SteamFileDownloader

Download individual files from Steam depots, from any build, without downloading the whole depot.

It is a rethink of DepotDownloader, made for datamining, scripts and AI agents. Use it to:

• get one DLL from twenty old builds
• find the build where a file changed
• extract one file from a pak01_dir.vpk, and download only the chunks that hold it

Note

Expect breaking changes. If something is awkward to use, open an issue.

Highlights

• Any build. Pick files from current or old manifests by path, name, glob or regex.
• Many targets, one login. Mix builds, depots and apps in a single run. This keeps you below Steam's login rate limit.
• Inside VPKs. List or extract VPK entries, downloading only the archive chunks that hold them.
• Never downloads twice. It keeps files that are already on disk, copies files that are identical in another build, and resumes interrupted downloads.
• Game installs. download installs an app into one folder with the depots Steam would pick for your machine.
• Workshop. Inspect items and their version history, search, and download any version.
• Script friendly. Results go to stdout as tab-separated rows, everything else goes to stderr, and exit codes tell failures apart.
• DepotDownloader compatible. dd runs existing DepotDownloader command lines.

Quick start

# Save a login by scanning a QR code with the Steam mobile app
SteamFileDownloader login

# See an app's branches and depots
SteamFileDownloader depots 730

# Find which depot has a file
SteamFileDownloader ls 570 -- hammer.dll

# Compare a file across two builds without downloading it (prints sha1 and size)
SteamFileDownloader ls 730 2347779:4784444484596788209 2347779:2356538687884552308 -- source1import.exe

# Download a file from an old build and the latest one
SteamFileDownloader get 730 2347771:8344780363095656278 2347771 -- game/csgo/bin/win64/server.dll

# Extract VPK entries
SteamFileDownloader get 730 2347770 -- "game/core/pak01_dir.vpk:regex:^scripts/"

# Install a game
SteamFileDownloader download 730 --dir D:/Games/CS2

Every command has its own help with examples and all of its options: run SteamFileDownloader <command> --help, or run it without arguments for an overview.

Commands

Command	What it does
login	Save a Steam login (QR code, or --username)
depots <app>...	List branches, depots and their latest manifests
ls <app> [targets] [-- patterns]	List files with their sha1 and size, without downloading
get <app> [targets] [-- patterns]	Download files into <output>/<depot>/<manifest>/
download <app>	Install an app into one folder, like Steam
workshop info|search|ls|get	Workshop items and their files
dd <DepotDownloader args>	Run a DepotDownloader command line
config output <dir>	Save the default output folder
track <app> --output <dir>	Download the files listed in files.json, for GameTracking

Targets and patterns

A target is a depot, optionally with a manifest, an app and a branch:

2347771                        latest manifest of the depot
2347771:8344780363095656278    a specific (possibly old) manifest
570/373303                     a depot of another app
2347779:2591545799285498410@animgraph_2_beta    a manifest only on a beta branch

With no targets, ls and get use every depot of the app you have access to. Old manifest ids can be found in the history of a GameTracking repo's manifests/ folder.

Patterns come after -- and ignore case:

server.dll                              that file name in any folder
game/csgo/bin/win64/server.dll          exactly that path
*.vpk  game/**/bin/**                   globs
regex:engine2\.dll$                     a regex matched anywhere in the path
game/core/pak01_dir.vpk:<pattern>       entries inside that VPK

Each pattern applies to every target. A target with no match is fine, because the file may not exist in that build yet. A pattern that matches nothing in any target is an error.

Files go to <output>/<depot>/<manifest>/<path>, dated to their build. The default <output> is ./depots. Use the same output folder every time, so that no file downloads twice. To save a default folder, run config output D:/SteamDepots.

Installing a game

download puts an app into one folder, picking depots the way Steam does: for your OS, CPU and language, plus DLC you own. stderr lists the depots it skipped and why, and depots <app> shows the same reasons.

SteamFileDownloader download 730 --os linux --language french --dir D:/Games/CS2-linux
SteamFileDownloader download 90 --include <depot>      # add a depot it skipped, like a mod
SteamFileDownloader download 730 2347770 2347771       # exactly these depots, no filtering

See download --help for --oscpu, --steamdeck, --all-platforms, --exclude and the rest.

Workshop

SteamFileDownloader workshop info 3070715607 --history     # versions, newest first
SteamFileDownloader workshop search 730 dust2
SteamFileDownloader workshop get 3070715607 -- "*.vpk"

Items can be ids or page URLs, and collections expand to their items. workshop ls and workshop get take the same patterns as ls and get, and <item>:<manifest> selects an older version.

Logins

login saves a refresh token, encrypted for your Windows user, so later runs never ask for a password. Run it once per account. The last account becomes the default, and --username selects another. --anonymous is enough for some free apps and dedicated servers.

Logging in needs a person to scan the QR code or type the password, so agents should ask the user to run it. For CI, pass --username and --password on each run instead.

Steam rate limits logins, so put many targets into one run rather than making many runs. Parallel runs on one account don't disconnect each other.

DepotDownloader compatibility

SteamFileDownloader dd -app 730 -depot 2347771 -manifest 8344780363095656278 -dir D:/Games/CS2

dd runs as download, or as ls with -manifest-only. dd does not support -filelist. Use get with patterns instead. See dd --help for the supported flags.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	Something failed (rerunning retries only what failed)
2	Usage error
3	No saved login, or Steam rejected it: run login
4	Rate limited: wait about 15 minutes
5	No access: another account may own it, or it is on another branch or in another app
6	A pattern matched nothing

GameTracking

GameTracking runs track, which downloads the files listed in files.json from the latest build:

SteamFileDownloader track 730 --output . --save-all-manifests

files.json maps depot ids to patterns. Unlike get, they match the full path and are case-sensitive:

{
    "228990": [
        "steamclient.dll",
        "regex:resource/.*\\.txt"
    ],
    "373301": [
        "game/dota/pak01_dir.vpk:regex:^scripts/npc/.+\\.txt$",
        "pak01_dir.vpk:regex:\\.(vsndevts_c|vxml_c)$"
    ]
}

Files go straight into --output with no depot or manifest folders. To rebuild an older build, pass --manifests the manifests/ folder from an old commit.

track writes VPK entries into their archives at the correct offsets, and leaves the rest of each archive sparse. Then Source2Viewer-CLI can extract them as if the archives were complete:

Source2Viewer-CLI --input game/dota/pak01_dir.vpk --output game/dota/pak01_dir/ --vpk_decompile \
    --vpk_filepath "scripts/npc/,scripts/heroes.herolist_c"

See track --help for every option.