animedex
A read-only, multi-source, gh-flavored command-line interface for
anime and manga metadata. animedex is also a first-class Python
library: import animedex exposes the same backends, the same
source-attributed dataclasses, and the same raw-passthrough API that
the animedex console script uses.
The CLI is a thin presentation layer over the package: every command in
the GIF above also has a one-line Python equivalent, and every JSON
response carries _source annotations so a downstream automation
layer always knows which upstream produced which field.
Why animedex?
There are a dozen public anime APIs. AniList has the cleanest GraphQL surface but degraded rate limits. Jikan scrapes MyAnimeList and is the deepest catalogue. Trace.moe identifies a scene from a screenshot. nekos.best curates SFW art. Each is great at one thing — and each speaks a different protocol, has its own rate limit, and shapes responses differently.
animedex is one CLI (and one Python library) over all of them, with
three guarantees:
Source-attributed — every datum on screen carries
[src: anilist]/[src: jikan]/ etc. No “merged answer”; callers always know who told them what.Read-only by project scope — no
add to list, noset score, no upload. Auth stays small; account state stays untouched.Inform, do not gate — rate limits, content classifications, and legal greys live in
--helptext and per-command Agent Guidance blocks. The CLI does not refuse, second-guess, or impose content filters on the user’s behalf.
What works today
Four backends are wired up at the high-level command surface, with eight at the raw-passthrough surface. The full list, command shapes and rate-ceiling notes live in Tutorials.
animedex anilist ...— 28 anonymous endpoints + 4 auth-required stubs (until token storage lands).animedex jikan ...— 87 anonymous endpoints across the entire Jikan v4 surface.animedex trace ...— search by image, quota check.animedex nekos ...— categories, per-category random images / GIFs, fuzzy metadata search.animedex api <backend> <path>— raw passthrough for AniList, Jikan, Kitsu, MangaDex, Trace.moe, Danbooru, Shikimori, ANN, and nekos.best.