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Overview
Motrix is a clean, full-featured desktop download manager for HTTP, FTP, BitTorrent, magnet links, and more.
Motrix Turbo is Motrix v2, rebuilt from the ground up with Electron, React, and TypeScript while keeping the clean, straightforward experience of v1. The download core is independent of the UI. Browser extensions and command-line tools communicate with the app over MDXP (Motrix Download eXchange Protocol), an open protocol built on JSON-RPC 2.0, while plugins run in isolated sandboxes.
The same core powers two ways to run Motrix:
- Desktop app: Runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux
- Headless server: Runs without a desktop environment, either directly on Node.js or in Docker, and includes a web UI for NAS devices and home servers
Motrix 2.4.1
On Windows, downloads now try the remaining resolved server addresses when a connection fails.
This release also updates the translation libraries used by the desktop app, Web UI and Server CLI.
Download v2.4.1 from GitHub Releases
and read the full release notes.
Back up your existing Motrix profile and downloads before upgrading. The bundled
engine upgrades its SQLite database to schema 6 and keeps a pre-upgrade backup;
older engines cannot open schema 6. Keep that backup if you may need to downgrade.
The desktop Migration Assistant imports selected v1 tasks as paused records and
preserves the original files. Resuming downloads requires a separate explicit
action. Windows in-place BitTorrent activation requires a supported local NTFS
volume and explicit authorization. See the migration guide
for supported volumes, file permissions, and recovery. Keep the original v1 profile.
Screenshots
Dashboard
Downloads
Settings
✨ Features
- 🕹 Clean, intuitive interface with dark mode
- 🦄 BitTorrent downloads with per-file selection, plus magnet link support
- 📡 Built-in tracker list management with automatic updates and health checks
- 🔌 UPnP and NAT-PMP port mapping
- 🚥 Upload and download limits with multiple speed-limit profiles
- 💾 SQLite-backed sessions that restore downloads after a restart
- 📊 Customizable Dashboard with transfer stats, live activity, and task tiles
- 🔔 System notifications when downloads finish, plus an in-app notification center
- 🧩 QuickJS-based plugin sandboxing, fine-grained permissions, and an in-app marketplace
- 🌐 Motrix Extension for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox hands browser downloads off to Motrix in one click
- ⌨️ Official
@motrix/cli client for everyday shell use and AI agents
- 🐳 Docker-ready headless server with secure device-code pairing for remote CLI and agent clients
- 🎬 Extensible URL Resolver plugins for extracting media from supported sites
- 🤖 System tray integration and launch at startup
- 🌍 Simplified Chinese and English UI, with more languages planned
- 🔗 Handlers for
motrix:// and magnet: links, plus .torrent file associations
🧩 Ecosystem
Motrix extends beyond the desktop app with a shared protocol library, command-line client, browser extensions, and a complete plugin toolchain:
| Project | Distribution | What it does |
|---|
@motrix/mdxp | npm package | Defines the shared JSON-RPC 2.0 wire schemas and Zod types for MDXP, with helpers for bidirectional connections |
@motrix/cli | npm package | Provides the motrix command, automatically discovers a local desktop app, and pairs with remote instances |
| Motrix Extension | Browser extension | Intercepts downloads in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox (Manifest V3), hands them off to Motrix, and pairs securely with the desktop app over native messaging |
| Motrix Plugin SDK | Four npm packages | Includes @motrix/plugin-manifest-schema, @motrix/plugin-api, @motrix/plugin-cli, and create-motrix-plugin for developing, testing, and packaging plugins |
| Builtin Plugins | Signed .moext packages | Includes three official plugins: Filename Template for renaming files from a template before they are saved, Page Scraper for extracting direct file links from HTML pages, and URL Resolver as the foundation for site-specific media resolution |
| Plugin Registry | Public JSON feed | Publishes plugin listings and install metadata at dl.motrix.app/registry/plugins.json for both the website and the in-app marketplace |
CLI quick start
npm install -g @motrix/cli # Requires Node.js 22 or later
motrix add https://example.com/file.iso --save-dir ~/Downloads
motrix list # List downloads
motrix watch --stats # Stream live progress as NDJSON
motrix pair --name my-nas # Pair with a remote or headless instance
Build a plugin
The Motrix Plugin SDK provides the TypeScript API, manifest schema, project scaffolder, and CLI used throughout the plugin development workflow:
pnpm create motrix-plugin my-plugin
cd my-plugin && pnpm install
pnpm dev # Watch-build and launch Motrix with the plugin
pnpm exec motrix-plugin validate # Validate motrix-plugin.json
pnpm run pack # Create dist/<id>-<version>.moext
pnpm exec motrix-plugin lint # Check the packed bundle
This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗
