SteamDepotDownload

Download Steam game content without needing the Steam client. Works as both a CLI tool and a .NET library.

Uses SteamKit2 to pull directly from Steam's CDN. Download whole apps, specific depots, pinned manifests, or alternate branches.

Install

Grab an archive from the latest release:

Archive	Needs .NET installed?	Use when
SteamDepotDownload-win-x64.zip	No	Windows, just run it
SteamDepotDownload-linux-x64.zip	No	Linux, just run it
SteamDepotDownload-win-x64-portable.zip	.NET 10 runtime	Windows, smaller download
SteamDepotDownload-linux-x64-portable.zip	.NET 10 runtime	Linux, smaller download

Those links always resolve to the newest stable release. On Linux, chmod +x SteamDepotDownload.App after unzipping.

As a library:

dotnet add package SteamDepotDownload

Layout

Project	Purpose
SteamDepotDownload.Tier0	Core framework: interface registry, ConVars, ConCommands, logging, terminal REPL.
SteamDepotDownload.Steam	Downloader library. Public API in src/Shared/, implementation in src/Core/.
SteamDepotDownload.App	CLI entry point. One-shot download when you pass a target, or interactive terminal.

Quick start

Download Steamworks Redist (app 1007) to a custom directory:

./SteamDepotDownload.App -app 1007 -depot 1004 -dir ./redist

Download a Workshop item (its owning app is looked up automatically):

./SteamDepotDownload.App -pubfile 3070917341 -dir ./workshop-item

Just dump the manifest without downloading:

./SteamDepotDownload.App -app 1007 -manifest-only

Verify existing files and re-download changed chunks:

./SteamDepotDownload.App -username alice -app 440 -depot 441 -validate

See what a previous download left on disk, without touching the network:

./SteamDepotDownload.App -status -dir ./redist

Show all available flags:

./SteamDepotDownload.App -help

Smart re-runs: Comparing the manifest first makes re-running almost instant — only changed chunks re-fetch. Use -validate to checksum existing files instead of trusting the manifest.

Where files go

Without -dir, downloads land in depots/{depotId}/{buildId}. Bookkeeping lives in a .sdd/ folder beside the game files:

redist/
  .sdd/
    state.sdb                             what is installed, and which manifest
    manifests/{depotId}-{manifestId}.sdm  cached manifests
    dumps/                                -manifest-only output
    staging/                              scratch space for patching
  <game files>

depot_status (or -status) prints the state file's contents without contacting Steam, and -manifest-only writes a plain-text listing of each manifest plus one shared branch.info.txt (app ID, branch, build ID, fetch time) in dumps/.

-pubfile/-ugc downloads land the same way, under depots/<appid>/0/ by default - a Workshop item's depot id is its owning app's id, so 0 stands in for the (not applicable) build id. Items hosted as a plain file rather than CDN chunks are fetched directly instead.

Filter which files to download

Use -filelist <file> (or the depot_filelist ConVar in the terminal) to download only specific files.

Format 1: Plain list (one rule per line, applies to all depots)

bin/win64/client.dll
regex:.+?\.dll
regex:.+?_dir\.vpk
vpk:txt,cfg
materials/models/foo.vmt

Format 2: JSON per-depot (pick depots and rules separately)

{
  "2347770": [
    "vpk:txt,lua,kv3,db,gameevents,vcss_c,vjs_c,vts_c,vxml_c,vsndevts_c,vsndstck_c,vpulse_c,vdata_c",
    "regex:.+?\\.(kv3|txt|jpg|png|gif|inf|gi|fgd|dll|cfg|vcfg)",
    "regex:.+?maps.+?\\.vpk",
    "regex:.+?_dir\\.vpk",
    "regex:.+?shaders_vulkan_[0-9]+\\.vpk"
  ],
  "2347771": ["regex:.+?\\.(dll|exe)", "regex:.+?_dir\\.vpk"]
}

The JSON format also selects which depots to download. Naming a depot in the map is like passing -depot - you get it even if it doesn't match your platform. Omit a depot and it won't download.

Use literal paths for exact files (matched case-insensitively), regex: for patterns. Literals are full manifest paths; regex matches anywhere.

Unpacking VPKs on the fly

vpk: isn't a path pattern - it's a per-depot directive: "unpack any .vpk archive this depot ends up downloading." What actually gets downloaded is still entirely up to your other regex:/literal rules (_dir.vpk, single-file maps*.vpk, standalone shaders_vulkan_N.vpk, whatever). Once one of those matched archives is fully on disk - including a split archive's numbered companions (pak01_000.vpk, pak01_001.vpk, ...), which get pulled in automatically alongside its _dir.vpk - it's extracted next to it.

vpk: takes an optional comma-separated extension allow-list (no dots): vpk:txt,lua,kv3,... keeps only entries with those extensions and skips the rest. A bare vpk: with no list extracts everything. Depots without a vpk: rule leave their VPKs packed, even if _dir.vpk still downloads.

Interactive terminal

Run with no target to get a REPL:

./SteamDepotDownload.App

Try commands:

steam_login_anonymous
depot_filelist ./depots.json
download_app 730
download_pubfile 3070917341
download_status
download_cancel
depot_status

Every CLI flag has a matching depot_* ConVar (run convars to list). So you can also:

./SteamDepotDownload.App -depot_max_downloads 16 +download_app 1007

2FA or email code prompts get asked via steam_code <value> so the terminal can stay responsive. Run help <command> for details.

Use as a library

The SteamDepotDownload NuGet package has no terminal or CLI dependencies. Use it headless in your own app.

using SteamDepotDownload.Steam.Shared.Depot;
using SteamDepotDownload.Steam.Shared.Session;

await using var session = await SteamClientFactory.Create()
    .ConnectAsync(SteamCredentials.Anonymous, ct: token);

var downloader = session.CreateDownloader(new DownloadConfig { InstallDirectory = "out" });

var result = await downloader.DownloadAppAsync(
    new AppDownloadRequest { AppId = 1007 },
    new Progress<DownloadProgress>(p => Console.WriteLine($"{p.Fraction:P0} {p.CurrentFile}")),
    token);

No console output unless you wire up an ISteamAuthenticator (for logins). Multiple sessions can run concurrently in one process.

Stored credentials

-remember-password saves refresh tokens to %LOCALAPPDATA%/SteamDepotDownload/account.config (or $XDG_DATA_HOME/SteamDepotDownload on Unix, owner-only). It is written in a binary format, which obscures nothing — the tokens sit in plain UTF-8 inside it. This file is a credential; treat it like a password. Anyone who reads it can log in until the token expires.

On shared machines, use steam_logout instead. To use a different path, pass AccountSettingsStore.CreateAt(path) when building the library session.

Building from source

Requires the .NET 10 SDK.

git clone https://github.com/Swiftly-Tracker/SteamDepotDownload.git
cd SteamDepotDownload
dotnet build SteamDepotDownload.slnx -c Release

Output lands in build/Release/<project>/; the CLI is build/Release/SteamDepotDownload.App/SteamDepotDownload.App.

To produce a standalone binary like the release archives:

dotnet publish SteamDepotDownload.App/SteamDepotDownload.App.csproj -c Release \
  -r linux-x64 --self-contained true \
  -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:PublishReadyToRun=true -p:PublishTrimmed=false \
  -o out/linux-x64

PublishTrimmed must stay false. The app resolves its modules by name through Assembly.Load, which the trimmer cannot see.

Releases & branches

Branch	Publishes	Tag
main	Stable release	vX.Y.Z
beta	Prerelease	vX.Y.Z-beta.N

The flow:

1. Features and fixes land on beta. Every push builds and publishes a prerelease with all four archives attached.
2. When a batch is ready, open a PR from beta → main. Merging it publishes the stable release and pushes the NuGet package.
3. beta is then automatically force-reset onto main, so the next cycle starts clean. If you keep a local beta, run git fetch && git reset --hard origin/beta after each stable release.

Architecture

SteamDepotDownload/
├── SteamDepotDownload.Tier0/        # Framework layer
│   └── src/
│       ├── Core/                    # ConVar system, logging, terminal, serialization
│       └── Shared/                  # Public interfaces (IInterfaceSystem, IConVar, ITerminal, ...)
├── SteamDepotDownload.Steam/        # Downloader
│   └── src/
│       ├── Core/                    # Session, CDN pool, chunk pump, manifest cache, state store
│       └── Shared/                  # Public API (ISteamSession, IDepotFetcher, DownloadConfig, ...)
├── SteamDepotDownload.App/          # CLI entry point
│   └── src/Application.cs
├── SteamDepotDownload.csproj        # NuGet packaging front
├── Directory.Build.props            # Shared metadata + version
└── GitVersion.yml                   # Versioning rules

Community

• Issues: Report bugs and request features
• Security: Report privately — never in a public issue

License

GPL-3.0. See LICENSE. Third-party attributions in THIRDPARTY.md.

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Made with ❤️ by the Swiftly Development team