Manga (MangaDex)

Comicarr integrates with MangaDex to search for manga series and track chapters. MangaDex is a free, ad-free manga reader with a public API.

Enabling MangaDex

Set MANGADEX_ENABLED to True in the [MangaDex] config section.

config.ini

[MangaDex]
mangadex_enabled = True
mangadex_languages = en
mangadex_content_rating = safe,suggestive

Configuration

Setting	Default	Description
`MANGADEX_ENABLED`	`False`	Enable MangaDex as a metadata and search source.
`MANGADEX_LANGUAGES`	`en`	Comma-separated language codes to filter chapters.
`MANGADEX_CONTENT_RATING`	`safe,suggestive`	Comma-separated content ratings to include.

Language Filter

The MANGADEX_LANGUAGES setting accepts standard language codes. Set it to the languages you read:

en -- English
ja -- Japanese
ko -- Korean
zh -- Chinese

Multiple languages: en,es,fr

Content Rating

MangaDex classifies all titles by content rating. Control which ratings appear in your results:

Rating	Description
`safe`	All ages content
`suggestive`	Mildly suggestive content
`erotica`	Explicit themes (non-pornographic)
`pornographic`	Explicit content

Default includes safe and suggestive only.

Unlike western comics where Comicarr tracks at the issue level, manga series are tracked at the chapter level. Each MangaDex chapter maps to a Comicarr issue, so chapters appear in your wanted list and can be searched and downloaded individually.

Cover Images

Comicarr extracts cover art from MangaDex for display in the UI. Cover images are cached in memory to avoid repeated API calls.

Rate Limiting

The MangaDex API enforces a rate limit of 5 requests per second. Comicarr respects this automatically with a built-in throttle (200ms minimum between requests). No configuration is needed.

Do not run multiple Comicarr instances against MangaDex simultaneously. The rate limiter is per-instance, so two instances would exceed the limit.

Caching

Comicarr maintains an in-memory cache for MangaDex data to reduce API calls:

Cache	Contents	TTL
Image cache	Cover image URLs	3600 seconds (1 hour)
Manga cache	Series metadata	3600 seconds (1 hour)
Chapter cache	Chapter listings	3600 seconds (1 hour)

The cache is cleared automatically when entries expire. It resets on application restart.

MangaDex does not require an API key. All requests go through the public API at https://api.mangadex.org.