Nova Browser is a Windows browser built on a custom WPF shell + the WebView2 (Edge/Chromium) engine, inspired by Maxthon — mimic Maxthon, surpass Maxthon.
Windows portable (no install):
nova-browser-v0.1.0-windows-portable.zip (~75 MB — unzip and run)
No .NET required (self-contained); the WebView2 Runtime loads on first launch.
v0.1.0 — first public release (portable)
Already working well:
- multi-tab / multi-window with cross-window drag and crash-safe session restore
- Maxthon-style mouse gestures and super drag
- original "throw" tab, reading mode, and split view
- ad filtering, web screenshots, and resource sniffer
- Multi-tab / multi-window: create, switch, drag across windows, session restore after crash/restart
- Maxthon soul: mouse gestures (draw with the right button held), super drag (drag a link to open a new tab / drag text to search)
- Original "throw" tab: flick a tab and it flies to the nearest Nova window and lands — no precise aiming needed
- Reading mode (F9): proprietary content-extraction heuristics + local dark typography
- Split view (F10): Maxthon-style left/right split, cross-side tab drag, resizable divider
- Ad Hunter: built-in rule filtering + WebView2 request interception
- Web screenshot / resource sniffer: full-page or region capture, one-click download of media/images
- Privacy: isolated mode (separate temp UserDataFolder), one-click clear of cookie / cache / history
- Theme system: dark / light / tech cyan-blue / trendy purple, whole-dictionary swap at runtime takes effect instantly
- Chinese / English UI: switchable interface language, applied instantly and remembered
- Performance: background-tab throttling (TrySuspend/Resume) + lazy session loading
- C# / .NET 9 (
net9.0-windows) - WPF: custom shell (borderless title bar, tab strip, themes, interaction gestures)
- WebView2: Microsoft Edge / Chromium engine
- Windows 10 (19041) / Windows 11
- Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime
- .NET 9 SDK (source builds only; the portable build is self-contained)
dotnet build src/Nova.Browser/Nova.Browser.csproj -c ReleaseSee run.bat at the repo root for a quick local run. To build the portable release, see publish.ps1.
See ROADMAP.md for the development roadmap and completed items.