Show HN: Linklever makes the concept of default browser obsolete | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Linklever makes the concept of default browser obsolete

linklever.net

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Hi fellow nerds. Linklever is a local and offline browser launcher. If you're often copy-pasting URLs between browsers, then Linklever might be for you.

It registers as your system's default browser. In the app, you configure rules and filters. Later, when you click a link outside of a browser, the rules determine which browser Linklever sends the link to. The filters transform the URL before sending it to the browser. For routing links between browsers, there are Firefox and Chrome extensions.

Browser launchers are no new concept; AlternativeTo lists 17 others, but so far Linklever is the only one that supports macOS, Windows, and Linux. It's also pretty darn fast, being AOT compiled. Launch latency is typically 10-20ms, which is unbelievable for .NET. Tech stack: C#, Avalonia, SQLite.

I'm also the author of the open source app BrowseRouter, whose moderate star count on GitHub was the inspiration to make Linklever.

I'm following a business bootstrapping stair-step method. This is my second product. I started working on it in Dec 2024 and launched it officially in July. I've made five sales so far, which has been a lot of fun.

I'm open to your feedback. Thanks for reading.

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Where is settings data saved? Can we freely export/import the data? Is there a windows portable edition or mode? Is it fully offline? Thanks.

Data - All data is saved to %localappdata%/Linklever (Windows), ~/.local/share/Linklever (linux), and ~/Library/Application Support/linklever on macOS. (I see the inconsistent capitalization - will amend). There is a sqlite db and a logs folder.

Import/export - I have not added any import/export. Not to restrict you, it's just not implemented. The db file is an ordinary unencrypted sqlite db, so you have open access to that in the meantime.

Portable editions available for Windows, macOS, and Linux at https://linklever.net/download.

Fully offline - never touches the internet EXCEPT to auto-update. You can turn it off in Settings. (Portable versions do not auto-update)

Great news. I'm onboard. Thanks.

Love to hear that! Feel free to let me know what you think here or privately. doug@linklever.net

I love it! The option to disable notifications is a must :) By the way, I was hoping the portable version would save the data in the exe's folder, but it is still saving to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Linklever\... Bummer. Since I can't trust this operating system and/or hardware instance not to bail on me unexpectedly, I can't commit to building all the Linklever rules I'd like right now. So, for now I will be using it in a simple mode, with just a few rules, until either you or me come up with a solution. One solution would be to bake in proper Portable Mode Data Handling, where the exe would self-discover the path and write to a subdirectory there, or alternatively, with your permission, I could build a Portable Wrapper, like, for example, this one: https://github.com/AtmanActive/opendeck-portable

Thanks for the valuable feedback.

I can add an option to disable notifications. In the meantime, On Windows 11, it's also possible to disable notifications per-app in System > Notifications. macOS has a similar mechanism.

I should also be able to add an option for Linklever read/write files in the exe folder.

It may take me a week or two to implement these features. I'll get back to you.

I have added options in the Settings tab to disable notifications and to save the database in the exe folder.

Wow. Great news. Looking forward to updating it. By the way, I did subscribe for news via Linklever website, will I be getting an email about new version being released?

Thanks for subscribing! I sent a email update and will send more. https://linklever.net/blog/

Import from/export to JSON is now supported! Look for the buttons in the settings tab.

Fantastic. Well, it looks like Linklever reached peak functionality. Congrats. What could be next? How about UI driven training? So, a new, special destination which would display a window where user could choose one of the pre-defined destinations with a checkbox at the bottom "remember my choice". Thus, a user could choose if they wanted to be asked every time or if they wanted the choice remembered. Also, even when a stored routing is being executed, if SHIFT+CTRL is being held, then stop the execution and present the window with destination choices (remove internal routing). Just thinking out loud here. Thanks.

Done!

except for the SHIFT+CTRL feature. Cross-platform global keypress handlers is tricky business, so that will have to wait until this app proves it can sell

Most excellent!

If not SHIFT+CTRL, then, maybe, an application global modes "run" and "train", so when in "train" mode stored rules are bypassed and the UI choice is presented always. Just thinking about the ways to go back to training once rules are established.

Fingers crossed the app proves it can sell.

Nice! Does it support opening in incognito mode for dev work needing to avoid caches?

I haven't explicitly added support for that, but that's a great idea and will consider adding that.

Since it's just a matter of passing the right args to the browser, what one can do in the meantime is add a shell or Powershell script in the Apps tab. Though, currently adding custom apps isn't available in the trial.

Linklever does have support for browser profiles. It should find them automatically for the major browsers.

I have just added support to specify args that will be passed to each browser. For example, the chrome --incognito flag. You'll find it in the Apps tab.

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