A download mirror for when Hugging Face is being Hugging Face

What it does

aliendao is a Python utility that downloads models and datasets from Hugging Face, with a fallback to aliendao.cn — a mirror hosted in China. It supports resumable transfers, which matters when you’re pulling multi-gigabyte weights over flaky connections. The repo also bundles some chat-service code for calling domestic Chinese LLMs, though that’s secondary.

The interesting bit

The project is essentially a thin wrapper around standard download logic, but the mirror itself is the point. For developers behind the Great Firewall or anyone who has watched git lfs crawl to a halt, a working mirror beats clever architecture every time.

Key highlights

• Resumable downloads for both Hugging Face and aliendao.cn
• Supports models and datasets via --repo_type
• Includes chat-service integration for domestic Chinese models
• Author also wrote a book on LLM development (prominently advertised in the README)

Caveats

• README is entirely in Chinese; no English documentation
• The “chat service” and book promotion are barely described — it’s unclear how complete or maintained they are
• Heavy reliance on Conda and specific Chinese PyPI mirrors in the setup instructions

Verdict

Worth a look if you’re in mainland China or routinely blocked from Hugging Face. Everyone else can probably stick to huggingface-cli unless the main site gives them trouble.