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status: approved
---

# 003 — Tapas source

A second source (spec 001 §4.1): covers of a [Tapas](https://tapas.io) series, comics and novels. Design approved
by the user in chat on 2026-10-15 ("Comics and novels"). Everything else — inspection, dedupe, Wayback history,
hosting, download, history — is the existing pipeline.

## 1. Verified facts (2026-10-15)

Checked against *Villains Are Destined to Die* (comic, id 186414) and its novel (id 266599), a mature series
(id 286112) and Wayback captures since 2020-10. Fixtures in `test/fixtures/tapas/` and `test/fixtures/wayback/tapas-*`.

- **Series page:** `https://tapas.io/series/<slug>/info` (its own canonical URL). `/series/<slug>` serves the
  episode reader (canonical `/episode/<id>`). `/series/<id>/info` redirects to the slug form. Slugs may contain
  capitals and underscores (`/series/RU_Screwed`).
- **Series id:** on the info page `pageMeta : { id: <id>, type: 'series_id' }`; on the reader `seriesId: <id>`.
- **Comic or novel:** the stats row links `/static-landing/genre?category=COMIC` or `…=NOVEL`. `og:type` is
  `comicpanda:webcomic_series` for both.
- **Title:** the cover image's `alt` in `.thumb-wrapper`; `og:title` is "Read <title> | Tapas Web Comics".
- **Images** (`us-a.tapas.io/sa/<xx>/<uuid>[_<size>].<ext>`, no token, no Referer needed):
  - **Portrait cover:** the `<img>` in `.thumb-wrapper` (both the info page and the 2020 reader page),
    `…_z.jpg` = 400×600. Without the suffix: the original, 960×1440.
  - **Banner:** `og:image` (also the `js-top-banner` / `header-layer` background), 1280×460, no suffix.
  - Lists use `_m` (180 px) of other images; `pc/…` images are signed promotions of other series. Neither is used.
  - Older pages use `d30womf5coomej.cloudfront.net/sa/…`; the same paths answer on `us-a.tapas.io`.
- **Mature series:** without a signed-in, age-verified account, `/series/…/info` redirects to
  `/account/verify-age?from=https://tapas.io/series/<slug>/info`, a page with no series data. The userscript's
  `GM_xmlhttpRequest` sends the user's own tapas.io cookies, so a signed-in adult gets the real page there.
- **Language:** English only (MangaBaka `en`).
- **Wayback:** `tapas.io/series/<slug>` captured about monthly since 2020; the prefix also matches
  `<slug>-novel` and other longer slugs.

## 2. Behaviour

- **Links accepted:** `tapas.io/series/<slug>`, `…/info`, `…/<id>`, `…/<id>/info`, and `tapas.io/episode/<id>`
  (the reader page names its series id). `www.` and `m.` hosts too. Fetched as `https://tapas.io/series/<slug or
  id>/info`; an episode link first fetches the episode page for its series id.
- **Series:** `externalId` = the numeric id, `title`, `language: "en"`, `canonicalUrl` =
  `https://tapas.io/series/<slug>/info`, `flags.novel`, `archiveUrls` = [`tapas.io/series/<slug>`].
- **Current covers:** portrait (role `poster`, suffix removed) and banner (role `banner`). The poster is the
  suggested main cover as for Webtoons.
- **Mature (age check):** the series is resolved from the `from=` link (slug; title from the slug), `mature: true`,
  no current covers, and a warning: Tapas shows this series only to signed-in adults; use the userscript while
  signed in, or tick the Wayback history. History still runs.
- **Image URLs:** `normalizeImageUrl` maps both image hosts to `us-a.tapas.io`, drops `_<letters>` size suffixes
  after the UUID and any query.
- **Same series:** a link is the same series when it is a tapas.io `/series/<slug>[/info][/]` with the same slug
  (case-insensitive) or `/series/<id>[/info]` with the same id. This also filters Wayback rows (`-novel`).
- **Hosts:** fetch `tapas.io`, `www.tapas.io`, `m.tapas.io`, `us-a.tapas.io`, `d30womf5coomej.cloudfront.net`;
  images `us-a.tapas.io`, `d30womf5coomej.cloudfront.net`. The userscript `@connect`s `tapas.io` and the
  CloudFront host.
- **Chrome:** source-neutral where it named WEBTOON: the link hint ("WEBTOON or Tapas for now"), the
  "No rehosting" warning ("the source's own image URL"), the userscript description.

## 3. Testing

Unit tests on the captured pages, no network: link parsing (every form, rejects), page parsing (comic, novel,
reader, 2020 archive, age check), URL normalisation, same-series (slug, id, `-novel` rejected), and the source
end to end through the fake transport (info page, episode link, age check, `/series/<id>` redirect).
Then a real run in headless Chrome for one comic and one novel.

## 4. Risks

- Tapas markup changes; the parser looks for two stable hooks (`thumb-wrapper`, `og:image`) and the page type link.
- The info page may show a mature badge to signed-in users that we never saw; mature is only known from the
  age check.