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yuzuno-anime-extensions/CONTRIBUTING.md
Cuong-Tran 68e9a0e51d Refactor and enhance CONTRIBUTING.md (#393)
* Docs: URL intent filter (keiyoushi/extensions-source#14330)

* Docs: URL intent filter

* Docs: Changes requested by Luigi

* fix typos and improve clarity

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(cherry picked from commit ba2e51e60d05051cba078c3b42d0b6306a37d9fd)

* Update CONTRIBUTING.md (keiyoushi/extensions-source#14788)

* spelling mistakes

* add keiyoushi.utils (core utilities)

* Misc notes edit

* JSON models (DTOs) and serialization

* Extension logic and app features

* HTML and Image Processing, OkHttp and Network

* dto.kt filters.kt naming scheme rule

* Serializable private fields

* Memory-efficient Image Interceptors rewrite

* Misc notes Store minimal unique URL

* add prevent memory leaks

* Update CONTRIBUTING.md

Co-authored-by: Abdullah Al-Shamiry (Ace) <its.shamiry@gmail.com>

* Update CONTRIBUTING.md

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* Update CONTRIBUTING.md

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* Update CONTRIBUTING.md

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* Update CONTRIBUTING.md

* Update CONTRIBUTING.md

* Update CONTRIBUTING.md

* Update CONTRIBUTING.md

* Update CONTRIBUTING.md

* Update CONTRIBUTING.md

* add lib tools explanation

* lib tools shrink

* Available libs edit

* Loading a subset of Gradle modules edit

* Cloning the repository edit

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* Generating Page lists edit

* OkHttp and Network edit

* Chapter Pages edit

* Misc notes edit

* Extension logic and app features edit

* Multi-source themes edit

* change “” to ""

* JSON models (DTOs) and serialization edit

* Misc notes edit

* Rewrite the multisrc section + some additional changes

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* Update CONTRIBUTING.md

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* missed review commits

* Fix Ammount of # and Replace Em Dashes

* Mixing * and - unordered lists. - is used elsewhere. edit

* Core dependencies title edit

* Update CONTRIBUTING.md

---------

Co-authored-by: Abdullah Al-Shamiry (Ace) <its.shamiry@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Romain <wycvhrt6vzscfpedxr@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: AwkwardPeak7 <48650614+AwkwardPeak7@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Vetle Ledaal <vetle.ledaal@gmail.com>
(cherry picked from commit 948a94ae6620ea0b042e3ec39da7539d21f26c5b)
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(cherry picked from commit 1a98617d44706d23cb631ea78917bbd0e6417b64)

* Edit Contributing.md (keiyoushi/extensions-source#15117)

* Media Types Edit

* Add Protobuf parsing and serialization section

* JSON parsing and JSON serialization edit

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* lint `CONTRIBUTING.md` (keiyoushi/extensions-source#15133)

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* Update CONTRIBUTING.md (keiyoushi/extensions-source#15530)

* Update mandatory fields requirements in CONTRIBUTING.md

* Update CONTRIBUTING.md with best practices

Added guidelines for using custom headers and overriding HttpSource methods.

* Enhance CONTRIBUTING.md with code sectioning advice

Added guidelines for organizing methods in extension classes for better readability.

* Revise code organization and mandatory fields guidelines

Updated guidelines for code organization and mandatory fields in CONTRIBUTING.md.

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* Update PR template with AI check (keiyoushi/extensions-source#15629)

* update PR template with AI check

* update

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* [skip ci] tweak contributing guidelines with common PR suggestions (keiyoushi/extensions-source#15635)

* [skip ci] tweak contributing guidelines with common PR suggestions

* [skip ci] em-dash, emoji

* [skip ci] prefer id/slug

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* Update CONTRIBUTING.md (keiyoushi/extensions-source#15829)

Update contributing guidelines with best practices

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(cherry picked from commit 847b9c883342a43bd42474be2f7189c23a026088)

* Enhance CONTRIBUTING.md with new guidelines (keiyoushi/extensions-source#15860)

* Enhance CONTRIBUTING.md with new guidelines

Add guidelines for configurable sources and preferences in CONTRIBUTING.md

* Update CONTRIBUTING.md with JSON and method guidelines

Clarify guidelines on JSON handling and method overrides.

(cherry picked from commit afa7562f33a875dfee2d54b9a73312fd2c9105a2)
(cherry picked from commit 44fd972567cfb728621a8c4c339549ed1eec7346)

* Rework Gradle build logic (keiyoushi/extensions-source#15657)

* Add new gradle build logic

* rework ko.wolfdotcom

* rework all other extensions

(cherry picked from commit 153fbece55832e8a76f32e26199bb6f8f4252fcb)

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* Refactor: Replace deprecated network.cloudflareClient globally (keiyoushi/extensions-source#15988)

* Cloudflare: update extensions and multisrc

* undo

* Update Cloudflare client usage instructions

* Cloudflare: update extensions and multisrc

* Update lib-multisrc/comicaso/src/eu/kanade/tachiyomi/multisrc/comicaso/Comicaso.kt

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* Fix client initialization in CONTRIBUTING.md

* remove redundant `client` overrides

* UNDO AGAIN...

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(cherry picked from commit 29b999187a6256198bfc238fd456a891fb753019)
(cherry picked from commit 372bc6d78875e0a4ae9d394da8b9875b17b01b21)

* Refactor to anime/episode

* Change references from "Aniyomi" to "Anikku" in CONTRIBUTING.md and README.md.
* Update section titles and content to align with the focus on anime instead of manga.

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2026-05-27 16:04:25 +07:00

72 KiB

Contributing

This guide has some instructions and tips on how to create a new Anikku extension. Please read it carefully if you're a new contributor or don't have any experience on the required languages and knowledges.

This guide is not definitive and it's being updated over time. If you find any issues in it, feel free to report it through a Meta Issue or fixing it directly by submitting a Pull Request.

Table of Contents

Prerequisites

Before you start, please note that the ability to use following technologies is required and that existing contributors will not actively teach these to you.

Tools

Cloning the repository

Some alternative steps can be followed to skip unrelated sources, which will make it faster to pull, navigate and build. This will also reduce disk usage and network traffic.

Due to the large size of this repository, it is highly recommended to do a partial clone to save network traffic and disk space.

Steps
  1. Do a partial clone.

    git clone --filter=blob:none --sparse <fork-repo-url>
    cd anime-extensions/
    
  2. Configure sparse checkout.

    There are two modes of pattern matching. The default is cone mode. Cone mode enables significantly faster pattern matching for big monorepos and the sparse index feature to make Git commands more responsive. In this mode, you can only filter by file path, which is less flexible and might require more work when the project structure changes.

    You can skip this code block to use legacy mode if you want easier filters. It won't be much slower as the repo doesn't have that many files.

    To enable cone mode together with sparse index, follow these steps:

    git sparse-checkout set --cone --sparse-index
    # add project folders
    git sparse-checkout add common core gradle lib lib-multisrc utils
    # add a single source
    git sparse-checkout add src/<lang>/<source>
    

    To remove a source, open .git/info/sparse-checkout and delete the exact lines you typed when adding it. Don't touch the other auto-generated lines unless you fully understand how cone mode works, or you might break it.

    To use the legacy non-cone mode, follow these steps:

    # enable sparse checkout
    git sparse-checkout set --no-cone
    # edit sparse checkout filter
    vim .git/info/sparse-checkout
    # alternatively, if you have VS Code installed
    code .git/info/sparse-checkout
    

    Here's an example:

    /*
    !/src/*
    !/multisrc-lib/*
    # allow a single source
    /src/<lang>/<source>
    # allow a multisrc theme
    /lib-multisrc/<source>
    # or type the source name directly
    <source>
    

    Explanation: the rules are like gitignore. We first exclude all sources while retaining project folders, then add the needed sources back manually.

  3. Configure remotes.

    # add upstream
    git remote add upstream <yuzono-url>
    # optionally disable push to upstream
    git remote set-url --push upstream no_pushing
    # optionally fetch master only (ignore all other branches)
    git config remote.upstream.fetch "+refs/heads/master:refs/remotes/upstream/master"
    # update remotes
    git remote update
    # track master of upstream instead of fork
    git branch master -u upstream/master
    
  4. Useful configurations. (optional)

    # prune obsolete remote branches on fetch
    git config remote.origin.prune true
    # fast-forward only when pulling master branch
    git config pull.ff only
    # Add an alias to sync master branch without fetching useless blobs.
    # If you run `git pull` to fast-forward in a blobless clone like this,
    # all blobs (files) in the new commits are still fetched regardless of
    # sparse rules, which makes the local repo accumulate unused files.
    # Use `git sync-master` to avoid this. Be careful if you have changes
    # on master branch, which is bad practice.
    git config alias.sync-master '!git switch master && git fetch upstream && git reset --keep FETCH_HEAD'
    
  5. Later, if you change the sparse checkout filter, run git sparse-checkout reapply.

Read more on Git's object model, partial clone, sparse checkout, sparse index, and negative refspecs.

Getting help

  • Join the Discord server for online help and to ask questions while developing your extension. When doing so, please ask them in the #dev channel.
  • There are some features and tricks that are not explored in this document. Refer to existing extension code for examples.

Writing an extension

The quickest way to get started is to copy an existing extension's folder structure and renaming it as needed. We also recommend reading through a few existing extensions' code before you start.

Setting up a new Gradle module

Each extension should reside in src/<lang>/<mysourcename>. Use all as <lang> if your target source supports multiple languages or if it could support multiple sources.

The <lang> used in the folder inside src should be the major language part. For example, if you will be creating a pt-BR source, use <lang> here as pt only. Inside the source class, use the full locale string instead.

Loading a subset of Gradle modules

By default, all individual and multisrc extensions are loaded for local development. This may be inconvenient and can drastically slow down your system when working on a single extension.

To adjust which modules are loaded, make adjustments to the settings.gradle.kts file as needed. You can specify the single extension you want to work on in the load individual extension function. This helps avoid loading unnecessary modules, making the build process more efficient and preventing your CPU from being overworked.

Extension file structure

The simplest extension structure looks like this:

$ tree src/<lang>/<mysourcename>/
src/<lang>/<mysourcename>/
├── AndroidManifest.xml (optional)
├── build.gradle
├── res
│   ├── mipmap-hdpi
│   │   └── ic_launcher.png
│   ├── mipmap-mdpi
│   │   └── ic_launcher.png
│   ├── mipmap-xhdpi
│   │   └── ic_launcher.png
│   ├── mipmap-xxhdpi
│   │   └── ic_launcher.png
│   └── mipmap-xxxhdpi
│       └── ic_launcher.png
└── src
    └── eu
        └── kanade
            └── tachiyomi
                └── animeextension
                    └── <lang>
                        └── <mysourcename>
                            ├── <MySourceName>.kt
                            ├── <Dto>.kt (optional)
                            ├── <Filters>.kt (optional)
                            └── <UrlActivity>.kt (optional)

<lang> should be an ISO 639-1 compliant language code (two letters or all). <mysourcename> should be adapted from the site name, and can only contain lowercase ASCII letters and digits. Your extension code must be placed in the package eu.kanade.tachiyomi.animeextension.<lang>.<mysourcename>.

Tip

Additional files in the extension package (like Dto.kt, Filters.kt, UrlActivity.kt) should NOT repeat the extension name (e.g. use Dto.kt instead of MySourceNameDto.kt). Note: While older extensions might use the repeated name pattern, avoiding it is a newly enforced convention to maintain consistency across the repository.

AndroidManifest.xml (optional)

You only need to create this file if you want to add deep linking to your extension. See URL intent filter for more information.

build.gradle

Make sure that your new extension's build.gradle file follows the following structure:

ext {
    extName = '<My source name>'
    extClass = '.<MySourceName>'
    extVersionCode = 1
    isNsfw = true
}

apply plugin: "kei.plugins.extension.legacy"
Field Description
extName The name of the extension. Should be romanized if site name is not in English.
extClass Points to the class that implements AnimeSource. You can use a relative path starting with a dot (the package name is the base path). This is used to find and instantiate the source(s).
extVersionCode The extension version code. This must be a positive integer and incremented with any change to the code. Do not bump for changes that do not affect users, such as changing a private function to a public function.
isNsfw Flag to indicate that a source contains NSFW content. Should always be set explicitly to either true or false. Falls back to false if not set.

The extension's version name is generated automatically by concatenating 14 and extVersionCode. With the example used above, the version would be 14.1.

Core dependencies

Extension API

Extensions rely on aniyomi-extensions-lib, which provides some interfaces and stubs from the app for compilation purposes. The actual implementations can be found in the Anikku source code. Referencing the actual implementation will help with understanding extensions' call flow.

lib tools

The lib/ directory contains reusable Gradle modules that solve common problems shared across multiple extensions, such as cookie injection, stream descrambling, JavaScript deobfuscation, and more. Before implementing something from scratch, check whether an existing lib already covers your use case. Each lib is self-documented via KDoc comments and/or a README in its own folder.

Available libs

Module Description
lib-cookieinterceptor Injects cookies into OkHttp requests for a given domain
lib-cryptoaes AES-CBC decryption compatible with CryptoJS; JSFuck deobfuscation
lib-randomua Fetches and rotates real-world User-Agent strings
lib-synchrony JavaScript deobfuscation via the Synchrony engine (QuickJS sandbox)
lib-textinterceptor Renders plain text or HTML as a PNG image page
lib-unpacker Unpacks Dean Edwards-packed JavaScript; substring extraction helpers

Note

The table above highlights the most commonly used libraries. Check the lib/ directory for the full list of available modules and their specific READMEs.

Adding a lib dependency

Declare the module in your extension's build.gradle:

dependencies {
    implementation(project(':lib:<name>'))
}

For example:

dependencies {
    implementation(project(':lib:dataimage'))
}

Gradle resolves transitive dependencies automatically, so you only need to declare the lib you are directly using.

i18n library

lib-i18n is a library for handling internationalization in the sources. It allows loading .properties files with messages located under the assets/i18n folder of each extension, that can be used to translate strings under the source.

Creating a new lib

If no existing lib fits your needs and the functionality is generic enough to be shared across multiple extensions, you can create a new one.

A lib follows this structure:

lib/<mylibname>/
├── build.gradle.kts
└── src
    └── keiyoushi
        └── lib
            └── <mylibname>
                └── MyLib.kt

A video source extractor lib follows this structure:

lib/<mylibname>/
├── build.gradle.kts
└── src
    └── aniyomi
        └── lib
            └── <mylibname>
                └── MyLib.kt

The build.gradle.kts must apply the kei.plugins.library plugin:

plugins {
    alias(kei.plugins.library)
}

If your lib depends on another lib, declare it in the same file:

plugins {
    alias(kei.plugins.library)
}

dependencies {
    implementation(project(":lib:<other-lib>"))
}

Place your code in the package keiyoushi.lib.<mylibname> or aniyomi.lib.<mylibname>. Document public API with KDoc so contributors can understand the lib without needing to read CONTRIBUTING.md.

keiyoushi.utils (core utilities)

The core/utils module provides a set of shared extension functions that are available to all extensions without any extra Gradle dependency. Prefer using these helpers instead of implementing your own equivalents, as they provide standardized and maintained solutions. The utilities live in the keiyoushi.utils package and are imported individually.

JSON parsing - parseAs

Use keiyoushi.utils.parseAs to deserialize JSON. It works on String, Response, InputStream, and JsonElement receivers and uses the shared jsonInstance (a pre-configured Json with ignoreUnknownKeys = true). The Response and InputStream variants use efficient stream decoding and automatically close the stream after reading.

import keiyoushi.utils.parseAs

// From a Response (uses streaming and consumes the body):
val dto = response.parseAs<MyDto>()

// From a String:
val dto = jsonString.parseAs<MyDto>()

// With a transform applied before parsing (e.g., stripping JSONP callbacks):
val dto = response.parseAs<MyDto> { it.substringAfter("callback(").dropLast(1) }

Do not create a local private val json: Json by injectLazy() unless you specifically need a custom JSON configuration (e.g., isLenient = true or custom serializers). For standard parsing, the global instance is already available via jsonInstance and the parseAs helpers use it automatically.

JSON serialization - toJsonString / toJsonRequestBody

Use keiyoushi.utils.toJsonString to serialize an object to a JSON string. If you are sending a POST/PUT request, use keiyoushi.utils.toJsonRequestBody to directly convert your object into an OkHttp RequestBody with the correct application/json media type.

import keiyoushi.utils.toJsonRequestBody
import keiyoushi.utils.toJsonString

// To a RequestBody for OkHttp (recommended for APIs):
val body = myRequestDto.toJsonRequestBody()

// To a simple String:
val jsonString = myRequestDto.toJsonString()
JSON models (DTOs) and serialization

When defining @Serializable classes for JSON parsing, do not use data class unless you actually need data class features (like copy() or destructuring). Use a regular class instead to reduce the generated bytecode size.

Always use camelCase for Kotlin properties. Only use @SerialName when the JSON key does not match the property name (e.g., mapping a snake_case JSON key like cover_img to coverImg, or an invalid Kotlin identifier like _count to count). If the JSON key already matches the property name exactly, @SerialName is redundant and should be omitted. It is also recommended to make fields private if they are only used internally (for instance, when mapping directly to SAnime or SEpisode within the DTO).

import kotlinx.serialization.SerialName
import kotlinx.serialization.Serializable

// Bad: Using data class and snake_case variable names
@Serializable
data class MyDto(val anime_id: Int, val cover_img: String)

// Good: Regular class, camelCase variables mapped with @SerialName only when names differ, and private fields
@Serializable
class MyDto(
    @SerialName("anime_id") private val animeId: Int,
    @SerialName("cover_img") private val coverImg: String,
    private val title: String, // No @SerialName needed if JSON key is "title"
    @SerialName("_count") private val count: Int, // Needed for invalid Kotlin identifiers
) {
    fun toSAnime() = SAnime.create().apply {
        url = animeId.toString()
        thumbnail_url = coverImg
        this.title = title
    }
}
  • Use @Serializable classes instead of JsonObject: Do not manually traverse JsonObject or JsonArray. Define @Serializable classes and use parseAs<T>().
  • Map only used fields: Do not map all fields from the JSON response in your DTOs if they are not used. Omit unused fields to keep the class clean and reduce bytecode.
  • Mandatory fields should not have defaults: Do not provide default empty/null values to mandatory fields (like an anime's ID or title) in DTOs just to avoid parsing exceptions. Let the parser fail early so broken entries are detected.
  • Avoid buildJsonObject for requests: Instead of manually building JsonObject with buildJsonObject { put(...) }, define a @Serializable request DTO class and use toJsonRequestBody().
  • Avoid manual JSON string reading: Avoid manually reading the response body as a string to parse JSON (e.g., response.body.string() or response.peekBody(Long.MAX_VALUE).string() outside of interceptors). Use response.parseAs<T>() directly, which handles efficient stream decoding and automatically closes the response body.
Protobuf parsing and serialization - parseAsProto / toRequestBodyProto

If a source's API uses Protocol Buffers (Protobuf) instead of JSON, use the keiyoushi.utils helpers to decode and encode the data. These extensions use a shared protoInstance and automatically handle resource management.

import keiyoushi.utils.parseAsProto
import keiyoushi.utils.toRequestBodyProto
import keiyoushi.utils.decodeProtoBase64

// From a Response (automatically closes the body):
val dto = response.parseAsProto<MyProtoDto>()

// From a Response with a transform applied before decoding:
val dto = response.parseAsProto<MyProtoDto> { bytes -> bytes.drop(4).toByteArray() }

// Decoding a Base64-encoded Protobuf string:
val dto = base64String.decodeProtoBase64<MyProtoDto>()

// Creating a RequestBody for a POST request (defaults to application/protobuf):
val requestBody = myRequestDto.toRequestBodyProto()

If you only need to work with raw bytes, you can also use .decodeProto() and .encodeProto() directly on a ByteArray.

Do not create a local private val proto: ProtoBuf by injectLazy() unless you specifically need a custom configuration. For standard parsing, the global instance is already available and the parseAsProto helpers use it automatically.

Date parsing - tryParse

Use keiyoushi.utils.tryParse on a SimpleDateFormat instance to safely parse a date string. It returns 0L on failure or when the input is null, which is exactly what the app expects.

import keiyoushi.utils.tryParse

// Declare dateFormat at class/file level - creating SimpleDateFormat is expensive:
private val dateFormat = SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'", Locale.ROOT).apply {
    timeZone = TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC")
}

episode.date_upload = dateFormat.tryParse(dateStr)

Do not write manual try/catch blocks or null-guards around SimpleDateFormat.parse() - tryParse handles both. Also, always declare your SimpleDateFormat as a class-level or file-level val so it is not reconstructed for every episode.

Two common mistakes to avoid:

  • Always set Locale.ROOT, unless the pattern contains locale-sensitive text (such as month names) - in which case use the appropriate locale.

  • Set the timezone if known. Either if the site's region is known, or because the pattern uses a literal 'Z'.

    // Wrong: 'Z' is treated as a literal character, timezone defaults to device local time
    SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'", Locale.ROOT)
    // Correct:
    SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSS'Z'", Locale.ROOT).apply {
        timeZone = TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC")
    }
    // Also correct (Z without quotes parses the timezone offset from the string):
    SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ", Locale.ROOT)
    
Filter helpers - firstInstance / firstInstanceOrNull

Use these instead of filterIsInstance<T>().first() / filterIsInstance<T>().firstOrNull().

import keiyoushi.utils.firstInstance
import keiyoushi.utils.firstInstanceOrNull

val genreFilter = filters.firstInstanceOrNull<GenreFilter>()

SharedPreferences - getPreferences / getPreferencesLazy

Use these instead of accessing Injekt manually.

import keiyoushi.utils.getPreferences
import keiyoushi.utils.getPreferencesLazy

// Eager:
private val preferences = getPreferences()

// Lazy (recommended for most cases):
private val preferences by getPreferencesLazy()
Next.js data extraction - extractNextJs / extractNextJsRsc

If the site is built with Next.js, use keiyoushi.utils.extractNextJs on a Document or Response, or keiyoushi.utils.extractNextJsRsc on a raw RSC response string to pull typed data out of the hydration payload without fragile HTML scraping.

import keiyoushi.utils.extractNextJs

val data = response.extractNextJs<MyDto>()
// Or with an explicit predicate:
val data = document.extractNextJs<MyDto> { element ->
    element is JsonObject && "slug" in element
}

For client-side navigation responses (text/x-component content type), pass the rsc: 1 request header and use extractNextJsRsc on the response body string. See #14266 and #14446 for real-world usage.

Extracting URLs - setUrlWithoutDomain + absUrl

When extracting URLs from HTML, prefer element.absUrl("href") or element.attr("abs:href") over manually concatenating baseUrl + path. Combined with setUrlWithoutDomain(), this safely handles both absolute and relative links.

// Risky - setUrlWithoutDomain cannot resolve all relative URLs:
setUrlWithoutDomain(element.attr("href"))
// Safe:
setUrlWithoutDomain(element.absUrl("href"))

Additional dependencies

If you find yourself needing additional functionality, you can add more dependencies to your build.gradle file. Many of the dependencies from the app are exposed to extensions by default.

Note

Several dependencies are already exposed to all extensions via Gradle's version catalog. To view which are available check the gradle/libs.versions.toml file.

Notice that we're using compileOnly instead of implementation if the app already contains it. You could use implementation instead for a new dependency, or you prefer not to rely on whatever the main app has at the expense of app size.

Important

Using compileOnly restricts you to versions that must be compatible with those used in the latest stable version of the app.

Extension main class

The class which is referenced and defined by extClass in build.gradle. This class should implement either AnimeSourceFactory or AnimeHttpSource.

Class Description
AnimeSourceFactory Used to expose multiple AnimeSources. Use this in case of a source that supports multiple languages or mirrors of the same website.
AnimeHttpSource For online source, where requests are made using HTTP.
ParsedAnimeHttpSource Deprecated, use AnimeHttpSource instead.

Main class key variables

Field Description
name Name displayed in the "Sources" tab in the app.
baseUrl Base URL of the source without any trailing slashes.
lang An ISO 639-1 compliant language code (two letters in lower case in most cases, but can also include the country/dialect part by using a simple dash character).
id Identifier of your source, automatically set in AnimeHttpSource. It should only be manually overridden if you need to copy an existing autogenerated ID.

HTML and Video Processing

  • Parsing partial HTML: If an API returns a JSON response containing an HTML string, use Jsoup.parseBodyFragment(html, baseUrl) instead of Jsoup.parse(html). Passing the baseUrl ensures that abs:href and absUrl() can correctly resolve relative links.

  • Formatting Episode Numbers: Do not write custom DecimalFormat logic just to remove trailing zeros from float episode numbers. Simply use .toString().removeSuffix(".0").

  • Generating Video lists: Return a List<Video> from videoListParse or getVideoList. Each Video needs a display name (quality), a stream URL, and optionally custom headers. Example:

    return document.select("source").map { source ->
        Video(source.attr("abs:src"), source.attr("label"), source.attr("abs:src"))
    }
    
  • Memory-efficient Video Interceptors: When implementing interceptors for decrypting or transforming video streams, avoid loading the entire file into a ByteArray on low-end devices. Prefer stream-based processing instead:

    • Read: Use response.body.byteStream() when you need to process the response body incrementally.
    • Write: Write processed output into an Okio Buffer via output.outputStream() and convert it using asResponseBody(mediaType).
    • Decryption: Use Okio's cipherSource extension for stream-based decryption rather than decrypting a full byte array in memory.
    • Note: readByteArray() should generally be avoided here because it forces full in-memory buffering of the video. Streaming directly keeps memory usage lower and more stable.
    • Always wrap network responses in response.use { ... } to ensure the response body is properly closed and to prevent memory leaks.
  • Do not manually check for Cloudflare: Do not manually check for Cloudflare challenges (e.g., checking for "Just a moment..." text) in parse methods. The app handles this before calling the parser.

  • Prefer stable selectors: Avoid relying on volatile auto-generated CSS class names (e.g., styles_Card__jN8og) or complex regex for parsing. Prefer stable structural selectors.

  • Use ownText() to avoid mutation: To get text from an element without including text from its children, use .ownText(). This avoids having to select and remove child elements (.select().remove()) or mutate the document.

  • Parse status using .lowercase(): When comparing strings for status parsing (e.g., contains("ongoing")), prefer calling .lowercase() on the source string once instead of using ignoreCase = true on multiple contains checks.

OkHttp and Network

  • Always pass headers: Every GET() and POST() call must include headers (or a custom headers object). Omitting headers will send the request without the app's default User-Agent and other expected headers.

  • Referer header trailing slash: When setting a Referer header pointing to the site root, always include a trailing slash: .add("Referer", "$baseUrl/"). This matches what browsers send and is required by some servers.

  • Static URLs don't need HttpUrl.Builder: Use string interpolation directly for URLs with no dynamic query parameters. Only use HttpUrl.Builder (or .toHttpUrl().newBuilder()) when query parameters need URL-encoding or the URL is built conditionally.

    // Unnecessary builder for a static URL:
    val url = "$baseUrl/anime".toHttpUrl().newBuilder().build()
    // Prefer:
    return GET("$baseUrl/anime", headers)
    
  • GraphQL Queries: If you are sending GraphQL requests, use Kotlin's raw multi-dollar string interpolation ($$"""...""") for your queries. This prevents having to escape every JSON variable $ symbol manually.

  • Empty checks on .text(): Because Jsoup's .text() automatically trims whitespace, you can use .isNotEmpty() instead of .isNotBlank() when checking for empty strings. The same applies to .ownText(). This also means you should not use .trim() with these functions.

  • Use network.client for Cloudflare: When overriding the client for sources protected by Cloudflare, simply use override val client = network.client.newBuilder().... The default client now handles Cloudflare challenges automatically. Do not use network.cloudflareClient, as it is deprecated.

  • Never use Thread.sleep(): Do not use Thread.sleep() for rate limiting. Use OkHttp's rateLimitHost interceptor instead.

  • Avoid synchronous calls in parse methods: Do not call client.newCall(...).execute() inside parsing methods like videoListParse or episodeListParse. Make the request part of the standard flow by overriding the corresponding request method (e.g., videoListRequest) or getVideoList.

  • Pass HttpUrl directly: The GET() and POST() helpers accept an HttpUrl object. Do not call .toString() on a built HttpUrl before passing it.

  • Use HttpUrl for URL manipulation: When parsing or extracting parts of a URL, prefer using HttpUrl methods (like pathSegments() or queryParameter()) over manual string splitting or regex. It is safer and handles edge cases better.

  • Use CookieInterceptor for custom cookies: When you need to inject custom cookies into requests, use the lib-cookieinterceptor dependency instead of manually adding Cookie headers. Manually setting the Cookie header overrides all cookies (including Cloudflare cookies set via WebView), breaking login and challenge solving.

Extension call flow

a.k.a. the Browse source entry point in the app (invoked by tapping on the source name).

  • The app calls getPopularAnime (or uses popularAnimeRequest / popularAnimeParse) which should return an AnimesPage containing the first batch of found SAnime entries.
    • This method supports pagination. When user scrolls the anime list and more results must be fetched, the app calls it again with increasing page values (starting with page=1). This continues while AnimesPage.hasNextPage is passed as true and AnimesPage.animes is not empty.
  • To show the list properly, the app needs url, title and thumbnail_url. You must set them here. The rest of the fields could be filled later (refer to Anime Details below).

Latest Anime

a.k.a. the Latest source entry point in the app (invoked by tapping on the "Latest" button beside the source name).

  • Enabled if supportsLatest is true for a source
  • Similar to popular anime, but should be fetching the latest entries from a source.
  • When the user searches inside the app, getSearchAnime (or searchAnimeRequest / searchAnimeParse) will be called and the rest of the flow is similar to what happens with getPopularAnime.
    • If search functionality is not available, return AnimesPage(emptyList(), false) from the corresponding parse method.
  • getFilterList will be called to get all filters and filter types.
Filters

The search flow has support for filters that can be added to an AnimeFilterList inside the getFilterList method. When the user changes the filters' state, they will be passed to searchAnimeRequest, and they can be iterated to create the request (by getting the filter.state value, where the type varies depending on the AnimeFilter used). You can check the filter types available in AnimeFilter.kt and in the table below.

Filter State type Description
AnimeFilter.Header None A simple header. Useful for separating sections in the list or showing any note or warning to the user.
AnimeFilter.Separator None A line separator. Useful for visual distinction between sections.
AnimeFilter.Select<V> Int A select control, similar to HTML's <select>. Only one item can be selected, and the state is the index of the selected one.
AnimeFilter.Text String A text control, similar to HTML's <input type="text">.
AnimeFilter.CheckBox Boolean A checkbox control, similar to HTML's <input type="checkbox">. The state is true if it's checked.
AnimeFilter.TriState Int A enhanced checkbox control that supports an excluding state. The state can be compared with STATE_IGNORE, STATE_INCLUDE and STATE_EXCLUDE constants of the class.
AnimeFilter.Group<V> List<V> A group of filters (preferentially of the same type). The state will be a List with all the states.
AnimeFilter.Sort Selection A control for sorting, with support for the ordering. The state indicates which item index is selected and if the sorting is ascending.

All control filters can have a default state set. It's usually recommended, if the source has filters to make the initial state match the popular anime list. This way, when the user opens the filter sheet the state accurately represents the currently displayed anime.

The AnimeFilter classes can also be extended, so you can create new custom filters like the UriPartFilter:

open class UriPartFilter(displayName: String, private val vals: Array<Pair<String, String>>) :
    AnimeFilter.Select<String>(displayName, vals.map { it.first }.toTypedArray()) {
    fun toUriPart() = vals[state].second
}

Anime Details

  • When user taps on an anime, getAnimeDetails and getEpisodeList will be called and the results will be cached.
    • A SAnime entry is identified by its url.
  • getAnimeDetails is called to update an anime's details from when it was initialized earlier.
    • SAnime.initialized tells the app if it should call getAnimeDetails. If you are overriding getAnimeDetails, make sure to pass it as true.
    • SAnime.genre is a string containing list of all genres separated with ", ".
    • SAnime.status is an "enum" value. Refer to the values in the SAnime companion object.
    • During a backup, only url and title are stored. To restore the rest of the anime data, the app calls getAnimeDetails, so all fields should be (re)filled in if possible.
    • If a SAnime is cached, getAnimeDetails will be only called when the user does a manual update (Swipe-to-Refresh).
  • getEpisodeList is called to display the episode list.
    • The list should be sorted descending by the source order.
  • getAnimeUrl is called when the user taps "Open in WebView".
    • If the source uses an API to fetch the data, consider overriding this method to return the anime absolute URL in the website instead.
    • It defaults to the URL provided to the request in animeDetailsRequest.

Episode

  • SEpisode.date_upload is the UNIX Epoch time expressed in milliseconds.
    • If you don't pass SEpisode.date_upload and leave it zero, the app will use the default date instead, but it's recommended to always fill it if it's available.

    • To get the time in milliseconds from a date string, you can use a SimpleDateFormat like in the example below.

      import keiyoushi.utils.tryParse
      
      episode.date_upload = dateFormat.tryParse(dateStr)
      
      private val dateFormat by lazy {
          SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss", Locale.ENGLISH)
      }
      

      Make sure you make the SimpleDateFormat a class constant or variable so it doesn't get recreated for every episode. If you need to parse or format dates in anime description, create another instance since SimpleDateFormat is not thread-safe.

    • If the parsing has any problems, make sure to return 0L so the app will use the default date instead.

    • The app will overwrite dates of existing old episodes UNLESS 0L is returned.

    • If the source only provides the anime's updated date, assign it to the latest episode only.

  • getEpisodeUrl is called when the user taps "Open in WebView" in the player.
    • If the source uses an API to fetch the data, consider overriding this method to return the episode absolute URL in the website instead.
    • It defaults to the URL provided to the request in videoListRequest.

Episode Videos

  • When user opens an episode, getVideoList (or videoListParse) will be called and it will return a list of Videos.
  • Each Video represents a playable stream (or quality option) for the episode. The constructor is Video(url, quality, videoUrl, headers).
  • The Video.url and Video.videoUrl attributes should be set as absolute URLs when possible.
  • Return videos already sorted by quality or server preference when the source provides that order.
  • If you need to pass additional data to a custom extractor, it is recommended to pass it as a URL fragment (e.g. url + "#data"). OkHttp does not send fragments to the server, so there is no need to strip it out afterwards.

Misc notes

  • Use asJsoup(): Instead of manually reading the response body and parsing it with Jsoup (Jsoup.parse(response.body.string())), use the app's built-in extension function: response.asJsoup() (requires eu.kanade.tachiyomi.util.asJsoup).
  • Jsoup .text() is already trimmed: Calling element.text().trim() is redundant because Jsoup automatically normalizes and trims whitespace. Just use element.text().
  • Omit default joinToString separator: The default separator for joinToString is already ", ". Do not pass it explicitly. Use joinToString { it.text() } instead of joinToString(", ") { it.text() }, and joinToString() instead of joinToString(", ").
  • Use named parameters for Video: Instantiate Video clearly with named parameters. Use the Video(url, quality, videoUrl, headers) constructor and pass custom headers when the stream requires them.
  • Throw UnsupportedOperationException: If a source uses an API and doesn't need to parse HTML for videos in a legacy method, throw UnsupportedOperationException() instead of returning an empty value. Also use this pattern for unused inherited methods.
  • Cache Regex instances: Define Regex instances at the class level or in a companion object so they aren't recompiled on every method call.
  • Do not hardcode User-Agent: Unless absolutely necessary (e.g., to bypass Cloudflare/protection, or to retrieve a specific mobile layout/different selectors), do not hardcode a specific User-Agent. Calling super.headersBuilder() already provides the app's default User-Agent.
  • Use buildString { }: When building descriptions or dynamic strings, use Kotlin's buildString { ... } instead of manually instantiating a StringBuilder().
  • Media Types: application/json is intrinsically UTF-8. Avoid using application/json; charset=utf-8. Prefer helper functions like toJsonRequestBody() instead of manually specifying media types (e.g., "application/json".toMediaType()).
  • Use getUrlWithoutDomain carefully: It can be useful when parsing target source URLs, but note a current issue with spaces-replace them with URL-encoded characters (e.g., %20).
  • Anime/episode URLs: Prefer storing just the ID or slug in SAnime.url and SEpisode.url. Storing the relative URL with setUrlWithoutDomain() is also acceptable. Avoid absolute URLs to make future domain migrations easier.
  • Follow AnimeHttpSource workflow: Stick to the general workflow from this base class when possible; deviating may introduce unnecessary complexity.
  • Separate custom headers: When adding custom headers to a request (e.g., for AJAX endpoints), avoid building them inline within the GET() or POST() call. Instead, assign the modified headers to a separate variable or define them as a class-level property. This improves readability and allows for reuse across multiple requests.
  • Do not override default AnimeHttpSource methods: Avoid overriding methods like animeDetailsRequest or episodeListRequest if they only replicate the default behavior (GET(baseUrl + anime.url, headers)). Only override them if the source requires a different URL structure or custom headers for those specific requests.
  • Configurable sources: By implementing ConfigurableAnimeSource, you can add settings backed by SharedPreferences.
  • Code organization: For readability, group related methods together in your extension class (e.g., all popular anime methods, then all latest anime methods, then search methods, and so on). A logical ordering like Popular → Latest → Search → Details → Episodes → Videos → Filters → Utilities makes the class easier to navigate and maintain without needing explicit section header comments.
  • DTO extensions: Move mapping extensions for DTOs (like fun MyDto.toSAnime()) into the DTO file itself to keep the main source class clean.

Advanced Extension features

Extension logic and app features

  • Mandatory fields: An anime's title and url are mandatory. An episode's name is also mandatory, though generic values like "Episode" are acceptable for sources that only provide a single episode (e.g., movie sources). Do not provide generic fallbacks like "Untitled", "Unknown", or empty strings if the site fails to provide an anime's title or URL, as this breaks downloads and library management. Prefer failing loudly (e.g., throwing an exception or using !!) so broken selectors are detected early. Silent fallbacks or empty values can hide issues and make debugging harder. If a mandatory field is missing, it is better to throw or skip the entry entirely.
  • Optional fields: For all other fields, prefer safe calls (?.) and avoid using the non-null assertion (!!). Missing data like thumbnails or descriptions should not crash the entire parsing process. Consider using Kotlin's mapNotNull when parsing lists of elements so that if a single item fails, the rest of the list can still be loaded successfully.
  • Extension name field: Do not add a language suffix or other qualifier to name (e.g., "MySite EN"). The app already groups sources by languages.
  • supportsLatest convention: If a source only has a latest listing, use the latest listing in place for the popular listing and set supportsLatest = false.
  • When to bump versionId: The versionId property dictates how the app tracks the source. Only override and bump versionId if the source's URL structure fundamentally changes (e.g., old anime URLs no longer work and there is no way to create a redirect). Bumping this forces all users to re-migrate their bookmarks.
  • Self-hosted sources: If you are adding a source for a self-hosted server (e.g., StashApp, Komga, Suwayomi), make your class implement the UnmeteredSource interface. This tells the app not to apply standard rate-limiting to the user's own local server.
  • Preference listeners: When implementing ConfigurableAnimeSource, you do not need to manually save values inside setOnPreferenceChangeListener. The Android preference framework saves the value to SharedPreferences automatically.
  • Update Strategy: For gallery sources or sources where entries are completed upon upload, set update_strategy = UpdateStrategy.ONLY_FETCH_ONCE to prevent unnecessary update checks.
  • Preserving Source ID: If you change a source's name or lang, its auto-generated id will change, which disconnects existing users' libraries. To prevent this, override id with the old value (found in the repository's index.json).
  • Avoid hardcoded host checks: When checking URLs in deep links or search overrides, avoid hardcoding the host string (e.g., queryUrl.host == "site.com"). This breaks if mirrors are added. Prefer checking against the source's baseUrl dynamically.
  • Empty Lists vs Exceptions: If videoListParse or episodeListParse finds no items (e.g., a locked or empty episode), return emptyList() instead of throwing a hardcoded exception. The app will display a properly localized error message to the user.
  • Avoid excessive comments: Do not add verbose, redundant, or AI-generated comments that explain obvious code. Keep the code clean and self-documenting.
  • UrlActivity exceptions: Catch Throwable instead of Exception in UrlActivity to ensure all potential crashes are handled gracefully.

Configurable Sources and Preferences

  • Mirror selection preferences: When implementing a mirror selector, save the index of the mirror instead of the URL string. This allows code updates to change the list of mirrors, and users will automatically reflect those changes.
  • Base URL getter: When baseUrl is configurable via preferences, use a custom getter (e.g., override val baseUrl: String get() = ...) instead of by lazy. Using by lazy requires the user to restart the app for the domain change to take effect.
  • Preference migration for base URLs: To handle default URL changes in updates, use the getPreferences inline migration block to update the stored preference if the hardcoded default URL changes.
  • Coerce mirror index: When reading the mirror index from preferences, use .coerceAtMost(mirrorUrls.size - 1) to prevent ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException if mirrors are removed in a code update.

URL intent filter

Extensions can define a URL pattern so that these URLs can be opened in Anikku.

To do this, you need two files:

  • AndroidManifest.xml which must be placed in the root directory of your extension (Example: src/id/riztranslation/AndroidManifest.xml)
  • UrlActivity.kt which should be placed next to your main file. (Example: src/all/nyaatorrent/src/eu/kanade/tachiyomi/animeextension/all/nyaatorrent/NyaaTorrentUrlActivity.kt)

AndroidManifest.xml example :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <application>
        <activity
            android:name=".id.riztranslation.UrlActivity"
            android:excludeFromRecents="true"
            android:exported="true"
            android:theme="@android:style/Theme.NoDisplay">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />

                <data
                    android:host="riztranslation.pages.dev"
                    android:pathPattern="/..*"
                    android:scheme="https" />
                <data
                    android:host="riztranslation.rf.gd"
                    android:pathPattern="/..*"
                    android:scheme="https" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>
</manifest>

The AndroidManifest.xml file will contain an android:name attribute that refers to the path of your UrlActivity.kt file. For example, if the extension is Riztranslation, the android:name will be .id.riztranslation.UrlActivity.

Next, you have the <data android:scheme="https" android:host="host" android:pathPattern="/..*" /> element; you can have it multiple times, which allows you to specify the URL that can be opened in Anikku. You can read more about this in Android's <data> documentation.

Now, as for UrlActivity, you can just use the example below.

Caution

The activity does not support any Kotlin Intrinsics specific methods or calls, and using them will cause crashes in the activity. Consider using Java's equivalent methods instead, such as using String's equals() instead of using ==.

You can use Kotlin Intrinsics in the extension source class, this limitation only applies to the activity classes.

To explain how it works, it will trigger Anikku's ANIMESEARCH action, passing the URL as a query and specifying that it comes from your extension to narrow down the search. Avoid putting any logic in this file; instead, implement it in your extension's class.

class UrlActivity : Activity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        val intentData = intent?.data?.toString()
        if (intentData != null) {
            val mainIntent = Intent().apply {
                action = "eu.kanade.tachiyomi.ANIMESEARCH"
                putExtra("query", intentData)
                putExtra("filter", packageName)
            }
            try {
                startActivity(mainIntent)
            } catch (e: Throwable) {
                Log.e("RiztranslationUrl", e.toString())
            }
        } else {
            Log.e("RiztranslationUrl", "could not parse uri from intent $intent")
        }

        finish()
        exitProcess(0)
    }
}

Now all you need to do is adapt the search function (getSearchAnime) in your extension so that, given a URL, it returns a single anime that matches that URL. For example:

if (query.startsWith("https://")) {
    val url = query.toHttpUrlOrNull()
    if (url != null && url.host == baseUrl.toHttpUrl().host) {
        val typeIndex = url.pathSegments.indexOfFirst { it == "detail" || it == "view" }
        if (typeIndex != -1 && typeIndex + 1 < url.pathSize) {
            val id = url.pathSegments[typeIndex + 1]
            return GET("$apiUrl/Book?select=id,judul,cover&type=not.ilike.*novel*&id=eq.$id", apiHeaders)
        }
    }
}

To test if the URL intent filter is working as expected, you can try opening the website in a browser and navigating to the endpoint that was added as a filter or clicking a hyperlink. Alternatively, you can use the adb command below.

adb shell am start -d "<your-link>" -a android.intent.action.VIEW

You can find a complete example of how URLs work in the Riztranslation extension.

Update strategy

In some cases, titles in a source will always have the same episode list (i.e., they are immutable). These do not need to be included in global app updates. Excluding them saves a lot of network requests and prevents unnecessary load on the source servers. To change the update strategy of a SAnime, use the update_strategy field. You can find below a description of the current possible values.

  • UpdateStrategy.ALWAYS_UPDATE: Titles marked as always update will be included in the library update if they aren't excluded by additional restrictions.
  • UpdateStrategy.ONLY_FETCH_ONCE: Titles marked as only fetch once will be automatically skipped during library updates. Useful for cases where the series is previously known to be finished and have only a single episode, for example.

If not set, it defaults to ALWAYS_UPDATE.

Renaming existing sources

There are some cases where existing sources change their names on the website. To correctly reflect these changes in the extension, you need to explicitly set the id to the same old value, otherwise it will get changed by the new name value and users will be forced to migrate back to the source.

To get the current id value before the name change, you can search the source name in the repository JSON file by looking at the sources attribute of the extension. When you have the id copied, you can override it in the source:

override val id: Long = <the-id>

Then the class name and the name attribute value can be changed. Also don't forget to update the extension name and class name in the individual Gradle file.

Important

The package name needs to be the same (even if it has the old name), otherwise users will not receive the extension update when it gets published in the repository.

The id also needs to be explicitly set to the old value if you're changing the lang attribute.

Note

If the source has also changed their theme you can instead just change the name field in the source class and in the Gradle file. By doing so a new id will be generated and users will be forced to migrate.

Multi-source themes

The lib-multisrc directory houses source code that is useful in situations where multiple source sites use the same site generator tool (usually a CMS) for bootstrapping their website and this makes them similar enough to prompt code reuse through inheritance/composition; which from now on we will use the general theme term to refer to.

Themes are provided as libraries within lib-multisrc. You can apply a theme to an extension by specifying the themePkg property in its build.gradle file.

Creating a new theme

To create a new theme, you need to set up a new module inside the lib-multisrc directory. The structure is similar to a regular extension, but it acts as a base library that other extensions can depend on.

Theme directory structure

$ tree lib-multisrc/<theme_name>/
lib-multisrc/<theme_name>/
├── build.gradle.kts
└── src
    └── main
        └── java
            └── eu
                └── kanade
                    └── tachiyomi
                        └── multisrc
                            └── <theme_name>
                                └── <ThemeName>.kt

<theme_name> should be adapted from the CMS/theme name, and can only contain lowercase ASCII letters and digits. Your theme code must be placed in the package eu.kanade.tachiyomi.multisrc.<theme_name>.

Theme build.gradle.kts

Make sure that your new theme's build.gradle.kts file follows this structure:

plugins {
    alias(kei.plugins.multisrc)
}

baseVersionCode = 1
Field Description
baseVersionCode The base version code for the theme. This must be a positive integer and incremented whenever a change is made to the theme's implementation that affects the extensions.

Theme main class

The main class of the theme (e.g., <ThemeName>.kt) contains the default implementation for the source sites. It should be declared as an abstract class extending AnimeHttpSource, allowing individual extensions to inherit and override its properties and methods.

package eu.kanade.tachiyomi.multisrc.<theme_name>

import eu.kanade.tachiyomi.animesource.online.AnimeHttpSource

abstract class <ThemeName>(
    override val name: String,
    override val baseUrl: String,
    override val lang: String,
) : AnimeHttpSource() {

    // Theme default implementation...

}

Using a Theme

To use a theme in your extension, follow the regular extension creation steps and add the themePkg property to your build.gradle:

ext {
    extName = '<My source name>'
    extClass = '.<MySourceName>'
    themePkg = '<theme_name>'
    overrideVersionCode = 1
    isNsfw = true
}

apply plugin: "kei.plugins.extension.legacy"

Notice that instead of extVersionCode, extensions using a theme must use overrideVersionCode. The final extension version code (extVersionCode) is automatically calculated during the build process as theme.baseVersionCode + ext.overrideVersionCode.

Because themes are provided as libraries, your extension's main class will directly inherit from the theme's base class.

Any site-specific overrides, custom functions, or custom icons are implemented directly in your extension's module (src/<lang>/<mysourcename>) by overriding the inherited theme properties and functions.

Running

For local development, use the following run configuration to launch the app directly into the Browse panel.

Android Studio: Run/Debug Configurations

Copy the following into Launch Flags for the Debug build of Anikku:

Anikku:

-W -S -n app.anikku.dev/eu.kanade.tachiyomi.ui.main.MainActivity -a eu.kanade.tachiyomi.SHOW_CATALOGUES

Aniyomi:

-W -S -n xyz.jmir.tachiyomi.mi.debug/eu.kanade.tachiyomi.ui.main.MainActivity -a eu.kanade.tachiyomi.SHOW_CATALOGUES

For other builds, replace app.anikku.dev with the corresponding package IDs:

  • Release build: app.anikku or xyz.jmir.tachiyomi.mi
  • Preview build: app.anikku.preview

If the extension builds and runs successfully, then the code changes should be ready to test in your local app.

Important

If you're deploying to Android 11 or higher, enable the Always install with package manager option in the run configurations. Without this option enabled, you might face issues such as Android Studio running an older version of the extension without the modifications you might have done.

Debugging

Android Debugger

Note

It is generally recommended to rely on logging instead of the Android Debugger. Using standard logs (like Log.d or viewing OkHttp logs) is typically much faster, easier to set up, and is more than sufficient for debugging web scraping logic.

Important

If you didn't build the main app from source with debug enabled and are using a release/beta APK, you need a rooted device. If you are using an emulator instead, make sure you choose a profile without Google Play.

Follow the steps above for building and running locally if you haven't already. Debugging will not work if you did not follow the steps above.

You can leverage the Android Debugger to add breakpoints and step through your extension while debugging.

You cannot simply use Android Studio's Debug 'module.name' -> this will most likely result in an error while launching.

Instead, once you've built and installed your extension on the target device, use Attach Debugger to Android Process to start debugging the app.

Inside the Attach Debugger to Android Process window, once the app is running on your device and Show all processes is checked, you should be able to select app.anikku.dev or xyz.jmir.tachiyomi.mi.debug and press OK.

Android Studio: Choose Process

Logs

You can also elect to simply rely on logs printed from your extension, which show up in the Logcat panel of Android Studio.

Inspecting network calls

One of the easiest ways to inspect network issues (such as HTTP errors 404, 429, no episode found, etc.) is to use the Logcat panel of Android Studio and filter by the OkHttpClient tag.

To be able to check the calls made by OkHttp, you need to enable verbose logging in the app, which is not enabled by default. To enable it, go to More -> Settings -> Advanced -> Verbose logging. After enabling it, don't forget to restart the app.

Inspecting the Logcat allows you to get a good look at the call flow and is more than enough in most cases where issues occur. However, alternatively, you can also use an external tool like mitm-proxy. For that, refer to the subsequent sections.

On newer Android Studio versions, you can use its built-in Network Inspector inside the App Inspection tool window. This feature provides a nice GUI to inspect the requests made in the app.

To use it, follow the official documentation and select the app's package name in the process list.

Using external network inspecting tools

If you want a deeper look into the network flow, such as inspecting the request and response bodies you can use an external tool like mitm-proxy.

Setup your proxy server

We are going to use mitm-proxy but you can replace it with any other Web Debugger (i.e. Charles, Burp Suite, Fiddler etc). To install and execute, follow the commands below.

# Install the tool.
$ sudo pip3 install mitmproxy
# Execute the web interface and the proxy.
$ mitmweb

Alternatively, you can also use the Docker image:

$ docker run --rm -it -p 8080:8080 \
    -p 127.0.0.1:8081:8081 \
    --web-host 0.0.0.0 \
    mitmproxy/mitmproxy mitmweb

After installing and running, open your browser and navigate to http://127.0.0.1:8081.

OkHttp proxy setup

Since most of the anime sources are going to use HTTPS, we need to disable SSL verification in order to use the web debugger. For that, add this code to inside your source class:

package eu.kanade.tachiyomi.animeextension.en.mysource

import android.annotation.SuppressLint
import eu.kanade.tachiyomi.animesource.online.AnimeHttpSource
import okhttp3.OkHttpClient
import java.net.InetSocketAddress
import java.net.Proxy
import java.security.SecureRandom
import java.security.cert.X509Certificate
import javax.net.ssl.SSLContext
import javax.net.ssl.TrustManager
import javax.net.ssl.X509TrustManager

class MySource : AnimeHttpSource() {
    private fun OkHttpClient.Builder.ignoreAllSSLErrors(): OkHttpClient.Builder {
        val naiveTrustManager = @SuppressLint("CustomX509TrustManager")
        object : X509TrustManager {
            override fun getAcceptedIssuers(): Array<X509Certificate> = emptyArray()
            override fun checkClientTrusted(certs: Array<X509Certificate>, authType: String) = Unit
            override fun checkServerTrusted(certs: Array<X509Certificate>, authType: String) = Unit
        }

        val insecureSocketFactory = SSLContext.getInstance("TLSv1.2").apply {
            val trustAllCerts = arrayOf<TrustManager>(naiveTrustManager)
            init(null, trustAllCerts, SecureRandom())
        }.socketFactory

        sslSocketFactory(insecureSocketFactory, naiveTrustManager)
        hostnameVerifier { _, _ -> true }
        return this
    }

    override val client: OkHttpClient = network.client.newBuilder()
        .ignoreAllSSLErrors()
        .proxy(Proxy(Proxy.Type.HTTP, InetSocketAddress("10.0.2.2", 8080)))
        .build()
}

Note: 10.0.2.2 is usually the address of your loopback interface in the android emulator. If the app tells you that it's unable to connect to 10.0.2.2:8080 you will likely need to change it (the same if you are using hardware device).

If all went well, you should see all requests and responses made by the source in the web interface of mitmweb.

Building

APKs can be created in Android Studio via Build > Build Bundle(s) / APK(s) > Build APK(s) or Build > Generate Signed Bundle / APK.

If for some reason you decide to build the APK from the command line, you can use the following command (because you're doing things differently than expected, I assume you have some knowledge of gradlew and your OS):

// For a single apk, use this command
$ ./gradlew src:<lang>:<source>:assembleDebug

Submitting the changes

When you feel confident about your changes, submit a new Pull Request so your code can be reviewed and merged if it's approved. We encourage following a GitHub Standard Fork & Pull Request Workflow and following the good practices of the workflow, such as not committing directly to master: always create a new branch for your changes.

If you are more comfortable about using Git GUI-based tools, you can refer to this guide about the Git integration inside Android Studio, specifically the "How to Contribute to an to Existing Git Repository in Android Studio" section of the guide.

Important

Make sure you have generated the extension icon using the linked Icon Generator tool in the Tools section. The icon must follow the pattern adopted by all other extensions: a square with rounded corners. Make sure to remove the generated web_hi_res_512.png.

Please do test your changes by compiling it through Android Studio before submitting it. Obvious untested PRs will not be merged, such as ones created with the GitHub web interface. Also make sure to follow the PR checklist available in the PR body field when creating a new PR. As a reference, you can find it below.

Pull Request checklist

  • Updated extVersionCode value in build.gradle for individual extensions
  • Updated overrideVersionCode or baseVersionCode as needed for all multisrc extensions
  • Referenced all related issues in the PR body (e.g. "Closes #xyz")
  • Added the isNsfw = true flag in build.gradle when appropriate
  • Have not changed source names
  • Have explicitly kept the id if a source's name or language were changed
  • Have tested the modifications by compiling and running the extension through Android Studio
  • Have removed web_hi_res_512.png when adding a new extension
  • This PR is AI-assisted, I have reviewed the changes manually and confirmed they are not slop