FarFetched

A patient, self-hosted fetcher for your 3D-print library.

FarFetched browses, searches, and downloads models from Printables, MakerWorld, Thingiverse, Cults3D, STLFlix, Creality Cloud, Nikko Industries, and the Hex3D Patreon forum at a deliberate, polite pace — then keeps them in a tidy local library with a built-in STL / 3MF viewer, a parametric customization workshop, and printer-aware build profiles. One container, your server.

Built by BTCB Design.

⚠️ Download Delay Warnings

Cults3D — MINIMUM 120 seconds required. Cults3D's bot detection will flag and block your account if the delay is set below 120 seconds. Do not lower this value.

Recommended for all sources: 120 seconds. Setting every source to 120 seconds is the safest configuration. Faster delays risk rate-limiting or IP bans across any platform.

These settings are configurable per-source under Settings → [Source Name] → Download Delay. The Docker default (FETCHER_DOWNLOAD_DELAY=120) is intentionally set to the safe value — do not lower it.

Why

Bulk-downloading from model sites either means clicking one file at a time forever, or hammering a free API until it rate-limits you. FarFetched sits in the middle: queue everything you want, and a background worker pulls it down one file at a time with a configurable delay — courteous to the source, hands-off for you. Everything lands in a clean local folder you own, browsable in-app and ready for your slicer.

Features

• Eight sources, one queue — Printables, MakerWorld, Thingiverse, Cults3D, STLFlix, Creality Cloud, Nikko Industries, and the Hex3D Patreon forum. Switch sources without losing your selection.
• Paced downloads — a configurable delay between every fetch keeps the source service happy. The queue shows exactly when the next file fires, with a live "chef's pass" log strip tailing the worker in real time.
• Live queue progress — per-file and overall progress update in real time without reloading, including source badges on every job.
• Search & infinite scroll — keyword search across every source, results streaming in as you scroll.
• Category browsing — drill into source categories from the sidebar, including a collapsible accordion for deep category trees.
• Customize & Pose workshop — parametric OpenSCAD models render live with adjustable parameters, then arrange multiple printed parts in a Three.js scene (move, rotate, export) before sending to your slicer.
• Printer-aware profiles — save your printers' build volumes from a starter catalog (Bambu Lab, Elegoo, and more) so the workshop and viewer know what you're printing for.
• Collections — group saved models into named collections that persist across sessions.
• Favorites — star any model to save it to a server-side Favorites page that persists across devices and browsers.
• STL & 3MF viewer — spin up any downloaded model in the browser. A resilient 3MF loader handles slicer exports that trip up stock parsers.
• Model management — delete models directly from the viewer with multi-select and a confirm step.
• Local library — downloads land in a clean, organized folder you own, one subfolder per source.
• Cross-category multi-select — build a batch across categories and sources before hitting Download.
• Prefer-pack option — optionally pull whole-model ZIPs and extract, instead of fetching files one at a time.
• Paste-once auth — drop in one token (or session credentials) per source; FarFetched keeps itself signed in.
• Six visual themes — Dark, Light, Midnight, Forest, Nord, and Mono, switchable from any page.
• Optional password lock — protect your instance with a single bcrypt-hashed password if it's reachable beyond your LAN.
• Insights dashboard — at-a-glance stats on your library: counts per source, recent activity, and download trends.

Screenshots

Your library, your way

My Library	3D Viewer

A clean, searchable library of everything you've downloaded — with a built-in STL/3MF viewer that shows your model sitting on a printer bed.

Organize & track

Collections	Favorites

Library Insights	Local Custom Folders

Group models into collections, star your favorites, track library stats, and index folders you already have on disk — no copying required.

Printer management & OctoPrint

My Printers	OctoPrint Integration

Manage your printers with real bed dimensions, and connect each one to its own OctoPrint instance for status, file upload, and print control.

Download pipeline

Download Queue	Worker Pacing

Queue everything at once; a patient background worker pulls it down one file at a time at a polite, configurable pace.

Configurable & secure

Source Settings	Security

Per-source settings and pacing, with an optional password lock for instances reachable beyond your LAN.

Quick start (Docker)

docker run -d \
  --name FarFetched \
  -p 16545:80 \
  -e FETCHER_DOWNLOAD_DIR=/downloads \
  -e FETCHER_DOWNLOAD_DELAY=120 \
  -v /path/to/your/models:/downloads \
  -v /path/to/persistent/data:/var/www/html/private \
  -v /path/to/your/custom-folders:/custom \
  ghcr.io/pumpkinpieman/farfetched:latest

The /custom mount is optional — it's only needed for the Custom Local Folders feature (Settings → Custom). See Custom Local Folders below.

Then open http://your-server:16545 and add your source tokens under Settings.

Environment variables

Volumes

⚠️ Storage placement — keep the database on stable local storage. The /var/www/html/private volume holds a SQLite database (fetcher.db). SQLite's file locking is unreliable on networked or merged/synced filesystems — NFS, SMB/CIFS, and FUSE overlays such as Unraid's array+cache user-shares. Placing the database there causes intermittent database is locked errors and stalled queues, because the storage layer can relocate or sync the file underneath an open connection.

Map /var/www/html/private to a real local filesystem (a plain SSD/disk path), not a synced share.

• Unraid: set the appdata share to cache-only (Use cache pool: Only, or Prefer then run Mover) so the database lives on the cache SSD — not on the array. Mapping to the raw /mnt/cache/... path (instead of the FUSE /mnt/user/... path) achieves the same.
• Synology / QNAP / NAS: keep it on internal SSD/HDD, not an NFS/SMB-mounted volume.
• Generic Docker: a local bind-mount or named volume on the host's own disk is ideal.

FarFetched auto-detects FUSE/network mounts and falls back to the portable DELETE journal mode (instead of WAL) to stay as safe as possible, but no application setting can fully compensate for a database file the storage layer is actively syncing. Stable local storage is strongly recommended. The /downloads and /custom volumes have no such constraint — only the private (database) volume matters here.

Finding your auth tokens

Each source needs a token or credentials, pulled from your browser's DevTools while logged in. The in-app Settings → Sources page and the home page include step-by-step guides for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari. In brief:

• Printables / MakerWorld / Thingiverse / STLFlix — DevTools → Network → find an API/GraphQL request → copy the Authorization: Bearer … header.
• Cults3D — DevTools → Application/Storage → Cookies → copy user_email and user_token.
• Creality Cloud — DevTools → Application/Storage → Cookies → copy model_token, model_user_id, and cf_clearance.
• Nikko Industries — no API; DevTools → Application/Storage → Cookies → copy the full Cookie header from a logged-in tab (membership grants unlimited downloads across the whole library, not per-model).
• Hex3D Forum — a phpBB forum, also no API; copy the full Cookie header the same way, then list which forum IDs (the number after f= in each forum's URL) you want FarFetched to browse.

Tokens expire on each platform's own schedule (Printables ~1h, STLFlix ~30 days, Creality's cf_clearance fastest); cookie-based sources have no fixed expiry and vary by server config. Just re-paste when a source stops authing.

Custom Local Folders

Beyond the sources FarFetched downloads from, you can register folders you already have on disk — an existing model archive, a Google Drive / Dropbox folder synced locally, an SMB share, anything. These are indexed in place (never copied), each subfolder is treated as one model, and they appear blended into My Library. Removing a registered folder never touches the files.

Configure them under Settings → Custom, with a built-in folder browser so you don't have to type paths.

The one thing to understand: container paths, not host paths

FarFetched runs in a container, so it only sees what's bind-mounted into it. A path that exists on your host (e.g. /mnt/user/Downloads/MyModels) is invisible to the app unless that location is mounted. Inside the container the same files appear at the container path you mapped them to — which is usually different from the host path (e.g. host /mnt/user/Downloads → container /downloads).

This is the single most common point of confusion: entering a host path the container can't see fails with "That path is not a folder or is not reachable from the container." Always use the container path.

Setup

1. Add a bind mount for the folder(s) you want to register. The convention is to map them to /custom in the container:

   • Unraid: edit the FarFetched container → Add another Path → Container Path /custom, Host Path /mnt/user/YourCustomArea, then Apply.
   • docker run / compose: add -v /mnt/user/YourCustomArea:/custom.

   Tip: point /custom at a dedicated host folder (e.g. /mnt/user/CustomModels) rather than your existing Downloads, so custom folders stay separate from the auto-scanned /downloads sources and nothing double-lists.

2. Verify the mount is live:

   docker exec FarFetched ls -la /custom
   

   This should list your host folder's contents. If it says No such file or directory, the mount isn't applied yet.

3. Register in the app: Settings → Custom → Browse…, navigate into /custom, pick a folder, and Add Folder. Its models now show in My Library.

4. OpenScad installation - This runs after the container starts, checks if OpenSCADis is missing, installs it if so. Survives recreate (the script persists in Unraid, not the container). ~1-2 min install on first boot after a recreate, instant otherwise.

#!/bin/bash

Unraid User Scripts plugin → run "At Startup of Array" or on a schedule

docker exec FarFetched sh -c 'command -v openscad >/dev/null 2>&1 || (apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends openscad xvfb xauth && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*)'

Thumbnails

Custom folders use an existing preview image in each model subfolder (thumb.png, preview.jpg, cover.*, or the first image found) — they are not rendered from the STL. Subfolders without any image show a "no preview" placeholder.

Notes

• The folder browser is jailed to /custom — it cannot navigate into system or app directories.
• Registering is non-destructive and reversible: the folder list lives in config; your files are never moved, copied, or modified.
• Drop new model subfolders into a registered folder at any time — they appear on the next My Library load (no re-import step).

Architecture

• PHP 8.3 + Apache in a single Docker image.
• SQLite (WAL) job queue, favorites, collections, and printer profiles in the persistent volume.
• Background worker invoked by cron, self-locking against overlap, self-pacing between downloads.
• Three.js viewer for STL/3MF preview, and the multi-part arrangement scene in Customize & Pose.
• OpenSCAD parametric rendering for customizable models.
• Vanilla JS front end — no build step.

Notable engineering

• Lock-free live progress — the worker streams state to a small JSON file the UI polls, rather than fighting the job store for write locks.
• Defensive API queries — GraphQL queries ask for the richer shape first and fall back automatically, so a schema change degrades one feature instead of blanking the page.
• Resilient 3MF loading — a fallback unzips the archive and parses mesh geometry directly, then re-seats the model upright.
• Cron-safe path resolution — path resolution falls back through the process env, the entrypoint env file, and the conventional mount point, so downloads land correctly regardless of how the worker is launched.
• Server-side image proxy — thumbnails from CORS-restricted CDNs are streamed through an allowlisted server-side proxy.
• Auto-format detection with fallback — handles zip vs. bare .3mf/.stl per model, with an STL → 3MF → pack fallback when a requested format is missing.
• Session-based source clients — sources like Cults3D, Creality Cloud, Nikko Industries, and the Hex3D forum authenticate with browser session credentials; signed or session-gated download URLs are resolved per-job and re-minted automatically when they expire.
• HTML-scraped sources — Nikko Industries and the Hex3D forum have no public API; their catalogs are browsed via targeted, defensive HTML parsing rather than a structured endpoint.
• WAL → DELETE SQLite fallback — automatically falls back to DELETE journal mode on filesystems (FUSE/network mounts) where WAL locking is unreliable.

Project layout

webroot/                     # Apache document root
├── index.php                # Browse / search UI + router
├── home.php                 # Source picker + token guide
├── customize.php            # Customize & Pose: OpenSCAD render + part arrangement
├── collections.php / collections_view.php   # Saved model collections
├── printers.php / printer_catalog.php / printer_action.php  # Printer build-volume profiles
├── jobs.php / jobs_status.php  # Download queue (live)
├── viewer.php                # STL / 3MF 3D viewer + delete
├── favorites.php             # Saved (starred) models
├── favorite.php              # Star/unstar endpoint
├── insights.php              # Library stats dashboard
├── settings.php               # Per-source auth, worker tuning, donate
├── auth.php / auth_action.php # Optional password lock
├── worker.php                 # CLI download worker (cron)
├── bootstrap.php              # Config, paths, DB, shared helpers
├── proxy.php                  # Server-side image proxy
├── model_file.php             # Path-safe file streaming for the viewer
├── model_delete.php           # Model deletion endpoint
├── scad_render.php            # OpenSCAD render endpoint for Customize & Pose
├── enqueue.php / job_action.php
└── *Service.php               # One client per source

Security notes

• All state-changing endpoints require POST + CSRF token.
• Source slugs and model names are validated to single path segments; deletion is confirmed to resolve inside the source directory via realpath() before any file is touched.
• The image proxy is host-allowlisted and follows redirects only within that allowlist (SSRF-safe).
• Tokens and session cookies live in the private volume, never in the web root.
• The optional password lock stores only a bcrypt hash, no username — this is a single-user, self-hosted tool.

Support

Like the project? Buy me a ko-fi ☕

License

Open source. See LICENSE for details.