pick-a-browser

pick-a-browser is a browser selector for Windows. It registers as a browser and when launched it runs a configurable rule set to determine the real browser to launch. If no rule matches then it prompts for the browser to launch from a configured list of browsers/profiles.

pick-a-browser was born after happily using (and contributing to) BrowserPicker. After a number of reinstallations of the operating system, I wanted an automatic way to save my browser and rules configuration. As a result, I created pick-a-browser as a way to address this (and to tweak behaviour in ways that suit my usage patterns slightly better).

Contents:

• Installing
• Configuration
• Commands

Installing

• Get the binaries
• Install pick-a-browser as a browser
• Create pick-a-browser-settings.json
• Set pick-a-browser as your default browser - https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/change-your-default-browser-in-windows-10-020c58c6-7d77-797a-b74e-8f07946c5db6

Get the binaries

Download pick-a-browser.exe from the latest release.

Alternatively, you can either grab the build artifact from the latest CI build and unzip, or clone and build from source.

Installing pick-a-browser

To install pick-a-browser, run pick-a-browser --install (needs elevated permissions). You can use pick-a-browser --uninstall to uninstall

Create settings file

See Configuration below.

Configuration

By default, pick-a-browser will look for pick-a-browser-settings.json in your user profile folder and then in the same folder as the app itself.

If you wish to put the settings in a different location, set the PICK_A_BROWSER_CONFIG environment variable to the full path to the settings file.

Updates

The updates property allows you to control the update behaviour of pick-a-browser.

The updates property can take any of the following values:

Value	Description
none	pick-a-browser will not check for updates
prompt (default)	pick-a-browser will check for updates and display an indicator when an update is available
auto	pick-a-browser will check for updates and automatically apply them in the background

Logging

The log property allows you to control the logging behaviour of pick-a-browser.

Logs are written to %LOCALAPPDATA%\StuartLeeks\pick-a-browser\pick-a-browser.log

E.g.

{
	"log" : {
		"level": "info"
	}
}

Log level

The level property under log can take any of the following values:

Value	Description
error (default)	pick-a-browser will log errors
info	pick-a-browser will log info messages and above
debug	pick-a-browser will log debug messages and above

Browsers

The top-level browsers property allows you to configure browsers (or browser profiles) that pick-a-browser should use.

You can run pick-a-browser --browser-scan to generate the initial browsers section of the configuration and then copy and paste this into the config file.

The browsers property is an array of objects with the following properties:

Name	Type	Description
id	string (required)	The id to use to identify the browser - used to refer to browsers in rules
name	string (required)	The name to display in the browser picker UI
exe	string (required)	The path to the app to launch for the browser
args	string (optional)	Any arguments to pass to the browser. Useful for specifying browser profiles
iconPath	string (optional)	not currently used
hidden	bool (optional)	When no rules are matched, the UI displays a list of all non-hidden browsers

Transformations

The top-level transformations property allows you to define URL transformations that are applied before rules are evaluated.

There is some built-in handling of link shorteners/wrappers, but you can

Link Shorteners

Link shorteners provide a short link that redirects to the underlying link.

To add a link shortener, add the host value to the linkShorteners array under the transformations property.

{
	"transformations" : {
		"linkShorteners": [ "aka.ms" ] // NOTE that `aka.ms` is included in the default shorteners
	}
}

Link Wrappers

Link wrappers provide a URL that embeds the underlying URL in a query string parameter.

To add a link wrapper, add the wrapper value to the linkWrappers array under the transformations property.

Name	Type	Description
prefix	string (required)	The URL prefix to match for the shortener
queryString	string (required)	The name of the query string value that contains the URL

{
	"transformations" : {
		"linkWrappers" : [
			{ "prefix" : "https://staticsint.teams.cdn.office.net/evergreen-assets/safelinks/", "queryString": "url"}
		]
	}
}

Rules

The top-level rules property allows you to define rules to configure a browser to be automatically launched for certain URLs.

The browsers property is an array of objects that match one of the following rule types.

Each rule configuration specifies a browser property that contains the id of the browser to launch if matched. This can also be _prompt_ to force the list of browsers to be displayed.

URL Prefix Match

Performs a prefix match against the full URL.

Name	Type	Description
type	string (required)	prefix
prefix	string (required)	The prefix to match
browser	string (required)	The id of the browser to launch or _prompt_ to display the full list

e.g.

{
	"type": "prefix",
	"prefix": "https://dev.azure.com/myorg",
	"browser": "work"
}

Host Suffix Match

Perfoms a suffix match against the host portion of the URL. Handy for matching.

E.g. www.github.com and github.com would both match a rule of github.com.

Name	Type	Description
type	string (required)	host
host	string (required)	The host suffix to match
browser	string (required)	The id of the browser to launch or _prompt_ to display the full list

e.g.

{
	"type": "host",
	"prefix": "https://dev.azure.com/myorg",
	"browser": "work"
}

Example configuration

{
	"updates" : "auto",
	"log" : {
		"level": "info"
	},
	"browsers": [
		{
			"id": "iexplore",
			"name": "Internet Explorer",
			"exe": "C:\\Program Files\\Internet Explorer\\iexplore.exe",
			"iconPath": "C:\\Program Files\\Internet Explorer\\iexplore.exe",
			"hidden": true // avoid being shown Internet Explorer as a choice even though it's registered in Windows
		},
		{
			"id": "work",
			"name": "Microsoft Edge - Work",
			"exe": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft\\Edge\\Application\\msedge.exe",
			"args": "--profile-directory=\"Default\"",
			"iconPath": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft\\Edge\\Application\\msedge.exe",
			"hidden": false
		},
		{
			"id": "personal",
			"name": "Microsoft Edge - Personal",
			"exe": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft\\Edge\\Application\\msedge.exe",
			"args": "--profile-directory=\"Profile 1\"",
			"iconPath": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft\\Edge\\Application\\msedge.exe",
			"hidden": false
		}
	],
	"transformations" : {
		// NOTE that these examples are included in the default transformations
		"linkShorteners": [ "aka.ms" ], 
		"linkWrappers" : [
			{ "prefix" : "https://staticsint.teams.cdn.office.net/evergreen-assets/safelinks/", "queryString": "url"}
		]
	},
	"rules": [
		{
			"type": "prefix",
			"prefix": "https://dev.azure.com/myorg",
			"browser": "work"
		},
		{
			"type": "host",
			"host": "github.com",
			"browser": "work"
		},
		{
			"type": "host",
			"host": "whatsapp.com",
			"browser": "personal"
		}
	]
}

Commands

This section documents the command line options for pick-a-browser:

--install

pick-a-browser --install is used to install pick-a-browser, i.e. it registers pick-a-browser with Windows as a browser.

NOTE: This command needs to be run as administrator

--uninstall

pick-a-browser --uninstall is used to uninstall pick-a-browser, i.e. unregister pick-a-browser with Windows.

NOTE: This command needs to be run as administrator

--browser-scan

pick-a-browser --browser-scan can be used to generate the list of browsers to use in your configuration.

It lists the browsers registered with Windows and generates the configuration for pick-a-browser.

For Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome, this also includes any browser profiles that are configured.

This command can be re-run if you add a new browser or profile to re-generate the configuration.

--update

pick-a-browser --update can be used to check for and apply any pending updates.

<url>

pick-a-browser <url> is used to launch a browser with the specified url.

The configured transformations and rules will be applied to the url. If a rule matches at the end of this, that browser will be launched, otherwise the browser picker will be displayed.

NOTE: The url is optional and the selected browser will be launched with an empty page.