Dumber
[License: MIT] [Go Report Card]
A TTY-inspired browser multiplexer for tiling window managers.
What is Dumber?
Dumber is a Wayland-native browser that works like your terminal multiplexer. Tabs hold workspaces. Workspaces hold panes. Panes split and stack like Zellij. Everything is keyboard-driven.
No bloat. No Chrome. No Electron.
Features:
- Zellij-style panes with modal keyboard navigation
- Floating workspace pane with profile shortcuts
- Wayland native (Sway, Hyprland, River, Niri)
- Session resurrection with auto-snapshots
- Built-in ad blocking (uBlock-based)
- GPU accelerated video (VA-API/VDPAU)
- Launcher integration (rofi/fuzzel/dmenu)
- Search bangs (!g, !gi, !ddg)
- Single config.toml with hot reload
Documentation
Full documentation is available at dumber.bnema.dev
Quick Start
# Install
curl -fsSL https://dumber.bnema.dev/install | sh
# Launch
dumber browse
Arch Linux (AUR)
yay -S dumber-browser-bin # Pre-built binary
yay -S dumber-browser-git # Build from source
Flatpak
wget https://github.com/bnema/dumber/releases/latest/download/dumber.flatpak
flatpak install --user dumber.flatpak
flatpak run dev.bnema.Dumber browse
Dependencies
Arch Linux:
sudo pacman -S webkitgtk-6.0 gtk4 gst-plugins-base gst-plugins-good gst-plugins-bad gst-plugin-va
Debian/Ubuntu:
sudo apt install libwebkitgtk-6.0-4 libgtk-4-1 gstreamer1.0-plugins-base gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad
⚠️ Ubuntu 24.04 ships GLib 2.80, but Dumber requires GLib 2.84+. Use Arch, Fedora 41+, or the Flatpak.
Keyboard-Driven
Four modal modes. Enter a mode, act, escape out. Vim and Zellij users already know this pattern.
| Mode |
Key |
Actions |
| Pane |
Ctrl+P |
Split · Stack · Close · Move |
| Tab |
Ctrl+T |
New · Close · Switch · Rename |
| Resize |
Ctrl+N |
Grow · Shrink · hjkl/arrows |
| Session |
Ctrl+O |
Save · Restore · Browse |
Floating Pane
Alt+F toggles the floating pane and preserves its state while hidden.
Ctrl+W closes the active pane; if the floating pane is active, it is fully released for a fresh next open.
- Profile shortcuts like
Alt+G are optional and configured under workspace.floating_pane.profiles.
- Some
Alt+<key> bindings may conflict with default WebKit shortcuts or desktop-level handlers.
See Floating Pane Reference for setup and behavior details.
Development
Dumber uses pure-Go bindings (no CGO) but requires GTK4/WebKitGTK runtime libraries for the GUI.
Environment
Set ENV=dev to use .dev/dumber/ for config/data instead of XDG paths.
Build From Source
Prerequisites:
- Go 1.25+
- Node.js 20+ (for frontend assets)
- WebKitGTK 6.0 and GTK4 dev packages
git clone https://github.com/bnema/dumber
cd dumber
make build
./dist/dumber browse
Make Targets
| Target |
Description |
make build |
Build frontend + binary |
make build-quick |
Build binary only (skip frontend) |
make dev |
Run with go run |
make test |
Run tests |
make lint |
Run golangci-lint |
make flatpak-build |
Build Flatpak bundle |
Contributing
We welcome bug fixes, performance/stability improvements, and WebUI/UX enhancements. We're not accepting new feature PRs.
All PRs must target the next branch. We test there first before releasing to main.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.
License
MIT - See LICENSE for details.
source
1# Dumber
2
3[](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT) [](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/bnema/dumber)
4
5A TTY-inspired browser multiplexer for tiling window managers.
6
7- Website: [dumber.bnema.dev](https://dumber.bnema.dev)
8- Documentation: [dumber.bnema.dev/docs](https://dumber.bnema.dev/docs)
9
10---
11
12## What is Dumber?
13
14Dumber is a Wayland-native browser that works like your terminal multiplexer. Tabs hold workspaces. Workspaces hold panes. Panes split and stack like Zellij. Everything is keyboard-driven.
15
16No bloat. No Chrome. No Electron.
17
18
19
20https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/232822af-08e4-4a74-9416-87f79c96b118
21
22
23
24**Features:**
25- Zellij-style panes with modal keyboard navigation
26- Floating workspace pane with profile shortcuts
27- Wayland native (Sway, Hyprland, River, Niri)
28- Session resurrection with auto-snapshots
29- Built-in ad blocking (uBlock-based)
30- GPU accelerated video (VA-API/VDPAU)
31- Launcher integration (rofi/fuzzel/dmenu)
32- Search bangs (!g, !gi, !ddg)
33- Single config.toml with hot reload
34
35## Documentation
36
37Full documentation is available at **[dumber.bnema.dev](https://dumber.bnema.dev)**
38
39- [Documentation](https://dumber.bnema.dev/docs) - Installation, configuration, CLI reference
40- [Keybindings](https://dumber.bnema.dev/docs/reference/keybindings) - Keyboard shortcuts
41
42## Quick Start
43
44```bash
45# Install
46curl -fsSL https://dumber.bnema.dev/install | sh
47
48# Launch
49dumber browse
50```
51
52### Arch Linux (AUR)
53
54```bash
55yay -S dumber-browser-bin # Pre-built binary
56yay -S dumber-browser-git # Build from source
57```
58
59### Flatpak
60
61```bash
62wget https://github.com/bnema/dumber/releases/latest/download/dumber.flatpak
63flatpak install --user dumber.flatpak
64flatpak run dev.bnema.Dumber browse
65```
66
67### Dependencies
68
69**Arch Linux:**
70
71```bash
72sudo pacman -S webkitgtk-6.0 gtk4 gst-plugins-base gst-plugins-good gst-plugins-bad gst-plugin-va
73```
74
75**Debian/Ubuntu:**
76
77```bash
78sudo apt install libwebkitgtk-6.0-4 libgtk-4-1 gstreamer1.0-plugins-base gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad
79```
80
81> ⚠️ Ubuntu 24.04 ships GLib 2.80, but Dumber requires GLib 2.84+. Use Arch, Fedora 41+, or the Flatpak.
82
83## Keyboard-Driven
84
85Four modal modes. Enter a mode, act, escape out. Vim and Zellij users already know this pattern.
86
87| Mode | Key | Actions |
88|------|-----|---------|
89| Pane | `Ctrl+P` | Split · Stack · Close · Move |
90| Tab | `Ctrl+T` | New · Close · Switch · Rename |
91| Resize | `Ctrl+N` | Grow · Shrink · hjkl/arrows |
92| Session | `Ctrl+O` | Save · Restore · Browse |
93
94## Floating Pane
95
96- `Alt+F` toggles the floating pane and preserves its state while hidden.
97- `Ctrl+W` closes the active pane; if the floating pane is active, it is fully released for a fresh next open.
98- Profile shortcuts like `Alt+G` are optional and configured under `workspace.floating_pane.profiles`.
99- Some `Alt+<key>` bindings may conflict with default WebKit shortcuts or desktop-level handlers.
100
101See [Floating Pane Reference](https://dumber.bnema.dev/docs/reference/floating-pane) for setup and behavior details.
102
103## Development
104
105Dumber uses pure-Go bindings (no CGO) but requires GTK4/WebKitGTK runtime libraries for the GUI.
106
107### Environment
108
109Set `ENV=dev` to use `.dev/dumber/` for config/data instead of XDG paths.
110
111### Build From Source
112
113**Prerequisites:**
114- Go 1.25+
115- Node.js 20+ (for frontend assets)
116- WebKitGTK 6.0 and GTK4 dev packages
117
118```bash
119git clone https://github.com/bnema/dumber
120cd dumber
121make build
122./dist/dumber browse
123```
124
125### Make Targets
126
127| Target | Description |
128|--------|-------------|
129| `make build` | Build frontend + binary |
130| `make build-quick` | Build binary only (skip frontend) |
131| `make dev` | Run with `go run` |
132| `make test` | Run tests |
133| `make lint` | Run golangci-lint |
134| `make flatpak-build` | Build Flatpak bundle |
135
136## Contributing
137
138We welcome bug fixes, performance/stability improvements, and WebUI/UX enhancements. We're not accepting new feature PRs.
139
140**All PRs must target the `next` branch.** We test there first before releasing to `main`.
141
142See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for details.
143
144## Community
145
146- [Report bugs](https://github.com/bnema/dumber/issues)
147- [Releases](https://github.com/bnema/dumber/releases)
148
149## License
150
151MIT - See `LICENSE` for details.