MultiBrowse

I got tired of link chooser apps that were huge, Electron-based, and weirdly easy to crash for something that should be dead simple.

Click a link. Pick a browser. Move on.

MultiBrowse is a tiny native macOS menu bar app for exactly that. No browser engine inside another browser engine. No background service doing mystery work. No giant settings maze. Just the small popup you actually wanted.

What It Does

When MultiBrowse is your default browser, every http or https link opens a compact popup near your pointer. The popup contains only the browser icons you selected. Click one icon and the link opens there.

Bang bang.

Why It Exists

The job is simple:

• stay light
• stay native
• keep browser choice one click away
• keep the menu bar visible
• remember selected browsers after restart
• avoid Electron-sized RAM tax for a tiny utility

Features

• Native AppKit macOS app
• Menu bar resident globe icon
• Icon-only browser popup
• Browser preferences stored on disk
• Reset browser preferences from the menu bar
• Launch at login toggle
• Make default browser action
• Custom app icon
• No telemetry
• No network service
• No Electron

Storage

Browser selections are stored here:

~/Library/Application Support/MultiBrowse/preferences.json

Delete/reset that file from the menu bar if you want a fresh browser list.

Build

make icon
make app

The app bundle is created at:

build/MultiBrowse.app

Use

1. Launch build/MultiBrowse.app.
2. Pick the browser icons you want in the popup.
3. Open the menu bar globe.
4. Choose Make Default Browser.
5. Enable Launch at Login if you want it running after restart.

After that, clicking a link should show the small browser-icon popup and nothing else.

Setup Commands

The menu bar items are the normal path, but the same setup is available from the terminal:

make register
make make-default
make enable-login

make enable-login asks macOS to add the app as a login item. Depending on your system settings, macOS may still ask for confirmation in Login Items.

Project Shape

• Sources/MultiBrowse/AppDelegate.swift handles app lifecycle and URL events.
• Sources/MultiBrowse/BrowserCatalog.swift finds installed browsers.
• Sources/MultiBrowse/BrowserSelectionStore.swift persists browser selection.
• Sources/MultiBrowse/LinkChooserPanel.swift renders the icon-only popup.
• Sources/MultiBrowse/PreferencesWindowController.swift renders browser setup.
• Sources/MultiBrowse/DefaultBrowserManager.swift manages URL handler status.
• Sources/MultiBrowse/LoginItemManager.swift manages launch-at-login state.
• Scripts/generate_icon.swift renders the app icon.