Manga

Search, track, and download manga series using MyAnimeList for metadata and MangaDex for chapters.

Comicarr treats manga as a first-class content type with full parity to comics. Manga series show up in Library, Releases, and Wanted alongside comics, and they can be searched, downloaded, and tracked the same way.

Under the hood, Comicarr uses two complementary sources:

MyAnimeList — primary metadata provider when enabled. Supplies titles, authors, cover art, synopses, and cross-references.
MangaDex — supplies per-chapter data that MAL doesn't expose, plus a metadata fallback when MAL is disabled.

This hybrid approach significantly improves manga library scan match rates compared to MangaDex-only metadata.

Enabling Manga

You have two paths depending on how much setup you want to do:

MAL + MangaDex (recommended) — the best search coverage and metadata quality.
MangaDex only — works out of the box, no API key required, but lower match rates.

MAL + MangaDex

config.ini

[MAL]
mal_enabled = True
mal_client_id = your_mal_client_id_here

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

To get a MAL Client ID, register an application at myanimelist.net/apiconfig. The free tier is sufficient. In the UI, configure it under Settings → API & providers.

When MAL is enabled, search results are routed through MAL first. Each result is badged with the source it came from. If MAL doesn't find a match, Comicarr falls back to MangaDex automatically.

MangaDex only

Leave MAL_ENABLED at False and set MANGADEX_ENABLED = True. All search, metadata, and chapter tracking will go through MangaDex.

If you want a manga-only experience, set COMICVINE_ENABLED to False in the [CV] section. This hides all comic-specific search and metadata features. See Content Sources for details.

Configuration

MyAnimeList

Setting	Default	Description
`MAL_ENABLED`	`False`	Use MyAnimeList as the primary manga metadata source.
`MAL_CLIENT_ID`	—	MAL API Client ID. Required when `MAL_ENABLED` is true.

MangaDex

Setting	Default	Description
`MANGADEX_ENABLED`	`False`	Enable MangaDex for chapter data (and metadata when MAL is disabled).
`MANGADEX_LANGUAGES`	`en`	Comma-separated language codes to filter chapters.
`MANGADEX_CONTENT_RATING`	`safe,suggestive`	Comma-separated content ratings to include.

Language Filter

MANGADEX_LANGUAGES 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:

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

Default includes safe and suggestive only.

Chapter-Level Tracking

Manga series are tracked at the chapter level, not the issue level. Each chapter maps to a Comicarr issue, so chapters appear in your wanted list and can be searched and downloaded individually. Regardless of whether MAL or MangaDex is the primary metadata source, chapter listings come from MangaDex.

Cross-Provider Detection

When a series is added via MAL, Comicarr stores both the MalID and the corresponding MangaDexID (resolved via MangaDex's links.mal field). This lets the app keep chapter data in sync even when the primary metadata comes from MAL.

Rate Limiting

Both APIs are rate-limited automatically:

MAL — throttled per the MAL API v2 limits; no configuration required.
MangaDex — capped at 5 requests per second with a 200 ms minimum between calls.

Do not run multiple Comicarr instances against MangaDex simultaneously. Rate limiters are 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)

MAL covers are served through an internal image proxy with an allowlisted domain set to avoid CORS/SSRF issues in the browser.

No API key is required for the MangaDex side — all MangaDex requests go through the public API at https://api.mangadex.org.

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