What is cobalt?
cobalt is an open-source media downloader. It supports a wide range of social media websites. No ads, tracking, or paywalls. It was created by imput.
What is an "instance"?
An instance is simply another "copy" of cobalt. Because cobalt is open source, anyone can start up their own instance.
Why are multiple instances needed?
Simple: if the main cobalt instance goes offline, you can still use another instance. Decentralization is good. Servers can be located in different regions to bypass different region limits for media.
What is the difference between official and community instances?
Official instance is the main cobalt instance by the developers. This instance is cobalt.tools, and the API is api.cobalt.tools. All others on this list are community hosted and might have their own quirks.
What is the difference between API and frontend?
The frontend is the pretty homescreen you see when you visit a cobalt instance. The API is another module that handles any download requests sent by the frontend. It does the processing and handling. When you enter a URL and download it, the frontend sends a request to the API, and it returns the media back.
If you're a regular user, you probably want to use the frontend.
Instance List
How do I read the instance list?
There's a few ways to see the instances, by the master list or by service.
By service: see what services work on what instances.
When viewing each list, there are 3 categories: official, domain, and no domain.
Official - the main official cobalt instance by the developers.
Domain - instances that have a domain.
No domain - instances that do not have a domain, and just use an IP to connect. These are not secure.
What does each column mean on the master list?
On each list, it contains these columns:
Frontend: The frontend domain of the instance, the one you probably want to use. Not all have frontends.
API: The API domain for the instance. You can read how to use this API here.
Version: The version of the instance.
Commit: The commit of the instance.
Branch: The branch of the instance.
Name: The "name" of the instance, which is set by the instance owner.
CORS: If the instance has CORS enabled. (1 = enabled, 0 = false.)
Score: The score result of the instance. The higher the percentage, the more services the instance supports.
Not all services work on all instances. Some require special cookies/API keys to be set on their end. Some services also do not work in certain regions where the server is hosted.
Scores are curved!
Status: The status of the instance.
Online: Both frontend and API are online.
Partial: Either frontend and API are offline.
Offline: Both frontend and API are offline.
How did you find these instances?
I wrote a post about it here on my blog. In short, I used "service scanners" to search for specific queries to find them. Some instances were requested to be added.
I want to add/remove my instance!
If you want to be added/removed, ping @hyperdefined on the cobalt discord or create a pull request here.
Do you have an API?
Yes there is one! Visit the API page for more information.
