Thread Ripper is a containerized application designed to unroll, extract, and stitch multi-part posts on Meta's Threads back into a single cohesive document.

Paste any Threads link (including share links like https://www.threads.com/share/BASy90mpUT/ or direct post URLs), and Thread Ripper automatically detects the author's continuation posts, merges them in chronological order, and lets you view, copy, or export them as Markdown, Plain Text, Standalone HTML, or JSON.

✨ Features

Any Link Accepted: Handles share links (threads.com/share/...), shortlinks, and direct URLs (threads.net/@user/post/...), resolving redirects automatically.
Author Thread Stitching: Detects the author's consecutive continuation replies and stitches them into a continuous long-form read, filtering out unrelated noise, likes, and reply counts.
Media Preservation: Retains attached images and photos embedded within thread posts.
Multi-Format Export:
- 📝 Markdown (.md) – with formatted headers, quotes, lists, and images.
- 📄 Plain Text (.txt) – clean, distraction-free text.
- 🌐 Standalone HTML (.html) – styled, responsive reader document ready to share or archive.
- 📦 JSON (.json) – structured data with individual segments, timestamps, author metadata, and URLs.
- 🖨️ Print / PDF – print-ready reader view.
Modern Web Dashboard: Clean, responsive UI with one-click clipboard copy, reader preview, segment breakdown, and saved threads library.
REST API & CLI: Includes an automated REST API (with Swagger docs at /docs) and a CLI command for batch scripting.
Docker-First Architecture: Built on Microsoft's official Playwright container with Chromium, optimized to run seamlessly on a server (e.g. vloser).

🚀 Quick Start with Docker (Deploying to `vloser`)

1. Transfer Project to `vloser`

Copy this project folder to your server:

# Example using scp or rsync:
scp -r thread-ripper user@vloser:/opt/thread-ripper
# Or rsync:
rsync -avz thread-ripper/ user@vloser:/opt/thread-ripper/

2. Start with Docker Compose

On vloser:

cd /opt/thread-ripper
docker compose up -d --build

3. Open Web UI

Navigate in your browser to:

http://vloser:5000
# or
http://<vloser-ip>:5000

🖥️ Web UI Walkthrough

Paste Link: Paste any Threads post or share URL (e.g. https://www.threads.com/share/BASy90mpUT/).
Click "Rip Thread": The container resolves the URL in a headless browser, tracks author continuation replies, and stitches the pieces together.
View & Export:
- Reader View: Read the full thread formatted as a clean article.
- Markdown View: View or copy the unrolled Markdown.
- Segments: Inspect each individual post segment.
- Download: Download .md, .txt, .html, or .json.
- Library: Access previously saved threads anytime from the persistent sidebar.

⚙️ REST API Endpoints

Thread Ripper includes a complete REST API:

Endpoint	Method	Description
`/api/rip`	`POST`	Rip a thread by URL (`{"url": "...", "mode": "author_only"}`)
`/api/history`	`GET`	List all saved threads
`/api/history/{id}`	`GET`	Get full details of a saved thread
`/api/history/{id}`	`DELETE`	Delete a saved thread
`/api/download/{id}/{format}`	`GET`	Download in format (`md`, `txt`, `html`, `json`)
`/api/health`	`GET`	Health check endpoint
`/docs`	`GET`	Interactive Swagger API documentation

Example cURL Request:

curl -X POST http://vloser:5000/api/rip \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://www.threads.com/share/BASy90mpUT/"}'

💻 CLI Usage

You can also use Thread Ripper directly from the command line:

# Run CLI and print output
python -m thread_ripper.cli "https://www.threads.com/share/BASy90mpUT/"

# Export directly to Markdown file
python -m thread_ripper.cli "https://www.threads.com/share/BASy90mpUT/" -o unrolled.md

# Export as Standalone HTML
python -m thread_ripper.cli "https://www.threads.com/share/BASy90mpUT/" -f html -o unrolled.html

📁 Project Structure

thread-ripper/
├── Dockerfile                  # Container definition (Playwright + Python)
├── docker-compose.yml          # Compose service configuration
├── requirements.txt            # Python dependencies
├── .dockerignore               # Docker build exclusions
├── README.md                   # Documentation
├── data/                       # Persistent volume for saved threads
│   └── threads/                # Stored .json, .md, .html, and .txt files
└── thread_ripper/
    ├── __init__.py
    ├── models.py               # Pydantic data schemas
    ├── scraper.py              # Playwright browser engine & extractor
    ├── stitcher.py             # Formatter (Markdown, Text, HTML)
    ├── storage.py              # File-based persistence layer
    ├── server.py               # FastAPI application
    ├── cli.py                  # Command-line interface
    └── static/                 # Modern web frontend
        ├── index.html
        ├── style.css
        └── app.js

📋 Tested Example

Target URL: https://www.threads.com/share/BASy90mpUT/
Author: Beth Parent McMillian (@bethmcmilliandesigns)

Reconstructed Output:

A GenX retirement community in a renovated shopping mall.

Author: Beth Parent McMillian (@bethmcmilliandesigns)
Original Post: https://www.threads.com/@bethmcmilliandesigns/post/Dd717khDOk_
Thread Segments: 2

A GenX retirement community in a renovated shopping mall. Half the building is apartments. The other half looks like an 80s/90s mall, but:

the Waldenbooks is a library

all the food places are part of your meal plan, so you can get an Orange Julius, eat anywhere at the food court, or have a nice sit-down meal at Shoney’s

there’s a movie theater and a free arcade with old-school game cabinets

you can just sit in Sam Goody and listen to Bowie or The Ramones or whatever (they also DJ monthly dance parties)

you can reserve a massage chair in the Sharper Image for an hour at a time

the in-house pharmacy is an Eckerds

you can rent movies and video games from Blockbuster

there’s an aerobics studio where we do GenXercise, Tae-Bo, and MTV’s The Grind workouts

there are fountains and a lazy river (because why not?)

we all go mall walking daily

README.md Unescape Escape

🧵 Thread Ripper