AniPlay

AniPlay is a Material You-inspired desktop anime browser and player built with Electron, React, TypeScript, and Vite. It combines third-party playback catalogs with AniList discovery, list management, profile statistics, achievements, local watch history, and downloads.

The repository is currently at the 1.17.x line. Windows is the primary supported platform. An Electron Builder Linux target is available for testing, while macOS packaging is not configured.

AniPlay does not host anime or video files. Search results and playback links come from third-party providers, so availability and compatibility can change independently of the app.

Visit the AniPlay website · Download the latest release · Join Discord

• Search in compact-list or poster-grid layouts.

• Switch between five playback catalogs:

  Provider	Catalog	Notes
  Anikoto 1	English sub/dub	Default API/MegaPlay provider; optional experimental AniList-first search
  Anikoto 2	English SUB/H-SUB/DUB	Independent anikoto.cz catalog with multiple embedded-player servers
  AniDB.app	English sub/dub	Independent native catalog; may request in-app Cloudflare verification
  Desu	Polish subtitles	Polish catalog and supported provider mirrors
  Docchi	Polish subtitles	Experimental; adult entries require an explicit settings opt-in

• Play direct HLS/video sources in the native player or use supported embedded players.

• Switch servers, resolutions, subtitle tracks, and sub/dub mode when the source supports them.

• Picture-in-picture and optional native browser video controls.

• Resume playback from locally stored history.

• Open provider pages in the system browser when AniPlay cannot resolve a compatible in-app stream.

• Provider-specific service notices can warn about outages or compatibility changes.

Source availability, subtitles, native playback, and download support vary by provider and episode.

Contributor documentation for provider workflows is available in docs/ANIDB-PROVIDER.md and docs/ANIKOTO2-PROVIDER.md.

• Choose the magnet action directly on a title in Browse, optionally specify a season, enter an episode, and review Nyaa releases without starting the catalog provider. Torrent remains available from active or unavailable episodes too.
• Review ranked releases before starting anything. Exact episode matches, trusted uploads, seed count, resolution, and codec influence ordering; batch releases provide a file picker.
• Stream MP4, WebM, and M4V files inside AniPlay. Install mpv for MKV and other containers unsupported by Chromium.
• See live peer count, transfer speeds, and selected-file progress while watching.
• Configure the cache folder, size limit, deletion policy, bandwidth limits, and mpv path under Settings -> Downloads.

Torrent playback is opt-in and never starts as an automatic provider fallback. BitTorrent is peer-to-peer: other peers can see your public IP address, and AniPlay uploads pieces while a torrent session is active. You are responsible for following the laws and content licences applicable in your region. AniPlay does not bundle media, torrent files, trackers, or a Nyaa mirror, and cannot guarantee Nyaa availability or release metadata.

Torrent streams stay on the local machine and cannot be used with Watch Together. The streaming HTTP endpoint binds only to 127.0.0.1 and uses an unguessable session path.

• Public dashboard with trending, seasonal, and upcoming anime.
• Optional AniList sign-in for personalized lists and recommendations.
• Anime details, descriptions, genres, relations, recommendations, and airing information.
• Add, update, or remove list entries with status, progress, score, and repeat controls.
• Automatic playback-catalog matching with confidence-ranked manual correction.
• Persisted AniList-to-provider mappings and targeted cache invalidation.
• Dedicated profile page with biography, favourites, totals, mean score, watch time, and Anime DNA genre statistics.
• 32 achievements covering library size, completed anime, episodes, total time, discovery, genre-aware goals, and local activity.
• Achievement browser with category and earned/locked filters.
• Locally generated 1200 x 630 profile cards in Hero and Stats styles.
• Related titles and profile favourites open directly inside AniPlay.

AniList activity supplies account-wide statistics. Time-window achievements such as Binge Master, Weekend Warrior, Night Owl, and Golden Week use AniPlay's append-only local viewing ledger and begin accumulating only after the feature is installed.

• Create ephemeral rooms from an actively playing direct video or HLS source, or join with a ten-character room code.
• Synchronize host play, pause, seek, episode, and sub/dub changes while each participant resolves their own provider stream.
• See AniList-linked participants and readiness, use bounded room chat, copy aniplay://watch/<code> invitations, and reconnect after network interruptions.
• Keep the room beside the player on wide screens, open it as an attached desktop drawer, or expand the compact room bar on narrow windows; the create/join dialog closes once playback coordination begins.
• Transfer control to the longest-connected guest if the host does not return within ten seconds.

Watch Together requires AniList sign-in and a controllable non-embed source. It does not send media URLs, provider headers/cookies, watch history, or AniList OAuth tokens to the coordination service. Guest volume, mute, subtitles, fullscreen, and picture-in-picture remain local.

• Queue downloadable sources as MP4 files through bundled FFmpeg.
• Choose a download folder, monitor progress, cancel or retry jobs, clear finished jobs, and reveal completed files.
• One download is processed at a time; interrupted jobs are retained for retry and partial files are cleaned up.
• Optional Discord Rich Presence with anime, episode, sub/dub mode, artwork, pause state, and remaining time.
• Configurable embedded-player ad blocking from EasyList-only through stricter uBlock-based presets.
• GitHub-backed update checks and in-app update installation for packaged Windows installer builds.
• English and Polish interface languages, custom accent colors, notification sounds, and safe graphics mode.

Portable Windows builds cannot update themselves in place. Download a newer portable release manually. Automatic installation is also unavailable in development and current Linux builds.

For quick help, provider status updates, and test-build discussion, join the AniPlay Discord:

discord.gg/9SXX6ddpNR

Confirmed bugs and provider breakage should be reported through GitHub Issues.

• Node.js 20.19+ or 22.12+ (22.x LTS recommended).
• npm, using the lockfile included in the repository.
• Windows 10/11 for the primary development and packaging workflow.
• Git for cloning and normal contribution workflows.
• Optional: mpv in PATH, or configured under Settings, for torrent containers Chromium cannot play.

Linux packaging requires the host tools expected by Electron Builder. Linux output is available but receives less coverage than Windows. macOS is not currently configured.

git clone https://github.com/vorlie/AniPlayV2.git
cd AniPlayV2\ani-cli-gui
npm ci
npm run dev

npm install can be used during dependency development, but npm ci is preferred for a reproducible checkout.

Run these from ani-cli-gui/.

• Renderer assets: ani-cli-gui/dist/
• Electron main/preload bundles: ani-cli-gui/dist-electron/
• Windows unpacked app: ani-cli-gui/dist/win-unpacked/
• Portable, installer, and Linux artifacts: ani-cli-gui/dist/
• Electron Forge output: ani-cli-gui/out/

The first packaging run can take longer while Electron tooling prepares binaries. Windows Defender or other antivirus software can also slow portable executable creation.

AniPlay bundles its public AniList client ID, so normal users do not need to configure one. The registered OAuth redirect is:

http://127.0.0.1:42819/anilist/callback

Developers and forks can override the client ID:

$env:ANILIST_CLIENT_ID = "your-client-id"
npm run dev

VITE_ANILIST_CLIENT_ID is also recognized for compatibility. No client secret is used or bundled. The account token is encrypted with Electron safeStorage and stored in the Electron user-data directory. AniPlay uses Electron's asynchronous credential provider when available, which supports the Secret portal and Secret Service on Linux, and retains compatibility with tokens encrypted by the older synchronous backend.

Safe graphics mode can also be enabled persistently in Settings or for one launch with --safe-graphics.

AniPlay keeps application state in Electron's user-data directory. In a packaged Windows build this is normally under %APPDATA%\AniPlay.

Stored data includes:

• Encrypted AniList authentication token, short-lived API cache, and playback mappings.
• Download queue/history and the selected download directory.
• Torrent consent and settings; cached torrent pieces are stored in the configured local cache directory.
• Ad-block settings, remote-notice state, Discord setting, graphics setting, and synchronized cipher data.
• An append-only viewing-events.v1.jsonl ledger and rebuildable viewing-summary.v1.json aggregate.
• Renderer preferences and up to 100 resume-history entries in Chromium local storage.

Profile images and AllAnime diagnostic JSON files are generated locally through native save dialogs. AniPlay does not upload them to a separate sharing service.

Normal application features still contact their respective services: playback providers, AniList, GitHub update endpoints, the provider-status endpoint, the optional Watch Together coordination Worker, filter-list hosts, image hosts, and Discord Desktop when Rich Presence is enabled. Opt-in torrent playback also contacts Nyaa for RSS discovery and exchanges torrent data directly with peers.

Rich Presence is disabled by default. Enable it under Settings -> Player -> Discord Rich Presence.

• Discord Desktop must be running locally.
• AniList-linked playback can use the anime cover and AniList page.
• Catalog-only playback uses AniPlay's fallback artwork.
• Pausing freezes the remaining-time display; ending or closing playback clears the activity.

Enable Settings -> Advanced -> Safe graphics mode and restart. If the UI is inaccessible, launch with either:

$env:ANIPLAY_SAFE_GRAPHICS = "1"
npm run dev

or pass --safe-graphics to the packaged executable. Safe mode disables hardware acceleration.

Test the unpacked executable first:

ani-cli-gui\dist\win-unpacked\AniPlay.exe

For a clean application build:

cd ani-cli-gui
npm run build:ui
npm run pack:dir

Check Electron main-process output for renderer, provider, or FFmpeg errors.

• Check in-app provider notices.
• Try another provider, server, or sub/dub mode.
• Use the browser fallback when offered.
• If strict ad blocking is active, retry with EasyList-only because aggressive lists can break fragile embeds.
• For AllAnime failures, refresh the cipher map and inspect/export the runtime crypto diagnostics.

JW Player error 233011 means a media request failed its cross-origin credential check; it is not an application-folder permission error. AniPlay leaves iframe-owned media credentials and CORS responses to the provider. If it still occurs, note the selected provider and server, retry with ad blocking disabled, and try another server or network. See the JW Player error reference.

Seahorse is a keyring manager, but its presence alone does not mean the Secret Service daemon is running, unlocked, and reachable through the current desktop D-Bus session. Confirm that DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS is set and that GNOME Keyring or KWallet is running in the same graphical session as AniPlay.

For GNOME, Cinnamon, XFCE, and similar desktops, AniPlay can be launched once with Electron's explicit backend selection:

./AniPlay.AppImage --password-store=gnome-libsecret

KDE users can select the matching installed wallet version with --password-store=kwallet6 or --password-store=kwallet5. If an explicit backend works, check the desktop's autostart and PAM keyring integration rather than permanently launching an unlocked keyring by hand. Avoid --password-store=basic: Electron documents that backend as plaintext-grade fallback protection.

AniPlayV2/
├─ ani-cli-gui/
│  ├─ electron/          Electron main process, providers, services, downloads
│  ├─ src/               React renderer, pages, components, shared types
│  ├─ public/            Static application assets
│  ├─ scripts/           Maintenance and launch helpers
│  ├─ package.json       Scripts, dependencies, Electron Builder config
│  └─ forge.config.cjs   Optional Electron Forge configuration
├─ ignore/               Local/upstream maintenance inputs and generated snapshots
├─ release-notes.md      Current release notes
└─ LICENSE               GNU GPL v3

Tests are colocated with the relevant renderer components and Electron services.

AniPlay is distributed under the GNU General Public License v3. Third-party notices included with packaged builds are available in ani-cli-gui/THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.