1# Dumber, fully unfeatured unbloated browser for tiling WMs
2
3Dumber is a minimalist browser and launcher companion focused on speed and simplicity. It ships a built‑in WebKitGTK (GTK4) window for navigation and a CLI with dmenu‑style launcher integration (rofi, fuzzel).
4
5- Native GUI via WebKitGTK 6 (GTK4, CGO) with an embedded homepage UI.
6- CLI that parses URLs, supports search shortcuts (e.g., `g:query`), and integrates with rofi/dmenu.
7- Persistent history and per‑domain zoom levels (SQLite, XDG locations).
8- Configurable via `config.json` and environment variables, with live reload.
9
10## Wayland‑First
11- Dumb on purpose, designed for Wayland window managers (Sway, Hyprland, River, Niri, etc..) it's a tiny companion that interact nicely with your launcher.
12- Uses a native WebKitGTKdo i window; no external browser required and no X11/XWayland dependency.
13- Optimized for dmenu‑style launchers (rofi, fuzzel, wofi) and keyboard‑driven workflows.
14
15## Status
16- Very early stage, expect sharp edges and breaking changes, but it works well enough to browse and play with the launcher flows.
17
18## Features
19- Built‑in browser window (no external browser needed)
20- Custom `dumb://` scheme serving embedded frontend assets
21- Keyboard shortcuts: DevTools (F12), Omnibox toggle (Ctrl/Cmd+L), Zoom In/Out/Reset
22- Persistent history with search and stats
23- Per‑domain zoom persistence
24- dmenu‑style launcher integration (rofi, fuzzel) with history and shortcut suggestions
25
26## Quick Start
27Prerequisites:
28- Go 1.25+
29- Node.js 20+ (for building the embedded frontend)
30- For GUI build: WebKitGTK 6 and GTK4 dev packages (examples)
31  - Debian/Ubuntu: `libwebkitgtk-6.0-dev libgtk-4-dev build-essential`
32  - Arch: `webkitgtk-6.0 gtk4 base-devel`
33
34Build options:
35- GUI (recommended):
36  - `make build-gui`      # builds with `-tags=webkit_cgo`
37  - Run: `./dist/dumber`  # opens the embedded homepage
38- CLI‑only (no GUI, CGO disabled):
39  - `make build-static`
40  - Run: `./dist/dumber-static version`
41- Full build pipeline (frontend + Go):
42  - `make build`
43
44Development:
45- `make dev` runs `go run .` (non‑CGO; GUI stubs log to console)
46- `make test` runs tests; `make lint` runs golangci‑lint
47
48## Install
49- CLI‑only (no native window):
50  - `go install github.com/bnema/dumber@latest`
51  - Useful everywhere; runs the CLI and non‑CGO flows. In this mode the GUI code is stubbed (no native window shown).
52- GUI build (Wayland + WebKit2GTK via CGO):
53  - Ensure WebKit2GTK/GTK dev packages are installed (see prerequisites) and CGO is enabled in your environment.
54  - `go install -tags webkit_cgo github.com/bnema/dumber@latest`
55  - If pkg‑config can’t find headers, set `PKG_CONFIG_PATH` appropriately or prefer `make build-gui`.
56
57## Usage
58- Open a URL or search:
59  - `dumber browse https://example.com`
60  - `dumber browse example.com`        # scheme auto‑added
61  - `dumber browse g:golang`           # Google search via shortcut
62- Launch the GUI directly:
63  - `dumber`                           # no args → opens GUI homepage
64- Launcher integration (dmenu‑style examples):
65  - rofi:   `dumber dmenu | rofi -dmenu -p "Browse: " | dumber dmenu --select`
66  - fuzzel: `dumber dmenu | fuzzel --dmenu -p "Browse: " | dumber dmenu --select`
67
68### Dmenu mode invocation
69You can invoke dmenu mode in two ways:
70- Subcommand (recommended): `dumber dmenu` … and `dumber dmenu --select`
71- Root flag (generate options only): `dumber --dmenu`
72
73Note: The root flag path only generates options; for processing a selection (`--select`), use the `dmenu` subcommand as the receiving command.
74
75In GUI mode the app serves an embedded homepage via `dumb://homepage`, and frontend assets under `dumb://app/...`.
76
77## Configuration
78Dumber follows the XDG Base Directory spec:
79- Config: `~/.config/dumber/config.json`
80- Data:   `~/.local/share/dumber`
81- State:  `~/.local/state/dumber` (default DB lives here)
82
83A default `config.json` is created on first run. Key fields:
84- `database.path`: SQLite database path (defaults to XDG state dir `history.db`)
85- `search_shortcuts`: map of search shortcuts, e.g.
86  ```json
87  {
88    "g":  { "url": "https://www.google.com/search?q=%s", "description": "Google" },
89    "gh": { "url": "https://github.com/search?q=%s",    "description": "GitHub" }
90  }
91  ```
92- `appearance`: default fonts and base font size for pages without specified fonts
93- `dmenu`: options for launcher integration (history count, prefixes, etc.)
94
95Environment variables use the `DUMB_BROWSER_` prefix (managed by Viper). Examples:
96- `DUMB_BROWSER_DATABASE_PATH=...`
97- `DUMB_BROWSER_DMENU_MAX_HISTORY_ITEMS=50`
98
99Config changes are watched and applied at runtime when possible.
100
101## Data Model
102SQLite tables (created automatically):
103- `history(id, url, title, visit_count, last_visited, created_at)`
104- `shortcuts(shortcut, url_template, description, created_at)`
105- `zoom_levels(domain PRIMARY KEY, zoom_factor, updated_at)`
106
107## Building With WebKitGTK 6 (GTK4)
108- The GUI requires building with `-tags=webkit_cgo` and CGO enabled.
109- Ensure WebKitGTK 6 and GTK4 dev headers are installed (see prerequisites).
110- Make targets handle both frontend and Go build steps:
111  - `make build-gui` (CGO enabled)
112  - `make build` (CGO enabled by default in the Makefile’s main build)
113
114Without the native tag, a stub backend is used: you can still run CLI flows and see logs, but no native window is displayed.
115
116## Media (GStreamer) Requirements
117
118WebKitGTK uses GStreamer for media playback. Install the following packages to ensure audio/video work correctly.
119
120- Arch Linux:
121  - `sudo pacman -S gst-plugins-base gst-plugins-good gst-plugins-bad gst-plugins-ugly gst-libav gst-plugin-pipewire pipewire pipewire-pulse`
122  - Optional hardware accel: `gstreamer-vaapi`
123- Debian/Ubuntu:
124  - `sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-tools gstreamer1.0-plugins-base gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly gstreamer1.0-libav gstreamer1.0-pipewire`
125  - Optional hardware accel: `gstreamer1.0-vaapi`
126
127## Theme and Runtime Updates
128- The homepage and pages respect your system’s light/dark preference.
129- The app updates color‑scheme live when your GTK theme changes (no relaunch needed).
130
131## Project Structure
132- `main.go`: CLI/GUI entrypoint, `dumb://` scheme, service wiring
133- `internal/cli`: Cobra commands (`browse`, `dmenu`, `version`)
134- `internal/config`: Viper‑backed config, XDG helpers, defaults
135- `internal/db`: SQLite schema init and sqlc‑generated queries
136- `services`: app services (parser/history/config/browser)
137- `pkg/webkit`: WebKit2GTK bindings (CGO and stub implementations)
138- `frontend`: TypeScript homepage UI bundled into the binary
139
140## Security & Privacy
141- History and zoom settings are stored locally in SQLite under XDG state.
142- The `tmp/` directory is ignored by Git and kept out of history.
143
144## Roadmap
145- WebKitGTK 6 (GTK4) migration — almost complete (GPU/Vulkan path landed).
146- GPU rendering (Vulkan via GTK4 renderer) with graceful CPU fallback.
147- Full Vim-style motion and keyboard navigation across pages and UI.
148- Performance work: faster startup, lower memory, snappier UI.
149- Basic ad-block extension — because fuck ads.
150- Other shiny things I’m not yet aware of.
151
152## License
153This project is licensed under the MIT License. See `LICENSE` for details.