Downloaders
A downloader is a provider that retrieves new media from a supported source into Cove’s intake workflow. Its defining responsibility is acquisition; metadata discovery for an existing local item belongs to a scraper or metadata provider.
Inputs and outputs
Section titled “Inputs and outputs”A downloader can accept a URL, provider identifier, or provider-specific request. It can return one or more files plus available metadata and external identity. Cove can create a file-less record while acquisition is pending and associate completed output later.
Download location, naming, collision behavior, credentials, and supported sources are downloader-specific. Files must ultimately be placed where Cove can access them, and rename or cleanup behavior requires writable storage.
Jobs and failures
Section titled “Jobs and failures”Downloads commonly run as background jobs. Availability depends on an enabled provider, valid configuration, job services, network access, filesystem access, and permissions. A failed job does not necessarily remove the intake record; retry and cleanup behavior depend on the provider and operation.
Extension boundary
Section titled “Extension boundary”Extensions can contribute downloader implementations and settings. Provider credentials should remain in Cove’s configuration or secret handling, not in tracked extension content.