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GamesDownloader Wiki

Welcome to the official documentation for GamesDownloader - a self-hosted game library manager built around game preservation. This wiki is the complete manual: installation, configuration, every feature, and the plugin development reference.

Looking for a quick overview or the feature highlights? See the project README. This wiki is the in-depth companion to it.

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New here? Start with these

1. Installation - get GamesDownloader running with Docker Compose in a few minutes.
2. Reverse Proxy & HTTPS - put it behind nginx/openresty with proper headers (only if you expose it beyond your LAN).
3. Configuration - the setup wizard, settings pages, and every environment variable explained.

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Documentation map

Getting Started

• Installation - requirements, Docker Compose, first boot, updating.
• Reverse Proxy & HTTPS - trusted proxies, forwarded headers, HSTS, public base URL.

Configuration

• Configuration - environment variables, the 7-step setup wizard, settings overview.
• Scrapers & Metadata - IGDB, RAWG, ScreenScraper, SteamGridDB, LaunchBox, HLTB: where to get keys and how matching works.
• Email & Notifications - SMTP, security alerts, webhooks (Discord, generic JSON).
• Network & Security - brute-force protection, 2FA, IP allowlist, download tokens, CORS.

Features

• Library - GOG, Custom Games, and the CUSTOM folder layout.
• Collections - grouping titles, home tiles, artwork.
• GOG Integration - per-user accounts, sync, publishing, deduplication.
• ROMs & Emulation - scanning, platform folders, in-browser play, save states.
• Downloads & Torrents - packaging, speed limits, seeding, shareable tokens.
• Users & Permissions - roles, per-game access, sessions, SSO.
• Themes - Modern, Classic, colour skins, and theme plugins.

Plugin Development

• Plugin Development - manifest, backend hooks, the window.__GD__ frontend bridge, packaging, publishing.
• Plugin Trust Model - what a plugin can do and why you should only install ones you trust.

Reference

• Security - the threat model and everything that hardens the server.
• Troubleshooting & FAQ - common issues and their fixes.

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Community

Questions, ideas, or want to share your library? Join the Discord server.

GamesDownloader is self-hostable, forkable, and AGPL-3.0 licensed. See the README for licensing details.