Examples for opening with different browsers on different platforms

[Jolg42]

I guess I'm not alone but I'm always struggling to remember exactly which app name to use on which platform.

So it looks like this:

await open('https://github.com', {app: 'APP_NAME'});

• On macOS, the value is the name of the app/browser
• On Linux, the value is the name of the binary
• On Windows, the value is the name of the .exe

OS	Browser	APP_NAME
macOS	Chrome	Google Chrome
	Firefox	Firefox
	Firefox (Developer)	Firefox Developer Edition
	Safari	Safari
Windows	Chrome	Google Chrome
	Firefox	Firefox
	Firefox (Developer)	Firefox Developer Edition
	Brave	Brave
Linux	Chrome	google-chrome
	Firefox	firefox
	Firefox (Developer)	firefox-developer-edition
	Brave	brave

Note that capitalization is important in all cases.

Thanks to @madebysid for figuring it out 😉

[sindresorhus]

Thanks for writing this up. See #116. I want to make it easier to launch commonly-used apps like browsers.

[iongion]

On Windows 10, this does not work

open('http://localhost:5000/test-runner.html', { wait: true, app: 'Google Chrome' });

But this does

open('http://localhost:5000/test-runner.html', { wait: true, app: 'Chrome' });

• The wait does not work for any of them
• They are installed in their default paths (no customization)

Firefox developer edition does not work with any of those above

[Jolg42]

On Windows, the value is the name of the .exe

@iongion Could you check the name of the .exe files?

[iongion]

Sure, chrome lowercase

Edge like this

Firefox developer

Firefox

[Jolg42]

@iongion In that case, try to use exactly that value firefox or chrome in lowercase here, that should work!

[iongion]

Can't something like this be used to detect paths on Windows 10 ?
https://github.com/igorskyflyer/npm-registry-apppaths

[mesqueeb]

@Jolg42 can you make a PR that adds this list to the README. I have to come back to this thread so much and send it to my colleagues etc so they can double check.

[Jolg42]

Looks like this issue is not completely needed anymore with https://github.com/sindresorhus/open/releases/tag/v8.0.0

Chrome and Firefox can now be used like this
https://github.com/sindresorhus/open#openapps

const open = require('open');

await open('https://google.com', {
	app: {
		name: open.apps.chrome // or open.apps.firefox
	}
});

[Richienb]

Should Safari and Brave also be added?

[Jolg42]

Safari for Windows (only runs on macOS) was discontinued so that sounds like an edge case (from a multiplatform point of view), but it could also be a convenient way to reference it.

Brave could be a good candidate I think, I don't know what the maintainers think about that.

[sindresorhus]

We could add Brave, Firefox Dev edition, and Chrome Canary, but not Safari.

[germancasares]

Sure, chrome lowercase

Edge like this

Firefox developer

Firefox

This thread is already closed, but I am struggling to open Firefox Dev on a Windows. The path doesn't seem to work :/

[Jolg42]

This thread is already closed, but I am struggling to open Firefox Dev on a Windows. The path doesn't seem to work :/

@germancasares maybe you can share the code and version you're using that doesn't work?

[muuvmuuv]

Did anyone work on adding Brave to the list? Exposing detectPlatformBinary could help those who wants to use custom browsers and closes the gap for people that would like to use Safari e.g. with setting other browser names for different OS's like in #119.