e6-cache

e6-cache is a locally hosted caching proxy for e621 (or anything that's api compatible), designed to passively archive and cache content as you browse.

Why?

Because:

• You don’t remember that one post with the perfect lighting and suspiciously specific tags
• You want your own archive. Your own CDN. Your own sin-server.
• You have too much storage space
• Your Internet connection is too slow
• You worry about e621 going down, or posts being removed.

What it does

• Acts as a proxy, redirecting all requests through e6-cache, and then to your chosen instance
• Transparently caches every post you view (metadata + media)
• Stores it in a local PostgreSQL database
• Saves media files in your own S3-compatible bucket

Features

• Transparent Proxy: Redirects all requests through e6-cache, then to your chosen instance.
• Passive Caching: Automatically caches every post you view.
• Local Storage: Stores metadata in a local PostgreSQL database and media files in your own S3-compatible bucket.
• Fast: Streams the images / videos directly to your client.
• Self-Hosted: Runs on your own server, giving you full control over your data.
• Authentication: Supports authentication for secure access, even when exposed to the world.

Dev Setup

Start DB and S3 Storage

git clone https://github.com/bugmaschine/e6-cache.git
cd e6-cache/dev
docker compose up -d

Development is recommended to be done in Visual Studio Code, the launch.json file is already configured for this.

You get:

• PostgreSQL database (localhost:5432, user: dev, pass: devpass)
• MinIO S3 storage (localhost:9000, user/pass: minioadmin ui: http://localhost:9010)

Production Setup / Server Setup

Warning

Don't just copy the docker-compose.yml file, as other files are required for the inital setup to work.

Important

Make sure to set the environment variables in the docker-compose.yml file.

git clone https://github.com/bugmaschine/e6-cache.git
cd e6-cache
docker compose up -d

After the container is running, you can access the API at http://localhost:8080, and set it as your e621 instance in your Client of choice.

Client Setup

For most users i recommend using e1547 as it has built-in support for custom instances.

e1547

Important

You need to have an public URL for the API to work with e1547, as it requires https.

Screen_Recording_20250527_210127.mp4

The Wolf's Stash

For The Wolf's Stash, it just reports the host not being supported.

Other Clients

Feel free to open a PR to add documentation for other clients.

Speed Comparison

Image 1:

• Normal e621 image load: 2.859s
• Cached image load: 1.585s

Image 2:

• Normal e621 image load: 8.487s
• Cached image load: 1.217s

Tests done using Firecamp

Planned Features

• Proxy Mode (it act's like a proxy and redirects all e621 requests to e6-cache)
• Firefox Extension (to make it easier to use by replacing all e621 links with e6-cache links)
• Offline API Mode (to use the cache without internet connection, like a local e621)
• Website (basically a mirror of e621, but with the cache enabled)

Contributing

Feel free to open an issue or a pull request. I don't have any specific guidelines for contributing, just be nice and respectful.

Why?

Idk. I just wanted to play with Go, Docker and wanted to make something (relatively) useful. It's also my first published project on GitHub.

Ethical & Legal Notice

This project does not scrape, spider, or hammer the API. It only caches what you manually request. You, as the operator, are fully responsible for your usage. This just hands you a shovel. What you dig up is on you.