Currently only works with iTerm2, a graphics-capable terminal for MacOS.
I'm actively working to make it compatible with Kitty and Visual Studio Code's built-in terminal, both of which are graphics-capable.
Bun is an amazing new javascript runtime. Installation instructions are here.
You can put a copy of Clibro anywhere convenient. For example in your home directory:
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/oaklandgit/clibro.git
Install dependencies:
cd ~/clibro
bun install
To make it available in any terminal session, add an alias to your shell profile. I'm using .zshrc, but you can use .bashrc or whatever your shell uses.
The recommended alias is "bro", as in "bro, take me to the Python docs." But really, Clibro is short for "CLI Browser." (You can call it whatever you want. Just be nice.)
echo "alias bro='~/clibro/src/index.js'" >> ~/.zshrc
source .zshrc
Start Clibro by calling any URL, which will fetch the page and display a labeled screenshot in the terminal:
bro http://python.org
The numeric labels represent the page's links. To follow a link, simply call it by its label:
bro 45
bro 45 means "take me to the link labeled 45 from the last bro call." In this example, we browsed this way to a Python doc we were needing.
Also notice that after each command, you're back in the shell prompt. You could continue browsing, or you could continue with other work in the terminal. Clibro will remember the last-visited page and all its links.
Display any web page
bro [url]
Follow a link by its numeric label
bro [numeric label]
Override the default width of the virtual browser's viewport
bro -w [width]
Invert the labels (to be more readable against dark backgrounds)
bro -i
We use the command line because it enables -- among other things -- more efficient workflows than using a mouse and windows. It lets us focus on our tasks while not making us context switch between various software packages. Instead, we simply string together a flow of command line tools without ever having to leave the shell.
But one task that still takes us away from that flow is the information-gathering we do in web browsers such as Chrome or Safari. This forces us out of the terminal and into the GUI, ruining our flow.
So why not use a terminal-based browser such as Lynx? Because we may want a more visually-rich web view for providing easier consumption and context. Or perhaps you're a web developer who needs to see visually how things render graphically.
Clibro aims to be a CLI tool that:
- presents web pages linearly, within the top-to-bottom flow of the terminal
- keeps you focused on whatever workflow you're in -- the browser comes to your command line, not vice versa
- provides more visual context than text-only browsers like Lynx
Clibro creates two files in the directory you set up initially. For example, if you cloned the repo to ~/clibro, then Clibro will store its data there.
screenshot.png- an image of the last-visited pagedata.json- a file storing the last-visited url and its links
A: Yes, please! Here's the issues backlog.