brows

Text-based web browser using headless Firefox

TLDR

Launch browsh

$ browsh

Open a specific URL

$ browsh --startup-url [https://example.com]

Run in HTTP server mode

$ browsh --http-server-mode --port [4333]

Use a specific Firefox binary

$ browsh --firefox.path [/path/to/firefox]

browsh is a fully modern text-based web browser. It renders web pages by running a headless Firefox instance in the background and translating the visual output into text and ANSI art for display in a terminal. This means it supports JavaScript, CSS, video, and virtually all modern web standards.The browser provides both interactive terminal mode and an HTTP server mode that can serve text-rendered versions of web pages to any client. It supports tabs, scrolling, link navigation, and text input.

PARAMETERS

--startup-url URL

Open a specific URL on launch.

--http-server-mode

Run as an HTTP server that renders pages as text.

--port PORT

Set the port for HTTP server mode (default: 4333).

--firefox.path PATH

Path to the Firefox binary.

--time-limit SECONDS

Limit session duration.

INSTALL

yay -S brows

CAVEATS

Requires a full Firefox installation (version 57+) as a backend, making it resource-intensive compared to traditional text browsers. Rendering quality depends on terminal capabilities and font support. Startup time is slower due to Firefox initialization.

HISTORY

browsh was created by Thomas Sherwood and released in 2018. It gained significant attention for its novel approach of using a real browser engine to power a terminal interface, enabling full web compatibility that traditional text browsers like Lynx cannot achieve.