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Download Manager Architecture

The download manager is a desktop-only feature that layers a curated queue, progress tracking, storage configuration, and playback controls on top of the existing Xtream (libs/portal/xtream) + Stalker (libs/portal/stalker) portal views. Backend work is handled in the Electron process while the Angular renderer exposes the global /workspace/downloads page, source-scoped route variants, contextual buttons, and theme-aware styling.

Backend responsibilities

  • Queue control (apps/electron-backend/src/app/events/database/download-runtime.ts) DownloadTask mirrors a row of the shared downloads table (type Download in libs/shared/database/src/lib/schema.ts) plus transient cancel/pause/progress helpers (shared task types live in download-task.ts). Request validation and row creation live in download-requests.ts, while downloads.events.ts stays focused on IPC registration. enqueueDownload() pushes the task onto downloadQueue and triggers processQueue(). processQueue() keeps one active download, updates the row to downloading, and calls startDownload(). The byte transfer itself lives in download-transfer.ts, finalization and retained-partial persistence in download-finalize.ts, and the renderer update broadcast in download-broadcast.ts.
  • Range-aware transfer (download-transfer.ts) The transfer streams the response through the backend's validated Axios redirect helper instead of electron-dl. Headers (user agent, referer, origin) are persisted in request_headers and re-applied through the same allowlist when read back on retry/resume. Active pause/cancel operations abort the current request with AbortController; pause keeps the partial file and cancel removes it. Resume checks the existing .part size (rejecting anything that is not a regular file, so a symlink planted while paused is never followed) and sends Range: bytes=<offset>- plus If-Range with the stored entity validator. The first response's strong ETag (or Last-Modified) is persisted in resume_validator for exactly this purpose. A 206 Partial Content answer must start at the requested offset (Content-Range is verified) before bytes are appended; any other 2xx answer — the server ignoring Range, or If-Range detecting that the remote file changed — restarts the transfer from byte zero over the same .part instead of failing the download.
  • Destination collision policy Existing destination files are never overwritten, inspected, or deleted. Before starting a new transfer, the backend atomically reserves a free numbered .part path while leaving the final destination path absent. The selected final filePath and fileName are persisted before transfer begins. When a retained download's recorded destination got occupied while it was paused or failed (for example by a file the user created), the retained .part is renamed aside and finalized to the next free numbered destination (Movie (1).mp4) instead of resolving the collision by size or unlink(). Completion creates the final filePath from the .part without overwriting an existing file; cancel and ordinary transfer failures remove the .part, while finalization failures and completed-partial failures deliberately retain it (the row keeps filePath so a later retry can finish without re-downloading); pause and restart recovery keep it for a later resume. Re-downloading such a failed row from a detail page (DOWNLOADS_START) deletes the retained .part before the row is reset.
  • Derived file readiness and recovery DOWNLOADS_GET_LIST and DOWNLOADS_GET inspect completed destinations on every read. Only regular, non-symbolic-link files are reported as available; missing paths, directories, symlinks, and inspection errors are reported as missing without changing the persisted completed transfer status. DOWNLOADS_REDOWNLOAD_MISSING accepts only the managed row id, rechecks the file, and returns a recovered result without network access when it has reappeared. Otherwise it conditionally claims the completed row, preserves its owned destination, re-applies the stored header allowlist and URL safety policy, and enqueues a fresh transfer without overwriting an existing file.
  • IPC surface
    The backend exposes DOWNLOADS_* handlers for list retrieval, start/pause/resume/cancel/retry/missing-file recovery/remove operations, folder selection/reveal, and the DOWNLOADS_UPDATE_EVENT emitter that the renderer listens to in order to refresh its signal store.

Renderer architecture

  • Downloads service (libs/services/src/lib/downloads.service.ts) DownloadsService.downloads is the renderer's authoritative global list. loadDownloads() therefore always invokes the Electron list IPC without its legacy optional playlist scope. Route scope, category, and search must never replace or narrow that signal. Overlapping loads are request-ordered so a late response cannot replace a newer snapshot. Before each fresh download or resume the service asks the main process for an authorized folder and calls the corresponding IPC command. The onDownloadsUpdate broadcast triggers a new global load.
  • Pure manager model (download-manager.viewmodel.ts and download-library.viewmodel.ts) derives the current route scope, search/category filtering, queue partitions, stable ordering, counts, and tracked byte total without mutating service state. queued, downloading, and paused rows form the active surface; failed and canceled rows form the attention surface. A completed row whose derived file availability is missing also enters attention with a dedicated recovery reason; only available completed rows enter the offline library. Completed episodes with a valid seriesXtreamId are grouped by (playlistId, seriesXtreamId), ordered by season and episode, and represented by one poster card. Episodes without a usable series id remain standalone cards so they never disappear.
  • Downloads workspace (libs/portal/downloads/feature) keeps orchestration in DownloadsComponent, async mutations in the component-scoped DownloadManagerActionsService, source-route resolution in DownloadLibraryNavigationService, and rendering in the presentational DownloadQueueComponent, DownloadLibraryComponent, and DownloadedSeriesDialogComponent. Presentational children emit typed DownloadItemAction values and do not inject the download service, router, dialogs, or snackbars. The fixed header and filter row sit above one vertical scroll owner. The queue uses compact progress rows with status text and icons; completed movies and grouped series reuse the portal's canonical content grid. Both completed cards and their loading skeleton consume the global --cover-grid-min-width / --cover-gap tokens, so the Small, Medium, and Large cover preference behaves like it does elsewhere in the app. All surfaces use the existing --app-* and Material system tokens. Ready cards do not repeat an Offline badge; source provenance is available at the top of their overflow menus. The global workspace download shortcut displays the service's active count, while the page badge and filter counts reflect the current route scope.
  • Honest interactions Every asynchronous item command owns a pending id until the IPC result settles, preventing duplicate dispatch without optimistically changing a status. Service failures surface through the established snackbar path. Removing a completed entry explicitly says the finalized media file remains on disk. Removing a paused, failed, or canceled entry says retained partial data is deleted. “Clear finished” communicates both outcomes and preserves playlist scope when the page is opened under a source route. VOD and episode detail views continue to render a paused download as an active Resume button (DownloadsService.isPaused() / resumeDownloadByContent()). Artwork and titles on completed movie and grouped-series cards open the provider detail page; the explicit Play action starts the local file. A legacy standalone episode without a usable series id stays directly playable because there is no reliable detail route to open. Missing completed rows show File missing with Download again; Play and Show in folder are withheld. A file-action race that returns File not found refreshes the authoritative list before pending state clears.

Offline detail playback

  • A completed VOD with an available finalized file renders an Offline tag on both rich and fallback detail shells. Its primary action plays the downloaded file, while a neutral “Play from this source” action, when a usable provider source is available, preserves the existing provider, pinned-source, resume, and restart path.
  • A completed row whose file is missing does not advertise Offline or local playback on details; the provider playback path remains primary.
  • Managed MPV/VLC state remains authoritative: Opening disables conflicting playback actions, and Stop closes the matched external session before any local or provider choice can run.
  • Detail metadata still comes from the owning Xtream or Stalker provider. Download rows do not cache a standalone offline detail payload in this MVP, so a provider that is unavailable may prevent the detail shell from loading; the explicit Play action on the download card remains available for the local file.

Global API surface

  • Preload + types
    apps/electron-backend/src/app/api/main.preload.ts wires every download IPC command plus the onDownloadsUpdate listener to window.electron. The shared ElectronBridgeApi contract in libs/shared/interfaces/src/lib/electron-api.interface.ts owns the download and playback-position method types; global.d.ts and apps/web/src/typings.d.ts reference that contract instead of redeclaring the bridge.

Routing and navigation

  • The global workspace is /workspace/downloads. Source-scoped variants are available under both portal flavors: /workspace/xtreams/:id/downloads and /workspace/stalker/:id/downloads. All three routes render the same global store; the :id routes derive a view-only playlist scope.
  • Downloads navigation is data-driven: libs/portal/shared/util/src/lib/navigation/portal-rail-links.ts emits a downloads section link (path: [...root, 'downloads']) for both portals, so they reuse the same download page.

Queuing, persistence, and UX notes

  • Every download row writes to the shared downloads table with statuses (queued, downloading, paused, completed, failed, canceled) plus metadata such as bytesDownloaded, totalBytes, errorMessage, requestHeaders, resumeValidator, and Xtream identifiers. Existing SQLite tables are rebuilt on startup when their status CHECK still lacks paused; the resume_validator column is added through the idempotent column migrations.
  • On startup, download-recovery.ts converts stale downloading rows with a non-empty .part file to paused, converts stale queued rows to paused while keeping any retained .part (a resumed download waiting behind an active one persists as queued with its partial), and marks stale downloading rows without recoverable partial bytes as failed.
  • Queue cancellation removes a queued task or records an active cancellation request and aborts the request when available. Pausing follows the same abort path but persists paused and keeps the .part. Retries reuse the same database entry: a failed row with a retained filePath resumes its .part through HTTP Range, otherwise the retry starts from zero. Resume appends to the existing .part through HTTP Range with If-Range validation.
  • A .part that cannot be deleted (locked, permission denied) never loses its database path: cancel persists canceled while retaining filePath for later cleanup, and DOWNLOADS_REMOVE keeps the row and answers success: false (surfaced as a snackbar) so retrying the remove re-attempts the deletion once the lock is released.
  • Resume claims the row atomically (paused → queued as a conditional update) and the runtime queue rejects duplicate ids, so two rapid Resume clicks racing the status refresh can never produce two transfers for the same download.
  • A response that ends cleanly before the advertised representation size (for example a proxy that caps each response) is never committed as completed: the transfer fails with Transfer ended before the advertised size while retaining the .part and filePath, so a retry continues via Range from where it stopped.
  • Retained filePaths recorded in the database stay usable after the user switches download folders — resume/retry of a retained row does not re-require the folder to be the current selection. Fresh downloads still authorize against the currently selected folder.
  • Startup recovery recognizes a finalization that crashed between creating the final file and committing the row (downloading row, no partial, final file present with the recorded size) and marks it completed instead of failing it and orphaning the file.
  • Pause/resume is covered end to end by apps/electron-backend-e2e/src/downloads.e2e.ts: a throttled Range-capable mock server verifies the paused .part on disk, the Range/If-Range resume request, and byte-exact assembly of the final file.
  • The OS downloads path is always authorized. A custom folder becomes authorized only after native folder selection, and the main process persists that selection under Electron userData. Renderer settings may display the path, but they are not trusted as authorization.
  • The manager's search and All/Movies/Series/In progress filters affect visible queue and library entities only. The tracked-byte summary deliberately ignores search/category filtering while honoring route scope, so hiding a card never makes its disk footprint appear to vanish.

Keeping the backend queue, IPC handlers, shared schema, and renderer signals synchronized minimizes drift between platform rules and the UI. Future work might cover an offline metadata snapshot for provider-independent details, recordings, queue reordering, bulk pause/cancel actions, disk-free space telemetry, or playback analytics.