brrowser

The terminal web browser with vim-style keys.

A terminal web browser combining w3m-style rendering with qutebrowser-style keyboard navigation. Renders HTML with styled headings, links, tables, forms, and inline images. No modes, no mouse, just keys.

Features

Browsing:

• Full HTML rendering (headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, blockquotes, code blocks, forms)
• Inline image display via termpix (kitty/sixel/w3m protocols)
• ASCII art fallback via chafa for non-graphical terminals
• YouTube embed detection with thumbnails and direct video links
• Back/forward history per tab
• Search engines (Google, DuckDuckGo, Wikipedia)
• Ad blocking via StevenBlack hosts list

Navigation:

• j/k or arrows to scroll, </> to scroll left/right, gg/G for top/bottom
• TAB/S-TAB to cycle through links and form fields (highlighted with reverse video)
• Enter to follow focused link or edit focused field
• o to open URL, t to open in new tab, O to edit current URL
• H/Backspace for back, L for forward
• / to search page, n/N for next/previous match

Tabs:

• J/Right next tab, K/Left previous tab
• d close tab, u restore closed tab

Bookmarks and quickmarks:

• b bookmark page, B show bookmarks
• m + 0-9 set quickmark, ' + 0-9 go to quickmark

Forms and passwords:

• f to fill and submit forms with auto-fill from stored passwords
• Prompts to save new passwords after first login (Firefox-style)
• p to show stored credentials, :password to save manually
• Ctrl-g to edit a form field in $EDITOR

Clipboard:

• y copy page URL
• Y copy focused link URL or field value

Images:

• Inline display in reserved space (no text overlap)
• Images follow content during scrolling
• i to toggle images on/off
• Standalone image pages display full-screen
• Image mode configurable: auto, termpix, ascii, off

AI and editing:

• I to get an AI summary of the page (OpenAI, shown in scrollable popup)
• e to edit page source in $EDITOR and re-render
• Ctrl-l to force redraw

Other:

• :download URL to save files (configurable download folder)
• Binary files prompt: open with xdg-open, download, or cancel
• P for preferences (image mode, colors, homepage, search engine, download folder)
• ? for built-in help page
• :about opens the project GitHub page
• Cookie persistence across sessions
• Configurable homepage (defaults to project page)

Installation

gem install brrowser

Dependencies

• Ruby 3.0+
• rcurses (terminal UI)
• nokogiri (HTML parsing)
• termpix (image display, optional)

Optional:

• chafa for ASCII art images on non-graphical terminals
• ImageMagick (convert) for image scaling and SVG conversion
• xclip/xsel/wl-copy for clipboard support

Usage

brrowser                        # Open blank page
brrowser https://example.com    # Open URL directly
brrowser isene.org              # Auto-adds https://

Keybindings

Key	Action
j / k / arrows	Scroll up/down
< / >	Scroll left/right
Left / Right	Previous/next tab
gg / G	Top / bottom of page
Ctrl-d / Ctrl-u	Half page down/up
Space / PgDn / PgUp	Page down/up
TAB / S-TAB	Next/previous link or field
Enter	Follow link or edit field
o / O	Open URL / edit current URL
t	Open URL in new tab
H / Backspace	Go back
L	Go forward
r	Reload page
d	Close tab
u	Undo close tab
/	Search page
n / N	Next/previous search match
b / B	Bookmark / show bookmarks
m + key	Set quickmark (0-9, a-z)
' + key	Go to quickmark (0-9, a-z)
f	Fill and submit form
y / Y	Copy URL / copy focused element
e	Edit page source in $EDITOR
Ctrl-g	Edit field in $EDITOR
i	Toggle images
I	AI page summary
p	Show stored password
P	Preferences
Ctrl-l	Redraw screen
?	Help
q	Quit

Commands

Type : to enter command mode.

Command	Action
:open URL / :o	Navigate
:tabopen URL / :to	Open in new tab
:close / :q	Close tab
:quit / :qa	Quit
:back / :forward	History navigation
:bookmark / :bm	Add bookmark or open by name
:bookmarks / :bms	List bookmarks
:download URL / :dl	Download file
:adblock	Update ad blocklist
:password / :pw	Save password for current site
:about	Open project page

Configuration

Settings are stored in ~/.brrowser/config.yml. Press P in the browser to open the preferences popup where you can change:

• Image mode (auto/termpix/ascii/off)
• Homepage and default search engine
• Colors for all UI elements (info bar, tab bar, content, status bar, links, headings)

Other data files in ~/.brrowser/:

• bookmarks.yml - saved bookmarks
• quickmarks.yml - quickmark shortcuts
• passwords.yml - stored credentials (chmod 600)
• cookies.yml - persistent cookies
• adblock.txt - blocked domains list

License

Unlicense - public domain.

Credits

Created by Geir Isene (https://isene.org) with extensive pair-programming with Claude Code.