Archive All The Things \o| - The Thingiverse Thing Downloader

A Python script to download and archive your Things from Thingiverse, including all files, images, metadata, comments, and license information.

Features

• Download a single Thing by ID
• Download all published Things by a user
• Incremental updates - only downloads new/changed content
• Creates organized directory structure for each Thing:
  • files/ - All downloadable STL, SCAD, and other files
  • images/ - All images (display/large size preferred)
  • README.md - Formatted metadata, description, instructions, ancestors, and remixes
  • COMMENTS.md - All user comments
  • LICENSE.md - License information with summary
  • metadata.json - Raw API response data
• Throttling to avoid API rate limits
• Force re-download option

Installation

From Source

Clone the repository and install:

git clone https://github.com/tbuser/archiveallthethings.git
cd archiveallthethings
pip install -e .

This installs the archiveallthethings command.

Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• requests library (installed automatically)

Getting a Thingiverse Auth Token

To use this script, you need an API token from Thingiverse.

Step 1: Create a Thingiverse App

1. Go to https://www.thingiverse.com/developers
2. Log in with your Thingiverse account
3. Click "Create an App" or go to https://www.thingiverse.com/apps/create
4. Fill in the application details:
   • App Name: Choose any name (e.g., "My Thing Downloader")
   • Description: Brief description of your use case
   • App URL: Can be http://localhost for personal use
   • Callback URL: Can be http://localhost/callback for personal use
5. Click "Create App"

Step 2: Get Your App Token

After creating your app:

1. Go to your app's settings page
2. Find the "App Token" (also called Access Token)
3. Copy this token - it's a long alphanumeric string

Step 3: Configure the Token

You can provide your token in two ways:

Option A: Environment Variable (Recommended)

export THINGIVERSE_TOKEN="your_token_here"

Add this to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc to make it permanent.

Option B: Command-Line Argument

archiveallthethings --token your_token_here --thing 161161

Important: Keep your token private. Never commit it to version control or share it publicly.

Usage

After installation, use the archiveallthethings command (or python archiveallthethings.py if running directly).

Download a Single Thing

archiveallthethings --thing 161161

Download All Things by a User

archiveallthethings --user tbuser

Specify Output Directory

archiveallthethings --thing 161161 --output ./my_downloads

Force Re-download

By default, the script skips Things that haven't changed since the last download. Use --force to re-download everything:

archiveallthethings --thing 161161 --force

Adjust Throttle Delay

When downloading multiple Things, adjust the delay between downloads (default: 1 second):

archiveallthethings --user tbuser --throttle 2.0

All Options

usage: archiveallthethings [-h] (--thing ID | --user USERNAME) [--output DIR]
                              [--throttle SECONDS] [--force] [--token TOKEN]

Download Things from Thingiverse

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --thing ID, -t ID     Download a specific thing by ID
  --user USERNAME, -u USERNAME
                        Download all published things by a user
  --output DIR, -o DIR  Output directory (default: current directory)
  --throttle SECONDS    Seconds to wait between downloads (default: 1.0)
  --force, -f           Force re-download even if thing is unchanged
  --token TOKEN         Thingiverse API token (or set THINGIVERSE_TOKEN env var)

Output Structure

For each Thing downloaded, the script creates a directory structure like:

thing_name/
├── README.md           # Metadata, description, instructions, links
├── COMMENTS.md         # User comments
├── LICENSE.md          # License information
├── metadata.json       # Raw API data
├── files/
│   ├── model.stl
│   ├── model.scad
│   └── ...
└── images/
    ├── main_image.jpg
    ├── detail_1.jpg
    └── ...

README.md Contents

• Thing name and ID
• Creator information
• Dates (added, modified)
• License
• Statistics (likes, downloads, views, makes, remixes, comments)
• Tags
• Description
• Instructions
• File list with sizes
• Image gallery
• Ancestors (things this was remixed from)
• Remixes (things remixed from this)

Incremental Updates

The script tracks what has been downloaded using the modified timestamp from Thingiverse:

1. First run: Downloads everything
2. Subsequent runs:
   • Checks if Thing has been modified since last download
   • Skips unchanged Things entirely
   • For changed Things, skips files/images that already exist locally
3. With --force: Re-downloads everything regardless of timestamps

This makes it efficient to periodically sync your local archive with Thingiverse.

Examples

Download a specific Thing:

archiveallthethings -t 161161 -o ./archive

Archive all Things from a user:

archiveallthethings -u tbuser -o ./tbuser_archive --throttle 1.5

Update existing archive (only downloads changes):

archiveallthethings -u tbuser -o ./tbuser_archive

Force full re-download:

archiveallthethings -t 161161 -o ./archive --force

Rate Limiting

Thingiverse has API rate limits. The script includes:

• Configurable throttle delay between Thing downloads (default: 1 second)
• Automatic throttling during user thing list pagination

If you encounter rate limit errors (HTTP 429), increase the --throttle value.

License

Please respect Thingiverse's Terms of Service and the licenses of the Things you download. DBAD.