rewget

wget, but it works everywhere.

A drop-in wget replacement that automatically bypasses bot protection. When sites block wget with 403s or CAPTCHAs, rewget seamlessly retries with browser-like TLS fingerprints and JavaScript rendering.

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Quick Start

# Install via Homebrew (macOS / Linux)
brew install neul-labs/tap/rewget

# Or use the install script
curl -fsSL https://rewget.dev/install.sh | sh

# Windows (PowerShell)
irm https://rewget.dev/install.ps1 | iex

Use it exactly like wget:

rewget https://example.com/file.tar.gz

That's it. If the site blocks wget, rewget automatically retries with browser emulation.

Why rewget?

Problem	Solution
Site returns 403 Forbidden	Retries with Chrome/Firefox TLS fingerprint
CAPTCHA or challenge page	Runs headless browser to solve it
Rate limited (429)	Progressive fallback with session reuse
Works in browser but not wget	rewget makes it work

Usage

Basic download (automatic fallback on block):

rewget https://example.com/file.tar.gz

Scripting mode (fail fast, no retries):

rewget --rewget-no-fallback https://example.com/file.tar.gz

Force JavaScript preflight (for sites that always need a browser):

rewget --rewget-js https://example.com/

Choose specific browser profile:

rewget --rewget-profile=firefox136 https://example.com/

List available profiles:

rewget --rewget-list-profiles
# Chrome 131/130, Firefox 136/133, Safari 18, Edge 131

All standard wget options work unchanged. Add --rewget-* flags for enhanced behavior.

How It Works

rewget uses a 3-stage fallback strategy:

Stage 1: wget          Fast, zero overhead
    ↓ (blocked?)
Stage 2: Impersonate   Browser TLS/HTTP2 fingerprint
    ↓ (still blocked?)
Stage 3: JS Preflight  Real headless browser

• Stage 1: Runs plain wget. If it succeeds, you get the exact same output.
• Stage 2: Retries with rquest using Chrome/Firefox TLS fingerprints.
• Stage 3: Launches headless Chromium to handle JavaScript challenges.

Results are cached per-domain (7-day TTL), so subsequent requests skip straight to the working stage.

Installation

Package Managers

# Homebrew (macOS / Linux)
brew install neul-labs/tap/rewget

# Cargo (from source)
cargo install rewget

Direct Download

# Linux/macOS
curl -fsSL https://rewget.dev/install.sh | sh

# Windows PowerShell
irm https://rewget.dev/install.ps1 | iex

Shell Completions

# Bash
eval "$(rewget --rewget-completions=bash)"

# Zsh
eval "$(rewget --rewget-completions=zsh)"

# Fish
rewget --rewget-completions=fish | source

Use as Default wget

# Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
alias wget='rewget'

CLI Reference

Flag	Description
--rewget-no-fallback	Disable automatic retry on block
--rewget-js	Force JavaScript preflight (Stage 3)
--rewget-js-wait=EVENT	Wait condition: load, domcontentloaded, networkidle
--rewget-profile=NAME	Use specific browser profile
--rewget-fallback-codes=N,N	Only retry on these HTTP status codes
--rewget-engine=wget|wget2	Choose wget engine
--rewget-list-profiles	List available browser profiles
--rewget-update-profiles	Fetch latest profiles (Ed25519 verified)
--rewget-version	Show rewget version

See man rewget or the CLI Reference for full details.

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For Developers

Architecture

┌─────────┐     ┌─────────┐     ┌─────────────┐
│  rewget  │────▶│ rewgetd  │────▶│  Chromium   │
│  (CLI)  │ IPC │(daemon) │     │ (Stage 3)   │
└─────────┘     └─────────┘     └─────────────┘
     │               │
     │               ├── rquest (Stage 2 impersonation)
     │               └── Browser profile pool
     │
     └── wget/wget2 engine (Stage 1)

• rewget: Thin CLI shim, parses --rewget-* flags, forwards everything else to wget
• rewgetd: Daemon handling Stage 2/3, manages browser pool and TLS sessions
• rewget-core: Shared library with detection, caching, and profile logic

Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/neul-labs/rewget
cd rewget
cargo build --release

# Binaries in target/release/
./target/release/rewget --rewget-version

Running Tests

cargo test
# 42 tests covering all stages and edge cases

Project Structure

crates/
├── rewget/       # CLI binary
├── rewgetd/      # Daemon binary
└── rewget-core/  # Shared library
docs/
├── architecture.md
├── cli.md
├── daemon.md
└── ...

Tech Stack

• Rust with Tokio async runtime
• rquest for TLS/HTTP2 fingerprint impersonation
• chromiumoxide for headless browser control
• nng for IPC between CLI and daemon
• mimalloc for optimized memory allocation

Documentation

Document	Description
Installation	Platform-specific setup
Overview	Goals and terminology
Architecture	Execution flow and stages
CLI Reference	All flags and options
Impersonation	TLS fingerprinting details
Daemon	Daemon internals

License

Dual-licensed under MIT or Apache-2.0.

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Built with Rust. Made for humans who just want downloads to work.