hmjz100/LinkSwift

The problem

If you use Baidu Netdisk, Aliyun Drive, Quark, 123pan or one of the other big Chinese cloud drives on the web, downloading a file without the vendor's desktop client means clicking through the share page, and many pages simply won't give you a URL you can paste into a download manager. There is now a better way to do it, but most users hit the wall first: the file pages are heavy, login-gated and frequently restructured. LinkSwift is a Tampermonkey userscript that injects a download panel into those pages and returns the resolved file link, so you can route it to Aria2, IDM, AB Download Manager, BitComet or just the browser.

What's different

It is a fork of the well-known 网盘直链下载助手 by 油小猴, and the difference is breadth plus upkeep: nine drives in one script, a shared settings UI, multi-server Aria2/RPC configuration, and a changelog that shows constant adaptation when providers change their share pages. Compared with an official client it stays in the browser and adds no background service; compared with asking each vendor's web page for a URL by hand, it centralizes the flow. Note the README's own framing: links come from the providers' public APIs, and the project explicitly disclaims any speed-limit circumvention — it is a link extractor, not an unlock.

Who it's for

People who live in a browser and want one consistent download button across several Chinese cloud drives, especially those who already run Aria2 on a NAS or router. It suits Windows, macOS, Linux and Android browsers with Tampermonkey installed. Look elsewhere if you only use one drive, if you need a guaranteed stable interface for automation (this is UI-level scraping), or if you want something that promises to bypass throttling — the author will not give you that.

Cost of adoption

You need a userscript manager (Chrome ≥76 / Edge ≥88 listed as targets) and a per-drive setup of tokens or cookies, which the script walks you through; keeping those credentials in the browser is a real risk to weigh. The script is a single user.js file updated frequently — the changelog shows fixes driven by each provider's redesigns, so expect occasional breakage between releases. Licensing is AGPL-3.0, which matters if you plan to fork and redistribute. The README is detailed on installation but thin on security and privacy specifics beyond the API disclaimer.

Verdict

A long-lived project: created in August 2022 and still shipping releases in 2026, with 27.5k stars and a monthly JavaScript board gain of about 6.7k at #8. That momentum looks like renewed attention rather than a viral spike, and the maintenance record supports it. It is a pragmatic utility with an honest scope statement, but its value is tied to other people's web pages, so treat updates as part of the deal. Worth installing if you already juggle multiple drives; skip it if you want a supported, contractual download path.