This guide will walk you through setting up Hianime and building your first anime scraper application. By the end, you’ll understand how to fetch anime lists, episodes, and streaming sources.

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What you’ll build

A complete anime data fetcher that:
  • Gets the top airing anime list
  • Retrieves episode information for a specific anime
  • Finds available streaming servers
  • Extracts video source URLs

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Step 1: Install Hianime

terminal
npm install hianime

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Step 2: Basic Setup

Create a new TypeScript file and import the Hianime library:
index.ts
import { Hianime } from "hianime";

// Initialize the Hianime client
const hianime = new Hianime();
The Hianime client handles all HTTP requests and HTML parsing for you. No configuration needed!

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Step 3: Fetch Anime Lists

Start by getting a list of currently airing anime:
index.ts
// Fetch top airing anime (paginated results)
const airings = await hianime.getTopAiring();

console.log(`Found ${airings.results.length} anime on page ${airings.page}`);
console.log(`Total pages available: ${airings.totalPage}`);

// Get the first anime from the list
const topAiring = airings.results[0];
console.log(`Top anime: ${topAiring.title}`);
What’s happening here:
  • getTopAiring() returns a paginated list of popular anime currently airing
  • Each result includes metadata like title, image, type, and language availability
  • The response includes pagination info (page, totalPage, hasNextPage)

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Step 4: Get Episode Information

Use the anime’s dataId to fetch its episodes:
index.ts
// Get episodes for the selected anime
const episodes = await hianime.getEpisodes(topAiring.dataId);

console.log(`Found ${episodes.length} episodes`);

// Get the first episode
const firstEpisode = episodes[0];
console.log(`First episode: ${firstEpisode.title || "Episode 1"}`);
What’s happening here:
  • getEpisodes() takes a dataId (the anime’s unique identifier)
  • Returns an array of episode objects with titles, numbers, and IDs
  • Episode IDs are needed to get streaming servers

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Step 5: Find Streaming Servers

Get available servers for a specific episode:
index.ts
// Get available streaming servers for the episode
const servers = await hianime.getEpisodeServers(firstEpisode.id);

console.log(`Sub servers: ${servers.sub.length}`);
console.log(`Dub servers: ${servers.dub.length}`);

// Use the first subtitle server
const selectedServer = servers.sub[0];
console.log(`Using server: ${selectedServer.name}`);
What’s happening here:
  • getEpisodeServers() returns available streaming servers
  • Servers are split into sub (subtitled) and dub (dubbed) arrays
  • Each server has a name and ID needed for source extraction

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Step 6: Extract Video Sources

Finally, get the actual streaming URLs:
index.ts
// Get video sources from the selected server
const sources = await hianime.getEpisodeSources(selectedServer.id);

console.log("Available video qualities:");
sources.sources.forEach((source) => {
  console.log(`- ${source.type}: ${source.file}`);
});

// Get subtitle tracks if available
if (sources.tracks?.length > 0) {
  console.log("Available subtitles:");
  sources.tracks.forEach((track) => {
    console.log(`- ${track.label}: ${track.file}`);
  });
}
What’s happening here:
  • getEpisodeSources() extracts direct video URLs from the streaming server
  • Returns multiple quality options (1080p, 720p, etc.)
  • May include subtitle tracks in various languages

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Complete Example

Here’s the full working example:
index.ts
import { Hianime } from "hianime";

async function main() {
  const hianime = new Hianime();

  try {
    // Step 1: Get top airing anime list
    const airings = await hianime.getTopAiring();
    const topAiring = airings.results[0];

    console.log(`Selected anime: ${topAiring.title}`);

    // Step 2: Get episodes for the anime
    const episodes = await hianime.getEpisodes(topAiring.dataId);
    const firstEpisode = episodes[0];

    console.log(`Getting episode: ${firstEpisode.title || "Episode 1"}`);

    // Step 3: Get available streaming servers
    const servers = await hianime.getEpisodeServers(firstEpisode.id);
    const server = servers.sub[0]; // Use first subtitle server

    console.log(`Using server: ${server.name}`);

    // Step 4: Extract video sources
    const sources = await hianime.getEpisodeSources(server.id);

    console.log("Video sources:");
    sources.sources.forEach((source) => {
      console.log(`${source.type}: ${source.file}`);
    });
  } catch (error) {
    console.error("Error:", error.message);
  }
}

main();

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Next Steps

Now that you have the basics down, explore more features:
  • Browse different categories: Try getMostPopular(), getMovies(), or getTVShows()
  • Handle pagination: Use the page parameter to fetch more results
  • Add error handling: Wrap API calls in try-catch blocks
  • Rate limiting: Add delays between requests to be respectful