res-downloader

res-downloader is a desktop app built with Go and Wails that captures network traffic through a local proxy to find and download media resources. It's aimed at people who want to save videos, audio, or images from WeChat video channels, mini programs, Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu, KuGou Music, QQ Music, and similar platforms, without relying on browser extensions or third-party download sites.

The tool works by acting as a man-in-the-middle proxy, similar to Fiddler or Charles, but filters and presents resources in a simplified list so non-technical users can grab downloadable links without inspecting raw network traffic. It ships as a native app for Windows, macOS, and Linux, with a Wails-based UI on top of a Go backend.

Key features

• Proxy-based sniffing: intercepts network requests to detect downloadable resources instead of scraping page HTML.
• Broad platform coverage: supports WeChat video channels, mini programs, Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu, KuGou Music, QQ Music, and generic m3u8/live streams.
• Multi-resource types: handles video, audio, images, m3u8 playlists, and live stream URLs.
• Cross-platform builds: native releases for Windows, macOS, and Linux (a Win7-compatible Electron build and a browser-based mini version are also available).
• Simple workflow: start the proxy, browse the target content externally, and the app lists detected resources for download.
• Video decryption helper: includes a decrypt option for WeChat video channel downloads that need extra processing.

Ideal use cases

Use res-downloader when you need to save a video or audio clip from a WeChat mini program, video channel, or a short-video platform like Douyin or Kuaishou, and there's no direct download button in the app or web page. It also works for grabbing m3u8 stream URLs so you can pass them to a player or downloader, or for capturing live stream links to feed into OBS for recording.

It's not the right tool if you need bulk automated scraping at scale, a headless/server-only workflow, or a hosted API, since it's a GUI desktop app that requires a local proxy and manual browsing steps. It's also not built for platforms outside its supported list; unsupported sites may not be filtered correctly by the proxy layer. For very large files or unstable connections, the README recommends pairing it with a dedicated download manager like Neat Download Manager or Motrix rather than relying on the built-in downloader alone.

Installation

Download a prebuilt release for your OS from the GitHub Releases page (a mirror on Lanzou cloud is also provided). Windows 7 users need the 2.3.0 release specifically, since newer builds require a Wails-supported runtime.

After installing:

1. During installation, allow the app to install its certificate file and allow network access. This is required for the proxy to intercept HTTPS traffic.
2. Open the app and click "启动代理" (Start Proxy) in the top-left corner of the home screen.
3. Choose which resource types to capture (all types are selected by default).
4. Open the target content externally, for example a video channel post, mini program, or web page in your browser or WeChat.
5. Return to the app's home screen to see the list of detected resources ready for download.

If the app fails to intercept resources, verify the system proxy is set manually to:

Address: 127.0.0.1
Port: 8899

Remember to turn off the system proxy manually after closing the app, otherwise your internet connection may stop working. For m3u8 files, the README points to external tools like m3u8play for preview and m3u8-down for downloading; for live streams, OBS is the recommended recording tool.