Ketch splits every download across parallel connections, and shows each one as a live lane. It
takes web links, FTP servers, torrents and magnet links in one place. Pair your laptop, phone and
home server, and you can watch and control the downloads on all of them from any one of them.
[!WARNING]
🚧 Ketch is in active development and only has release candidates so far. Expect rough edges,
and please report what you find.
Download
The desktop apps bring their own runtime, and the command line is a single native binary: neither
needs Java. Both update themselves from the releases here: the desktop app from Settings → About,
the command line with ketch update (how updates work).
Features
Faster downloads
Parallel connections — Ketch splits a file into ranges and downloads them at once. The
Connections tab shows every connection as a lane with its own speed, and you can add or remove
connections while the download runs.
Several networks at once — Spread one download over Wi-Fi, Ethernet and, on Android,
cellular data (how it works).
Pause and resume, even after a restart — Ketch checks that the file on the server has not
changed before it continues, and retries failed connections on its own.
Every kind of link
HTTP and HTTPS, with the cookies and referrer of the page when the browser extension sends
the download.
FTP and FTPS, with parallel connections and resume.
BitTorrent and magnet links — v1, v2 and hybrid torrents, with a choice of files, in an
engine written in pure Kotlin (details).
Ketch can open magnet links and .torrent files for your system, so a click in the browser or
the file manager lands in Ketch.
All your devices in one app
In control of your bandwidth
Speed modes — Full speed, Slow lane to leave room for a video call, or Auto, which
switches between them on a weekly schedule.
Per-download control — Speed limits, connection counts and priorities you can change while
a download runs. Urgent pauses a less important download to start right away.
A queue that behaves — Limit how many downloads run at once and per site, and start a
download later, at a time you pick.
Built for how you work
Find downloads with AI (preview)
Discover — Describe what you want, such as "the latest Ubuntu Server ISO", and an AI agent
searches the web, checks the links and ranks the downloads it finds; a failed download can
Find another source the same way. Narrow a search down with follow-up messages, discard
what you don't want and pick up past searches from the history. Discover asks before it opens
a website, unless you let it. Bring your own model: OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Ollama or any
OpenAI-compatible service. In the desktop and Android apps, and with
().
Getting started
Install Ketch from Download and open it. On phones, a few welcome screens ask
where downloads go.
Run Ketch on a server
Install the command line on macOS or Linux (on Windows, take the .zip from the
latest release):
Everything the apps do is built on Ketch's Kotlin Multiplatform library, which you can use in your
own app: embed the download engine on Android, iOS, the JVM, Node.js or WASI, or control a Ketch
server from Android, iOS, the JVM or the browser, through the same KetchApi.
Developer guide — Modules, a quick start, the REST API and extending Ketch
API reference — Installation, configuration, priorities, errors and logging
Architecture — The download pipeline and how the apps are put together
Documentation
Command line — Downloads, the server, MCP, AI discovery and the config file
BitTorrent — Torrent and magnet support and its limits
Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue to discuss your idea before submitting a PR.
See the code style rules,
testing rules and localization guide
for development guidelines; translations come in by pull request.
Coding agents should start with AGENTS.md, the shared instructions for all agents
and editors. If your tool does not load it automatically, ask it to read AGENTS.md and its linked
rules before making changes. Keep shared instructions in these files; tool-specific entry points
should only reference them.
Pair by QR code — On the device to share, open Settings → Sharing and choose
Allow another device; scan the code with your phone, or copy the pairing link. Or pick
the device under Find on network and allow it there, once both show the same four digits.
Every device in the sidebar with its live speed and health. Switch between them with a
keystroke, or open All devices to list every download in one table.
Send downloads where they belong — Add a link to any device, drop it on a device in the
sidebar, or send or move a download to another device, without switching.
Headless on a NAS or server — ketch server runs the same engine with a REST API and the
web app built in, and the apps find it on your network.
Browser extension for Chrome, Edge, Brave, Firefox and other browsers: it takes over
downloads and magnet links and adds Download with Ketch to the context menu, for this
computer or another device (details).
Paste to download — Paste a link to add it, with Undo, or let Ketch suggest the links you
copy.
Keyboard first on the desktop: ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux) opens the command
palette, and the shortcut sheet lists every key.
Finished means openable — Open a file, show it in its folder or drag it out, straight from
the list.
At home on each platform — The menu bar or tray, notifications, Dock and taskbar progress
on the desktop; downloads that keep running in the background on Android and on iOS 26.
Your look, your language — Light and dark themes with four accent colors, in English,
简体中文, 繁體中文, 日本語, 한국어, Español, Português (Brasil), Deutsch and Français
(translating).
MCP server — ketch mcp lets AI assistants start, watch and manage your downloads through
the Model Context Protocol.
Add a download: paste a link (⌘V, or Ctrl+V), drop a link or a .torrent file on the
window, or choose Add.
To control this computer from your phone, open Settings → Sharing, choose
Allow another device and scan the QR code with the phone's camera.
Install the browser extension to send the browser's
downloads to Ketch.
Metalink — Downloads from several mirrors at once, with checksums
WebDAV — Download from WebDAV servers, with resume
HLS and DASH — Download and merge HTTP Live Streaming and MPEG-DASH videos, choosing the
quality and its matching audio
Media extraction — Save the media of web pages
Resource sniffer — Find the downloadable files on a web page
Checksums — Check a download against a hash you provide, or one the server publishes
Proxy — Download through an HTTP or SOCKS5 proxy or the system proxy, with a bypass list
Faster segmented downloads — Connections that finish early take over the rest of the slower
ones, so a download no longer waits on its slowest connection
Stall detection and retry settings — Reconnect when a connection stops sending data, and
choose timeouts and how often to retry, unlimited included
Unfinished files look unfinished — Downloads are written under a temporary name and get
their real name once complete
Category folders — Save videos, music, documents and archives to folders of their own, by
rules you set
Torrent files, chosen any time — Pick the files of a magnet link once its details arrive,
and change the selection while it downloads
Keep awake — Keep the computer from sleeping while downloads run, and optionally sleep or
shut down when they finish
Automation hooks — Run a command or call a webhook when a download finishes or fails
Command line for running devices — ketch and AI agents add, list, pause and watch the
downloads of the Ketch app or a server, instead of starting a second engine
Docker image — An official image for NAS and home servers on x64 and ARM, with a health
check and a fixed torrent port
Transfers between devices — Send to and Move to carry what is already downloaded, so the
other device continues instead of starting over (plan)
Helper devices — Let your other devices download parts of the same file over their own
connection, added or removed while it runs (proposal)
