bilibili-cli

bili

A fast, friendly command line for bilibili.com. One binary that resolves any video, user, comment, danmaku, dynamic, live room, bangumi, audio track, column article, or favorite folder into clean structured records you can pipe anywhere.

bili video BV17x411w7KC --fields bvid,title,owner_name,view_count,pubdate_text

bvid          title               owner_name  view_count  pubdate_text
BV17x411w7KC  【MV】保加利亚妖王AZIS视频合辑  冰封.虾子       45703435    2011-11-09 21:55:33

Full documentation: bilibili-cli.tamnd.com.

Why

Working with bilibili usually means reverse engineering its web API: the WBI request signing, the anonymous buvid session it expects, the {code, message, data} envelope, av/BV id conversion, and protobuf-encoded danmaku. bili puts all of it behind one tool with sensible defaults, real output formats, and pipelines that compose. It talks to the public web endpoints over plain HTTPS, signs every request that needs it, and bootstraps an anonymous session on its own, so there are no credentials to set up for public data.

A cookie is optional. Provide one with --cookie or --cookie-file and bili reaches the same data your logged-in browser sees; without one it stays anonymous. bili is read-only: it never logs in for you, posts, or downloads protected media.

Install

go install github.com/tamnd/bilibili-cli/cmd/bili@latest

Or grab a prebuilt binary from the releases page. The binary is pure Go with no runtime dependencies.

Build from source:

git clone https://github.com/tamnd/bilibili-cli
cd bilibili-cli
make build      # produces ./bili

Quick start

bili video BV17x411w7KC               # full metadata for a video
bili comments BV17x411w7KC -n 50      # the top comments, with their replies
bili danmaku BV17x411w7KC             # bullet-chat for the first part
bili search lofi                      # search videos
bili user 122541                      # a creator's profile and stat
bili search lofi -o url | bili crawl - --out ./data --comments

How it works

bilibili exposes a large web API behind a few shared conventions. bili handles them so you do not have to:

• WBI signing. Many endpoints reject unsigned requests. bili fetches the current WBI key pair from the nav endpoint, derives the mixin key, and signs each call with the right w_rid and wts.
• Anonymous session. bili activates a fresh buvid3/buvid4 pair on first use so endpoints that expect a browser session answer normally.
• The envelope. Responses arrive as {code, message, ttl, data} (or result for the bangumi/pgc endpoints). bili unwraps it, maps bilibili's risk-control codes to readable errors, and gives you just the record.
• ids. Videos carry both an avNNN number and a BV string; bili converts between them, follows b23.tv short links, and classifies any id or URL you paste with bili id.
• danmaku. Bullet chat ships as a protobuf segment stream. bili decodes it into one record per comment with its timestamp, mode, color, and text.

Commands

Run bili <command> --help for the full flag list on any command.

Recipes

Pull a video and all of its top comments with replies as JSONL:

bili comments BV17x411w7KC --replies -o jsonl > comments.jsonl

Collect the danmaku timeline for a multi-part video's third part:

bili danmaku BV17x411w7KC --page 3 -o jsonl | wc -l

Turn a search into a small dataset, comments and uploader profiles included:

bili search 'lofi' -n 20 -o url \
  | bili crawl - --out ./data --comments --user

Walk a creator's whole catalogue:

bili user 122541 --videos -o jsonl

See what an id or URL actually is before fetching it:

bili id https://b23.tv/abc123        # follows the short link and classifies it

Inspect the exact requests a command would make, without sending them:

bili video BV17x411w7KC --dry-run

Output formats

Every command renders through the same formatter. Pick a format with -o, or let bili choose: a table when writing to a terminal, JSONL when piped.

bili search lofi -o table   # aligned columns for reading
bili search lofi -o jsonl   # one JSON object per line, for piping
bili search lofi -o json    # a single JSON array
bili search lofi -o csv     # spreadsheet friendly
bili search lofi -o url     # just the canonical URL column

Narrow the columns with --fields, or template each row:

bili video BV17x411w7KC --fields bvid,title,view_count,like_count
bili search lofi --template '{{.BVID}} {{.Title}}'

Configuration

bili keeps its cache and state under your platform's standard cache and config directories. See the resolved paths and effective settings any time (secrets are redacted):

bili config show

Useful global flags (all have sensible defaults):

A cookie is read only and never printed back: bili config show redacts it, and nothing logs it.

Development

make test    # run the test suite
make vet     # go vet
make build   # build ./bili
make smoke   # build, then run the live smoke script

The code is layered. cli/ is the command tree built on Cobra. bili/ is the library it sits on: the HTTP client, WBI signing, the anonymous session, id resolution, and one method per data model. Two small, self-contained packages live under pkg/, each importable on its own:

Neither depends on bili/ or the CLI, so you can pull just the piece you need into your own program.

License

Apache 2.0.

This project is an independent client and is not affiliated with bilibili. Use it to access public data responsibly and within bilibili's terms of service.