anilist-mal-sync

anilist-mal-sync

Program to synchronize your AniList and MyAnimeList accounts.

Features

• Bidirectional sync between AniList and MyAnimeList (anime and manga)
• OAuth2 authentication
• CLI interface

Quick Start (Docker)

Step 1: Create OAuth applications

AniList:

1. Go to AniList Developer Settings
2. Create New Client with redirect URL: http://localhost:18080/callback
3. Save Client ID and Client Secret

MyAnimeList:

1. Go to MAL API Settings
2. Create Application with redirect URL: http://localhost:18080/callback
3. Save Client ID and Client Secret

Step 2: Configure

Download docker-compose.example.yaml and edit credentials:

version: "3"
services:
  sync:
    image: ghcr.io/bigspawn/anilist-mal-sync:latest
    ports:
      - "18080:18080"
    environment:
      - PUID=1000  # Your UID: id -u
      - PGID=1000  # Your GID: id -g
      - ANILIST_CLIENT_ID=your_anilist_client_id
      - ANILIST_CLIENT_SECRET=your_anilist_secret
      - ANILIST_USERNAME=your_anilist_username
      - MAL_CLIENT_ID=your_mal_client_id
      - MAL_CLIENT_SECRET=your_mal_secret
      - MAL_USERNAME=your_mal_username
      # - WATCH_INTERVAL=12h  # Optional: enable watch mode
    volumes:
      - tokens:/home/appuser/.config/anilist-mal-sync
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  tokens:

Step 3: Authenticate

docker-compose run --rm --service-ports sync login all

Follow the URLs printed in terminal.

Step 4: Run

Step 4.1: Run dry-run mode

First, run dry-run mode to preview what will be synced without making actual changes.

docker-compose run --rm --service-ports sync sync --dry-run

Step 4.2: Run real synchronization

After a successful dry-run, you can start the service with real sync:

docker-compose up -d

Done!

Commands

Login/Logout options:

Sync options:

Watch options:

Interval can be set via --interval flag or in config.yaml under watch.interval.

For backward compatibility, running anilist-mal-sync [options] without a command will execute sync.

Configuration

Config file

Full config.yaml example:

oauth:
  port: "18080"
  redirect_uri: "http://localhost:18080/callback"
anilist:
  client_id: "your_client_id"
  client_secret: "your_secret"
  auth_url: "https://anilist.co/api/v2/oauth/authorize"
  token_url: "https://anilist.co/api/v2/oauth/token"
  username: "your_username"
myanimelist:
  client_id: "your_client_id"
  client_secret: "your_secret"
  auth_url: "https://myanimelist.net/v1/oauth2/authorize"
  token_url: "https://myanimelist.net/v1/oauth2/token"
  username: "your_username"
token_file_path: ""  # Leave empty for default: ~/.config/anilist-mal-sync/token.json
watch:
  interval: "24h"  # Sync interval for watch mode (1h-168h), can be overridden with --interval flag

Environment variables

Configuration can be provided entirely via environment variables (recommended for Docker):

Required:

• ANILIST_CLIENT_ID - AniList Client ID
• ANILIST_CLIENT_SECRET - AniList Client Secret
• ANILIST_USERNAME - AniList username
• MAL_CLIENT_ID - MyAnimeList Client ID
• MAL_CLIENT_SECRET - MyAnimeList Client Secret
• MAL_USERNAME - MyAnimeList username

Optional:

• WATCH_INTERVAL - Sync interval for watch mode (e.g., 12h, 24h)
• OAUTH_PORT - OAuth server port (default: 18080)
• OAUTH_REDIRECT_URI - OAuth redirect URI (default: http://localhost:18080/callback)
• TOKEN_FILE_PATH - Token file path (default: ~/.config/anilist-mal-sync/token.json)
• PUID / PGID - User/Group ID for Docker volume permissions

Advanced

Install as binary

go install github.com/bigspawn/anilist-mal-sync@latest
anilist-mal-sync login all
anilist-mal-sync sync

Docker

See Quick Start for the recommended setup.

Using config file instead of environment variables:

docker run --rm -p 18080:18080 \
  -e PUID=$(id -u) -e PGID=$(id -g) \
  -v $(pwd)/config.yaml:/etc/anilist-mal-sync/config.yaml:ro \
  -v $(pwd)/tokens:/home/appuser/.config/anilist-mal-sync \
  ghcr.io/bigspawn/anilist-mal-sync:latest -c /etc/anilist-mal-sync/config.yaml sync

Watch mode

Enable continuous sync by setting WATCH_INTERVAL environment variable:

environment:
  - WATCH_INTERVAL=12h  # Sync every 12 hours

Or run watch command manually:

docker-compose run --rm sync watch --interval=12h

Interval limits: 1h - 168h (7 days)

Scheduling (non-Docker)

Use your system's scheduler for periodic sync:

# Linux/macOS cron (daily at 2 AM)
0 2 * * * /usr/local/bin/anilist-mal-sync sync

Troubleshooting

"Required environment variables not set"

• Set required env vars: ANILIST_CLIENT_ID, ANILIST_CLIENT_SECRET, ANILIST_USERNAME, MAL_CLIENT_ID, MAL_CLIENT_SECRET, MAL_USERNAME
• Or use config file with -c /path/to/config.yaml

Authentication fails

• Check redirect URL matches exactly: http://localhost:18080/callback
• Verify client ID and secret are correct
• Ensure port 18080 is not already in use

Sync appears frozen

• Both services have rate limits. Wait a few minutes and try again
• Use --verbose to see progress

Token expired

• Run anilist-mal-sync status to check
• Run anilist-mal-sync login all to reauthenticate

Disclaimer

This project is not affiliated with AniList or MyAnimeList. Use at your own risk.

TODO

• Sync favorites
• Sync MAL to AniList
• Sync rewatching and rereading