QuickBrowser

A minimalist browser picker for macOS. Intercepts http/https links and either opens them in a chosen browser or routes them automatically based on URL patterns.

_{Browser picker overlay}

Features

• Browser picker overlay — keyboard-first, pick a browser with keys 1–9
• Pattern-based routing — URLs matching a pattern open in the assigned browser without prompting
• Auto-learning — after picking the same browser for a domain 5 times, QuickBrowser offers to remember the choice (or saves it silently if autolearn=true)
• Usage statistics — see how often each browser is used (manual vs. automatic)
• SwiftUI config editor — manage browsers and patterns from the menu bar
• Zero dependencies — single small Swift binary

System Requirements

• macOS 13.0 (Ventura) or later
• Apple Silicon or Intel — universal binary
• ~2 MB disk space
• No external dependencies

Comparison

QuickBrowser is intentionally narrow: it focuses on fast http/https link routing with a tiny native app, editable config, and automation that reduces repeated choices over time.

• Small and native — a Swift app with no Electron runtime or bundled dependencies
• Config you own — plain text rules that are easy to diff, grep, back up, or version-control
• Learns your habits — repeated domain choices can become routing rules automatically
• Transparent usage — built-in stats show which browsers are used manually vs. automatically
• Free and open source — MIT-licensed and easy to inspect or modify

	QuickBrowser	Browserosaurus	OpenIn	Choosy
License	MIT	MIT (archived)	Proprietary	Proprietary
Price	Free	Free	$9.99 / Setapp	$10 one-time
Maintained	Yes	No (archived 2025)	Yes	Yes
Tech	Native Swift	Electron	Native	Native
App size	~2 MB	~150 MB	—	—
Notarized	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Config	Plain text + GUI	GUI	GUI	GUI
URL pattern rules	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (advanced)
Auto-learning	Yes	No	No	No
Source-app rules	No	No	Yes	Yes
Browser profiles	No	No	Yes	Yes
Time-of-day rules	No	No	No	Yes
mailto / files	No	No	Yes	No
Usage statistics	Yes	No	No	No
Keyboard picker (1-9)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

QuickBrowser is the best fit when you want a lightweight, auditable default-browser router that gets out of the way after it learns your common domains. If you need source-app rules, browser profiles, or mailto/file routing, OpenIn or Choosy will fit better.

Installation

Option A — Homebrew

QuickBrowser can be installed from the Homebrew tap:

brew tap andreygaag/quickbrowser
brew install --cask quickbrowser

QuickBrowser is not notarized yet. If macOS blocks the first launch with "Apple could not verify QuickBrowser.app is free of malware", allow it once:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/QuickBrowser.app
open /Applications/QuickBrowser.app

You can also allow it from System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.

Then set QuickBrowser as the default browser:

1. Open System Settings → Desktop & Dock
2. Scroll to Default web browser
3. Choose QuickBrowser

To uninstall:

brew uninstall --cask quickbrowser

Option B — Build manually

1. Build

Open the project in Xcode:

open QuickBrowser/QuickBrowser.xcodeproj

Select the QuickBrowser scheme with My Mac as target, then Product → Build (⌘B), or build a Release artifact from the terminal:

cd QuickBrowser
xcodebuild -project QuickBrowser.xcodeproj \
           -scheme QuickBrowser \
           -configuration Release \
           clean build

The Release build lands in:

~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/QuickBrowser-*/Build/Products/Release/QuickBrowser.app

2. Copy to Applications

cp -R ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/QuickBrowser-*/Build/Products/Release/QuickBrowser.app \
      /Applications/

Or drag QuickBrowser.app into /Applications manually. Installation in /Applications is required — macOS only registers URL handlers for apps placed there.

3. Set as default browser

Option A — System Settings (recommended)

1. Open System Settings → Desktop & Dock
2. Scroll to Default web browser
3. Choose QuickBrowser

Option B — Launch once

open /Applications/QuickBrowser.app

macOS will register it as a URL handler. Then set it as default in System Settings.

4. Verify

open -a /Applications/QuickBrowser.app "https://github.com"

The configured browser should open (or the picker overlay if no pattern matches).

Configuration

Create ~/.config/quickbrowser:

# Settings
autolearn=true

# Browsers — format: key=path
1=/Applications/Safari.app
2=/Applications/Firefox.app
3=/Applications/Google Chrome.app

# Patterns — format: pattern browser_key
github.com 2
openai.com 1
stackoverflow 2

You can also edit the config from the menu bar: click the globe icon → Edit configuration.

Config rules

• Lines starting with # are comments
• Empty lines are ignored
• autolearn=true saves learned patterns silently; otherwise QuickBrowser asks for confirmation
• Browser keys must be digits (1–9)
• Browser paths must exist
• Patterns are evaluated in file order — the first match wins

Usage

After installation, QuickBrowser intercepts every http/https click:

• URL matches a pattern → opens automatically in the assigned browser
• No match → overlay appears; press 1–9 to pick, Esc to cancel
• Same domain picked 5 times in a row → QuickBrowser offers to add a pattern (or auto-adds it with autolearn=true)

Pattern matching

Patterns are matched against both the URL host and the full URL string:

Pattern	Matches
github.com	https://github.com/..., https://api.github.com/...
api.example.com	only the api subdomain
stackoverflow	any URL containing stackoverflow

Menu bar

Click the globe icon in the menu bar:

• Edit configuration — open the SwiftUI editor for browsers and patterns
• Statistics — show usage counts (manual vs. automatic) per browser
• About — version and feature summary
• Quit — exit QuickBrowser

Troubleshooting

Links don't open in QuickBrowser

• Confirm QuickBrowser.app is in /Applications (not Downloads or Desktop)
• Re-select QuickBrowser as the default browser in System Settings
• If macOS caches an old version, change the Bundle ID and rebuild

"Configuration not found"

• Create ~/.config/quickbrowser with at least one browser line, e.g. 1=/Applications/Safari.app

"Browser not found"

• Verify the path in the config is correct and the .app exists

Version

v1.4.0 — Pattern-based routing, auto-learning, usage statistics, SwiftUI config editor