Browserctl

Manage default browser on macOS from the command line.

Requirements

• macOS 13.0 (Ventura) or later

Build-only

• Swift 5.9 or later

Install

Homebrew

brew install peter-bread/tap/browserctl

GitHub Releases

Pre-built binaries are available via GitHub Releases.

You can also use the provided installation script:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/peter-bread/browserctl/refs/heads/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

This will install the browserctl binary and manpage to the ~/.local prefix.

Optionally, set the PREFIX environment variable:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/peter-bread/browserctl/refs/heads/main/scripts/install.sh | PREFIX=/usr/local bash

This may require updating MANPATH.

Build from Source

Build and install browserctl.

By default, the executable is installed to the prefix ~/.local, meaning the path to the executable is ~/.local/bin/browserctl.

The install target will build and install both the binary and the manpage:

git clone https://github.com/peter-bread/browserctl
cd browserctl
make install

To install to a different location, specify a prefix (you may need sudo):

sudo make install PREFIX=/usr/local

Usage

Tip

For more information, be sure to use browserctl help and browserctl help <subcommand>.

(Or browserctl -h and browserctl <subcommand> -h)

Get current default browser

browserctl get

List available browsers

browserctl list

For each of the above, you can use --name-only or --id-only to filter the output data.

Set default browser

browserctl set <query>

The query must be an exact, case-insenstive match against one of, in order:

1. bundle ID
2. bundle display name
3. bundle name

For example, the following are equivalent:

browserctl set chrome             # name
browserctl set 'GooGLe ChrOme'    # display name
browserctl set com.google.Chrome  # id

Currently, there is no support for fuzzy matching, suggestions or multiple matches.

Launch browser

# launch default browser
browserctl launch

# launch specified browser
browserctl launch <name|id>

# launch default browser and open url
browserctl launch --url <url>

# launch specified browser and open url
browserctl launch <name|id> --url <url>

Shell Completion

You can generate shell completion with:

browserctl --generate-completion-script <shell>

where shell is one of bash, zsh or fish.

This is especially useful for the browserctl set command as it provides names and identifiers.

Acknowledgements

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17528688/set-default-web-browser-via-command-line
• https://github.com/kerma/defaultbrowser
• https://github.com/jwbargsten/defbro