Antarcticite (Browser Profile Router)

Antarcticite is a cross-platform background daemon and CLI utility that acts as your operating system's default browser. Instead of opening all links in a single browser, it intelligently routes HTTP/HTTPS links to specific browser profiles based on configured domain rules. It also features a companion browser extension to handle URL resolution for security wrappers like Mimecast.

Features

• Rule-based Routing: Open links matching specific domains or regex patterns in a designated browser and profile.
• Default Fallback: Automatically fall back to your normal default browser/profile for any unconfigured domains.
• Redirect Resolution: Waits for security wrappers (like Mimecast) to resolve via the companion browser extension before routing the final destination URL.
• System Tray: Runs silently in the background with a system tray icon for easy configuration access.
• Cross-Platform: Designed for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Setup Configuration

1. Create a configuration file at your OS's standard config directory. For example, on macOS/Linux it typically goes to ~/.config/antarcticite/config.toml.

See config.example.toml for a comprehensive list of examples, including different browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) across all supported operating systems (macOS, Linux, Windows), and various match_domain / match_pattern rules.

Finding Browser Identifiers/Binary Names

Note

The browser field requires the application's executable name or its bundle identifier depending on your OS.

• macOS: Use the Application Bundle Identifier (e.g., com.google.chrome, com.microsoft.edgemac, org.mozilla.firefox, company.thebrowser.Browser). You can find this by running osascript -e 'id of app "Google Chrome"' in the terminal.
• Linux: Use the .desktop file name or the executable name in your PATH (e.g., google-chrome, microsoft-edge-stable, firefox).
• Windows: Use the executable name (e.g., chrome.exe, msedge.exe, firefox.exe).

Finding Profile Directory Names

Tip

Browsers usually store profiles in numbered directories (e.g., Profile 1, Profile 2) rather than the display name you give them. In Chrome/Edge, type chrome://version or edge://version in the URL bar and look at the "Profile Path" to find the exact folder name.

Running the App

Run the background routing daemon (with system tray):

cargo run --release -- daemon

Registering as Default Browser

Important

Run the installation command to register the application as the default OS handler for HTTP/HTTPS:

cargo run --release -- install

Installing the Extension

1. Open your default browser.
2. Navigate to your extensions page (e.g., chrome://extensions or edge://extensions).
3. Enable "Developer mode".
4. Select "Load unpacked" and choose the extension/ directory from the source code.
5. Make sure the Native Messaging manifest (com.antarcticite.router.json) is properly installed in the OS-specific native messaging hosts directory pointing to the built Rust binary (antarcticite).

Warning

The extension cannot communicate with the daemon without a correctly configured Native Messaging manifest.

• macOS Chrome: ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/
• macOS Edge: ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft Edge/NativeMessagingHosts/
• Linux Chrome: ~/.config/google-chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/
• Linux Edge: ~/.config/microsoft-edge/NativeMessagingHosts/
• Windows Chrome/Edge: Requires a Registry key entry (e.g., HKCU\Software\Google\Chrome\NativeMessagingHosts\com.antarcticite.router).

For example, com.antarcticite.router.json:

{
  "name": "com.antarcticite.router",
  "description": "Antarcticite Browser Profile Router",
  "path": "/path/to/your/built/antarcticite",
  "type": "stdio",
  "allowed_origins": [
    "chrome-extension://<YOUR_EXTENSION_ID>/"
  ]
}