder.

1. Register the native host

Install KGet (1.8 or later), then run:

kget native-host install                    # every installed browser
kget native-host install --browser firefox  # or: chrome, chromium, edge, brave, all

This writes com.kget.native_host.json for each browser, plus a small launcher script that runs kget native-host. It prints every path it writes. Run it again after moving the kget binary. To remove everything:

kget native-host uninstall

If you load the extension with a different ID (for example a Web Store build, or an unpacked copy without the key field), allow that ID:

kget native-host install --extension-id <id-from-chrome://extensions>

2. Load the extension

Chrome, Edge, Brave and Chromium

Open chrome://extensions (or edge://extensions, brave://extensions).
Turn on Developer mode.
Click Load unpacked and pick this browser-extension/ folder.

The key in manifest.json pins the unpacked extension ID to eccghfaajdkmbbbccabhfnhhbllfmlkg, which kget native-host install allows by default.

Firefox

Open about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox.
Click Load Temporary Add-on… and pick browser-extension/manifest.json.

The add-on ID is kget@davimf721.github.io (allowed by default). Temporary add-ons are removed when Firefox quits. Firefox 128 or later is required.

Then open the extension’s options page to turn on interception, cookies or turbo mode. The browser asks for the extra permission when you turn one on.

Permissions

Permission	Why	When
`nativeMessaging`	Talk to `kget native-host`	always
`contextMenus`	“Download with KGet”	always
`storage`	Options	always
`downloads`	Intercept browser downloads	optional, asked when you turn interception on
`cookies` + access to sites	Send cookies with a download	optional, asked when you turn “send cookies” on

Security model

The browser only starts the host for the extension IDs listed in the host manifest. The host also checks the caller it receives (chrome-extension://<id>/ or the Firefox add-on ID) against allowed_origins.json and exits if it doesn’t match.
Only http, https, ftp, ftps and magnet links are accepted.
Only a file name is forwarded. The daemon keeps every file inside its download directory.
Cookie and Authorization headers are stripped unless you turn on “send cookies”. When it’s on, the extension reads cookies only for the URL being downloaded.
“Open” refuses programs and scripts. Use “Show in folder” for those.

Packaging (not published)

./browser-extension/package.sh

This builds dist/kget-extension-chrome-<version>.zip (without the development key, as the Chrome Web Store requires) and dist/kget-extension-firefox-<version>.zip (for addons.mozilla.org). The script uploads nothing.

After the Web Store assigns an ID, register it with kget native-host install --extension-id <store id>. Alternatively, copy the store item’s public key into manifest.json so unpacked builds share that ID.

Safari

Safari Web Extensions must ship inside a macOS app. Apple’s converter creates an Xcode project from this folder:

xcrun safari-web-extension-converter browser-extension \
  --project-location /tmp/kget-safari --app-name "KGet Extension" \
  --bundle-identifier com.kget.safari-extension --macos-only --no-open

Safari has no nativeMessaging to an arbitrary host. Instead, the extension’s runtime.sendNativeMessage reaches the containing app’s SafariWebExtensionHandler. To support Safari, that handler would forward messages to the daemon. It can do this by spawning kget native-host or by speaking the daemon’s JSON-RPC socket directly. A future version could add this handler to the existing macOS app in macos-app/. Run the converter into a separate directory so it doesn’t modify macos-app/.

Native message protocol

Each request is {"id": <any>, "type": "...", ...} and gets one reply, {"id", "type", "ok": true, "result"} or {"id", "type", "ok": false, "error": {"code", "message"}}. Job IDs travel as job.

Type	Fields
`ping`, `version`	–
`download`	`url`, `filename?`, `referrer?`, `headers?`, `turbo?`, `send_cookies?`, `cookies?`, `tags?`
`list`	`limit?`
`get`, `pause`, `resume`, `cancel`, `remove`, `open`, `reveal`	`job`
`subscribe`	`ids?`, `progress?` (afterwards the host pushes `{"type":"event","event":<job event>}`)

The full reference is in src/native_host/mod.rs.

Tests

node --test browser-extension/tests/   # or: bun test ./browser-extension/tests/lib.test.js
cargo test --test native_host_tests