Install

monloader runs as a container next to monbooru. It needs a monbooru instance to push into; nothing else is required to start. To bring up the whole stack from scratch, see the quick start.

Quick start

monloader ships as a commented-out service in monbooru’s docker/docker-compose.yml, so enabling it there puts the two containers on one network with no extra wiring.

  1. Uncomment the monloader service in monbooru’s compose file and start it:

    docker compose up -d monloader

  2. Open http://localhost:8081. The shipped compose publishes the port on 127.0.0.1 only; to reach monloader from another machine on your network, adjust the ports: line.

  3. Pair it with monbooru: see pairing. Approving the request issues the API tokens automatically.

  4. In monloader’s settings, pick a default gallery and save.

  5. Paste a URL into the command bar on the home screen and press Enter. The downloading guide explains what happens next.

On first run monloader writes /config/monloader.toml with defaults, plus a managed gallery-dl.json next to it. Most settings are editable from the Settings page; the full reference, including the environment variables that override any TOML key, is in configuration.

Volumes

Mount Purpose
/config Persistent: monloader.toml, the managed gallery-dl.json, the gallery-dl download archive, and cookies files.
/ptr Optional: the local Hydrus PTR tag index, only if you enable the PTR lookup. Expect more than 70 GB. See Hydrus PTR.

monloader also uses an internal /work directory as scratch space for downloads; files are deleted from it after each successful push (it doesn’t need to be mounted). If you want it RAM-backed, give it a tmpfs mount instead.

Podman

A Quadlet unit ships at docker/monloader.container in the monloader repository, with the same volumes and hardening as the compose service.