null-browser [WIP]

A simple, fast web browser built using qtwebengine (chromium), that is configured and extended using lua.

What does it do?

This web browser is just a stack of web views that can be controlled using lua. Don't expect a full featured web browser, expect the opposite.

What does it not do? How can I do it?

• No url bar
  • use dmenu, rofi, fzf in a terminal, etc. for url input
• No tab ui
  • use dmenu, rofi, etc. to show a list of tabs on key
  • use tabbed (X11) with multiple windows
  • use window manager with multiple windows
• No persistant history
  • save it in a file on UrlChanged event and show as completion for your url input
  • same as above but in a sqlite db instead
• No notifications
  • Call notify-send (or whatever) on NotificationReceived event
• No splits
  • use a window manager
• No buttons
  • define key bindings
• No built-in ad blocker
  • filter host-names
• No settings page
  • write some lua
• No incognito/private window
  • create a window with a custom user data directory and delete it when window is closed
• No chromium/web extensions
  • inject javascript into pages from your lua config
• No built-in cryptocurrency
  • add it if you want it
• No built-in AI
  • add it if you want it

Any feature you want, you implement yourself. Either from scratch or build on top of a built-in module.

Built-in modules

• Vi-style keybindings
• Hints: f-key search for links
• Plain-text history
• Statusline showing the current keymode, url and tabs count
• Tabline showing a list of tabs

Using the builtin modules, you can get something like this:

Or do your own thing, I don't care.

Who is it for?

I built this for myself and people like me who enjoy tinkering with their tools. Out of the box, it is almost unusable... by design.

Install

Nix flake

• Add this repo to your flake: github:phenax/null-browser
• Or build it in a directory: nix build github:phenax/null-browser
• Or run it without installing: nix run github:phenax/null-browser
• Or add to profile: nix profile install github:phenax/null-browser

Others

• Clone
• Run make build to build it
• sudo make install PREFIX=/usr/local to install it

Configuring

WIP