v1.1.7beta

gdlEX — The Companion App for gallery-dl

Version 1.1.7 — First Public Beta

gdlEX is a modern Windows companion application for gallery-dl.
It’s more than a GUI, it’s a workflow engine, automation layer, rename/post‑processing system, and session manager built around the real-world needs of gallery-dl users.

This beta focuses on stability, predictable behavior, and a polished user experience.

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🎯 What Is gdlEX?

gdlEX extends gallery-dl with:

• A clean, Windows-native interface
• Automation (watch folders, scheduling, cookie rotation)
• Post-processing (rename engine, CBZ creation, cleanup)
• Privacy tools
• Session tracking
• Optional integrations (FFmpeg, yt-dlp, webhooks)

gdlEX does not replace gallery-dl — it enhances it.

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🚀 Features Overview

Below are two separate sections:

1. gallery-dl features exposed through gdlEX
2. gdlEX-exclusive companion features

This makes it clear what comes from gallery-dl and what gdlEX adds on top.

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1️⃣ Features Powered Directly by gallery-dl

These are native gallery-dl capabilities that gdlEX exposes through a clean UI.

✔ Download Modes

• Single URL
• Multi‑URL queue
• Text file input
• URL-only extraction (no download)
• Metadata-only JSON dump

✔ Naming & Templates

• Default gallery-dl templates
• Original filename
• ID-only
• Date + filename
• Username + ID
• Category + ID
• Custom template input

✔ Filtering & Input Rules

• File filter expressions
• Date before / after
• File range selection
• Min/max file size
• MIME type filtering

✔ Network & Connection Options

• Retries, timeout, sleep, rate limit
• Sleep per request
• Proxy support
• Custom User-Agent
• IPv4/IPv6 forcing
• SSL certificate bypass

✔ Authentication

• OAuth token
• API key
• Browser cookie extraction
• Cookies.txt rotation

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2️⃣ gdlEX Companion Features (Exclusive Enhancements)

These features do not exist in gallery-dl — they are added by gdlEX to improve workflow, automation, and usability.

🖥️ UI & Workflow Enhancements

• Modern Windows UI with theme support
• System tray integration
• Close-to-tray + tray notifications
• Styled output console with privacy filtering
• Session resume (queue + output folder)
• Live file-type tally in Privacy Mode
• Output trimming that preserves privacy markers

⚙️ Automation Engine

• Watch Folder: auto-import URLs from new files
• Scheduler: run downloads at a specific daily time
• Auto-run queue when new URLs appear
• Completion actions:
  • None
  • Open output folder
  • Play sound
  • Run external script

🧩 Post-Processing System

• Rename operations:
  • Remove emoji
  • Remove punctuation
  • Remove spaces
  • Trim filename length
  • Remove custom substring
  • Extension swap (jpeg → jpg, etc.)
• Rename-on-failure mode
• Automatic CBZ creation
• Empty-folder pruning
• Unique filename generation
• Windows-safe path handling

🔄 Session Intelligence

• Files processed
• CBZ archives created
• Success/failure state
• Session receipts
• Optional output logs
• Download archive support
• File-type accumulation + summary

🌐 Integrations

• FFmpeg (optional)
• yt-dlp fallback
• Webhook notifications (JSON POST)

🔒 Privacy & Safety

• Privacy Mode hides sensitive output
• URL and argument redaction
• Live file-type tally replaces filenames
• No sensitive data written to logs unless enabled

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🆚 What’s New in 1.1.7 Beta vs 0.0.9.9 Alpha

✔ Major Stability Improvements

• Hardened process control (job object cleanup, safer termination)
• More reliable pause/resume behavior
• Thread lifecycle fixes (no more orphaned threads)
• Safer shutdown path

✔ Privacy Mode Overhaul

• Debug URL/Args fully hidden
• Rename/ext-swap lines suppressed
• Live tally system rewritten
• Output trimming now preserves privacy markers

✔ Automation Fixes

• Watch Folder priming fixed
• Schedule timer deduplication
• No more double-runs or race conditions

✔ UI & Behavior Improvements

• Simulate Mode now persists correctly
• Tray behavior fixed (close-to-tray, notifications, restore)
• Settings form consistency fixes
• INI loading and saving hardened
• Improved session restore logic

✔ Companion Feature Enhancements

• Rename engine reliability improved
• CBZ creation more stable
• Webhook posting hardened
• Completion actions more predictable

✔ Branding & Identity

• Application identity standardized as gdlEX
• Internal naming, logs, and receipts updated
• First official Companion App positioning

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📦 Requirements

• Windows 10 or later
• gallery-dl.exe in the same folder as gdlEX
• Optional:
  • ffmpeg.exe
  • yt-dlp.exe
  • Cookies.txt or browser profile access

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🧪 Beta Notes

This is the first public beta.
Please report issues, crashes, UI quirks, or feature requests on GitHub.

Your feedback directly shapes the 1.1.x → 1.2.x roadmap.

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❤️ Support Development

If you enjoy gdlEX and want to support future updates:

Ko‑fi: https://ko-fi.com/superevil

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📄 License

MIT License

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VirusTotal Scan:
https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/58fd1c4875d8dc0db551db50df7ca2bb559c0318800ede80a34be6361a3c510b

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🙌 Credits

• gallery-dl by mikf — the core downloader powering everything
• gdlEX by Superevil Enterprises — companion app, UI, automation, and enhancements

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🖼️ Screenshots

gdlEX (0.0.9.9 alpha)

gdlEX — 0.0.9.9 alpha

Windows desktop GUI frontend for gallery-dl, built with Delphi.

This is the last alpha release before the beta cycle.

Release Progression

• v0.0.6.6-alpha established the public alpha baseline:
  • single URL and queue download modes
  • live output and file-count display
  • settings persistence via INI
  • rename/sanitization tools and CBZ support
  • cookie extraction UI and filename templates
• v0.0.9.9 alpha adds hardening and branding updates:
  • program identity standardized as gdlEX
  • session log naming standardized as gdlEX_session_*.txt
  • INI path standardized to gdlEX.ini
  • safer close/shutdown path and tray-close behavior
  • safer post-process option handling in threaded execution
  • documentation/comment cleanup for release prep
  • FFmpeg integration: Settings UI was not connected to the downloader in alpha; the option is disabled in the UI until beta wiring is complete

Current Feature Set

• Single URL and multi-URL queue workflows
• Real-time process output with file-count progress updates
• Pause / Resume controls (full process-tree suspension)
• Session persistence for queue and output folder
• Rename/post-process tools:
  • emoji, punctuation, space, and custom-string cleanup
  • extension swap
  • optional filename length trim
• Optional CBZ archive creation
• Cookie extraction (browser or cookie file)
• Filtering and network options (range/date/size/MIME, retries, timeout, proxy, user-agent)
• Optional tray icon and close-to-tray behavior

Alpha-Locked Items (Planned For Beta)

The following UI options are intentionally disabled in 0.0.9.9 alpha:

• Watch-folder automation
• Scheduled run automation
• Completion actions (open folder / sound / script)
• Webhook notifications
• FFmpeg integration (custom FFmpeg path for gallery-dl): not passed through to the launched process in alpha; controls are disabled to match

Requirements

• Windows 10/11
• gallery-dl.exe in the same folder as gdlEX.exe

Optional:

• Browser profile access or cookie file for authenticated downloads
• yt-dlp if Use yt-dlp Fallback is enabled in Settings (this integration is wired; FFmpeg is deferred to beta—see above)

Run

1. Place gdlEX.exe in the same folder as gallery-dl.exe.
2. Launch gdlEX.exe.
3. Select an output folder.
4. Add one URL or paste a queue.
5. Adjust any custom settings
6. Click Run.

VirusTotals Scan

gdl-phi - Alpha Test Release

This is the first public alpha release of g-dlphi, a Windows GUI frontend for gallery-dl.

gdl-phi - GUI Frontend for gallery-dl (Alpha Test Release)

Overview
gdl-phi is a Windows desktop application that provides a graphical interface for gallery-dl, allowing users to download images, videos, and other media without using command-line arguments. This tool is intended for testing and feedback during early development.

What the Program Does
• Provides a full GUI wrapper around gallery-dl.exe
• Supports single URL downloads
• Supports multi-URL batch downloading
• Automatically builds gallery-dl arguments based on user settings
• Displays live output and file counts
• Saves and restores sessions (URLs and output folder)
• Allows pausing and resuming downloads
• Uses Windows Job Objects for safe process termination
• Saves all settings to an INI file

Features Added Beyond gallery-dl
These features are not part of gallery-dl and are unique to this GUI:

Rename and Sanitization Tools
• Remove emojis
• Remove punctuation
• Remove spaces
• Remove a custom string
• Trim filenames to a maximum length
• Swap file extensions (example: m4v to mp4)

CBZ Archiving
• Automatically compress downloaded folders into .cbz comic archives

Cookie Extraction UI
• Extract cookies from installed browsers
• Or select a cookie file manually

Filename Template Builder
• Default
• Original filename
• ID only
• Date + filename
• Username + ID
• Category + ID
• Custom template

Multi-URL Queue Mode
• Paste a list of URLs
• Automatically creates subfolders
• Saves progress between sessions
• Resumes where you left off

Output Logging
• Optionally save a log file to the output directory after each download

Requirements
• Windows 10 or Windows 11
• gallery-dl.exe must be placed in the same folder as this program
• Python installation if required by your gallery-dl setup

Installation

Download the ZIP release

Extract it anywhere

Place gallery-dl.exe in the same folder as this program

Run g-dlphi.exe

Known Limitations (Alpha)
• Only Windows is supported at this time
• macOS and Linux versions are planned
• Some rename operations may behave differently depending on filenames
• Output parsing is basic and may not detect all file events
• UI polish and error handling will improve over time

Contact for Requests and Bug Reports
If you find a bug or want to request a feature, open an issue and I'll have a look

VirusTotals Scan

Disclaimer
This program is a third-party GUI and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by gallery-dl or its developers.
gallery-dl is the property of its respective owner(s).
This program does not modify, redistribute, or include gallery-dl.
Users are responsible for complying with the Terms of Service of any website they download from.
The author of this program is not responsible for misuse of gallery-dl or this application.