Mylar3

Mylar3 is a self‑hosted automation engine that streamlines the acquisition, organization, and metadata enrichment of comic book collections. From a developer’s perspective it functions as a service layer that consumes external indexers (NZB, torrent, raw HTTP) and pushes results into a structured file hierarchy while maintaining rich metadata via COMIC‑TAG. The core workflow is event‑driven: a watchlist of series triggers periodic queries against configured indexers; when new releases are detected, Mylar3 orchestrates the download through a chosen client (SABnzbd, NZBGet, or torrent) and subsequently runs post‑processing steps such as renaming, tagging, and JSON generation.

• Language & Runtime: The application is written in Python 3, leveraging the Flask micro‑framework for its web UI and REST endpoints. The codebase is heavily modular, with pluggable back‑ends for each download client and indexer type.
• Database: SQLite is used by default for persistence, storing series metadata, watchlist entries, and download state. The schema is lightweight yet extensible; advanced users can swap to PostgreSQL or MySQL with minimal effort by adjusting the SQLAlchemy URI.
• Front‑End: The UI is a single‑page React application served by Flask. It communicates with the backend via JSON over HTTPS, supporting both browser and mobile access.
• Containerization: A ready‑made Docker image (linuxserver/mylar3) exposes ports for the API and UI, mounts persistent volumes for configuration and comics storage, and supports ARM architectures (Raspberry Pi). This makes deployment in Kubernetes or Docker Compose trivial.

• Indexing & Retrieval: Mylar3 integrates with multiple Newznab, Torrent, and raw HTTP indexers. It exposes a programmatic API (/api/v1/...) for querying upcoming releases, pulling weekly pull‑lists, and initiating downloads.
• Post‑Processing: After a successful download, the system can rename files according to user‑defined templates, apply ComicTagger metadata, and generate series.json descriptors that third‑party catalogues (e.g., ComicRack) can consume.
• Webhooks & Notifications: Built‑in support for Discord, Telegram, Pushbullet, and other notification services allows developers to hook custom logic into snatch or download events.
• Extensibility: The plugin architecture permits adding new indexers, clients, or custom metadata processors. Developers can write Python modules that register with the mylar3.plugins entry point.

Mylar3 is designed for self‑hosting on any platform that supports Python and Docker. Minimal requirements are a CPU capable of handling the periodic indexer queries, 1 GB RAM for the Flask process, and a few gigabytes of disk space for the comics library. For production, a reverse proxy (NGINX/Traefik) is recommended to handle HTTPS termination and basic auth. Scaling horizontally is achievable by running multiple instances behind a load balancer, though the SQLite default limits concurrent writes; swapping to PostgreSQL unlocks true multi‑instance support.

• API: The RESTful API exposes endpoints for series management, pull‑list retrieval, and download control. Authentication is token‑based, enabling integration into CI/CD pipelines or custom dashboards.
• Webhooks: External services can subscribe to events (issue_downloaded, series_updated) via HTTP callbacks, allowing automated workflows such as updating a media server’s library database.
• Custom Scripts: Users can inject Python scripts into the post‑processing pipeline, enabling domain‑specific tagging or archival strategies.

Configuration is handled through a JSON/YAML file (config.ini), which is well‑documented on the official website. The community maintains an active Discord channel and a dedicated forum, providing rapid assistance for API quirks or plugin development. The codebase follows PEP‑8 conventions, and unit tests cover core functionality, making it approachable for contributors.

1. Home Media Servers: Integrate Mylar3 with Plex or Jellyfin to automatically populate a comics library and keep metadata up‑to‑date.
2. Digital Publishing Pipelines: Use the API to feed a custom storefront with freshly downloaded issues, ensuring consistent naming and tagging.
3. Academic Research: Automate the collection of comic issues for analysis, leveraging the JSON output to feed data processing scripts.
4. Community Hosting: Deploy a shared comics hub for fan groups, using Mylar3’s watchlist to keep the collection current without manual downloads.

• Performance: Python’s async capabilities and lightweight Flask stack allow quick indexer polling without significant overhead.
• Flexibility: The plugin system and API give developers fine‑grained control over every step of the download lifecycle.
• Licensing: Open source under MIT, enabling modification and redistribution without licensing fees.
• Cross‑Platform: Native support for Windows, Linux, macOS, and ARM devices means developers can target a wide range of hardware.
• Community & Support: An active Discord and forum ecosystem ensures rapid issue resolution and continuous feature discussion.

In sum, Mylar3 offers a robust, extensible foundation for developers looking to automate comic book acquisition and management at scale.