4chan F-Parser

What it is

4chan F-Parser is a lightweight, professional command-line utility for bulk-downloading media (images, GIFs, WebM, and MP4 files) from 4chan threads. The program is built for those who need a fast, reliable, and repeatable way to save thread content without saving each file by hand.

How it works

The program communicates directly with the official public JSON API of 4chan, rather than parsing HTML pages. When you specify a board or a thread, the program requests structured thread data that lists every attached file along with its name, size, and type. Based on this list, a download queue is built, and each file is downloaded directly from 4chan's media servers.

For speed, downloads run in parallel through a configurable thread pool instead of one file at a time. Each file is written to disk in chunks with live progress feedback, so large videos don't need to be fully loaded into memory before being saved. The program checks which files are already on disk, so re-running it on the same thread will only download new files - no duplicates and no wasted traffic.

Board and thread selection happens through an interactive menu - the program fetches the current list of boards and a live thread catalog (sorted by activity) directly from 4chan, so you always see up-to-date data instead of an outdated list. You can also paste a thread or board link directly, bypassing the selection menu.

All settings - the save folder, number of parallel downloads, file type filter, and overwrite rule - are configured through a built-in settings menu and saved locally, so nothing needs to be reconfigured on every run.

Program workflow stages

1. Launch

The user starts the program from the terminal. A welcome banner appears with the name and version. The program immediately offers a choice of how to begin - select a board from a list, paste a direct thread link, or paste a board link/code.

2. Board selection

If the board path is chosen, the program fetches the current list of all 4chan boards and displays it as a convenient table with codes and titles. The user enters the code of the desired board (for example, "g" or "gif").

3. Thread selection

After the board is selected, the program loads a live catalog of active threads for that board, sorted by reply count. Threads are shown page by page with a short preview, reply count, and image count. The user browses the pages and selects the desired thread by number - or, if a thread link was already provided at the very start, this step is skipped.

4. Downloading

The program retrieves the full file list for the selected thread, shows the file count and approximate total size, then asks for confirmation. Once confirmed, parallel downloading of all files begins into a separate folder named after the board and thread number. Progress for each file is shown during the download, and a final summary is displayed at the end - how many files were downloaded, how many were skipped (already on disk), and how many errors occurred, if any.

Why you should use this program

• Speed - parallel downloading turns a task that would take many minutes into one that finishes in seconds, even for media-heavy threads.
• Reliability - built on the official 4chan API instead of fragile page scraping that breaks when the site's layout changes.
• No re-downloading - already downloaded files are automatically skipped, making it safe to re-run the program on a thread that's still growing.
• No manual clicking - no need to save dozens or hundreds of files one by one.
• Organized files - every thread is saved into its own clearly named folder.
• Flexible startup - works with a direct thread link, a board link, or manual selection.
• Minimal dependencies - runs anywhere Python runs, with one optional library for a nicer progress display.
• Clear feedback - clean progress indicators and a summary report after every run.

Who it's for

Anyone who needs to reliably archive thread media at scale - archivists, researchers, or simply people tired of saving files one at a time - will see a real time savings from the very first run.