Nyxt: The Hacker's Browser

https://nyxt.atlas.engineer/

by OuterVale • 2 years ago

471 210 2 years ago

nyxt.atlas.engineer

Curiositry• 2 years ago

A few years ago I doggedly tried to switch to Nyxt for everyday use. I really liked the concept, but at the time, it was too buggy, and constantly crashed on me. I'm going give it another shot.

nextos4• 2 years ago

Nyxt is very promising, and I hope it gains momentum. The obvious advantage of Nyxt is programmability and keyboard-driven workflows.

However, I use old hardware, and it's a bit slow and laggy. Chromium behaves the same way, so I imagine this is due to WebKit and Blink being significantly heavier than Gecko.

Firefox is really snappy on old hardware, at least when running Linux, and uses a modest amount of memory.

dotancohen• 2 years ago

What's considered old nowadays? My current desktop had some ~3Ghz AMD processor from ~2020, I don't even remember what it is. Maybe 16 GiB of memory. Runs Firefox and Jetbrains good enough that I've not had to consider upgrading. I use a Debian based distro.

wkat42424• 2 years ago

Hmm for me on BSD it's the opposite. But every release something breaks in Firefox' GPU acceleration so I've kinda stopped trying to fix it. I assume chromium handles that better. Though I don't use it much.

stragies2• 2 years ago

Is this because Nyxt is an Electron App? (Is it?) The github commit log mentions it. Or is that just a "variant" of Nyxt?

srid• 2 years ago

The obvious advantage of Nyxt is programmability and keyboard-driven workflows.

Example real-world workflows that highlight the advantage of Nyxt over other browsers?

aruggirello2• 2 years ago

Firefox with ViolentMonkey and uBlock Origin is my go to solution. I keep hundreds of tabs open, Chrome|ium is simply a memory hog.

irthomasthomas2• 2 years ago

It's been my default browser for about a year. Most bugs have been fixed. Only twitter still crashes it.

phplovesong• 2 years ago

Is this standalone or an emacs plugin? I rather use vim motions, so is this locked to emacs, or can i do vim style for things instead?

markasoftware• 2 years ago

standalone

brabel• 2 years ago

The only connection between this and emacs is that both use a Lisp language (Nyxt is written in Common Lisp)... and that Nyxt is inspired by how emacs works. Anyway, why did you assume it is an emacs plugin? It doesn't say that anywhere.

shikck200• 2 years ago

My first impression was the same. Mostly from the screenshots, each one had multiple places with an "emacs" text element. If this is not bound to emacs, what the hell is the emacs thing doing there?

opan3• 2 years ago

Last I used it, default keybinds were very emacs-y, but there was a vim mode (was a bit rough) you could use instead.

sourcepluck13• 2 years ago

It's a standalone program, and you can absolutely use vim keybindings! Not locked to emacs in any way.

Out of the box it is ready to do vim keybindings, emacs keybindings, or CUA style keybindings. How practical, wouldn't you say? :)

hassannawaz• 2 years ago

Anyone interested can also check out the Vimium browser extension.

derN3rd• 2 years ago

There is also Homerow (homerow.app) for MacOS that does this on a system level

aterp• 2 years ago

Homerow looks very cool. Is it actively being supported? Looks like it still uses App Center despite that being sunset, plus the change log shows the last update in June 2024, and before that in April 2023

the_gipsy• 2 years ago

Or Tridactyl.

OvidNaso• 2 years ago

Tridactyl for firefox is amazing too

poincaredisk2• 2 years ago

Or VimFx

beanaroo• 2 years ago

Surfingkeys is my preferred extension

ramenbytes3• 2 years ago

The one thing holding me back from this is not being able to run UBlock origin on it yet. I keep telling myself that eventually I'll have the spare time to change that myself....

wongogue• 2 years ago

It already has an adblocker. Check the FAQ.

ramenbytes3• 2 years ago

AdBlocker, yes. UBlock Origin, no. Maybe it's since reached feature parity, last time I checked it hadn't from what I could tell.

swhalemwo• 2 years ago

so much this.. probably once a year I remember that nyxt would be really cool to use, but then I see it still doesn't support adblock on youtube and thus forget it again.

patrickkidger• 2 years ago

So why this over qutebrowser [1] ? (Which has been my go-to keyboard-first browser for a long time.) This isn't mentioned in the FAQ despite I think being the natural comparison.

[1] https://github.com/qutebrowser/qutebrowser

llm_trw5• 2 years ago

Vim vs Emacs bindings for one.

yasser_kaddoura• 2 years ago

You can configure both to use either.

List of emacs-like config in Qutebrowser:

https://github.com/qutebrowser/qutebrowser/blob/main/doc/hel...

rgreekguy• 2 years ago

Also no Python, all Common Lisp.

manx2• 2 years ago

I loved qutebrowser, but many pages didn't work because of the rendering engine. That made me go back to Firefox.

rnhmjoj2• 2 years ago

The engine is QtWebEngine, which is essentially Chromium without the proprietary stuff. It may a be a bit outdated, but I've never seen a page not being rendered properly. Maybe you used it way back when the default engine was QtWebKit.

BoingBoomTschak3• 2 years ago

As someone who used Qute for a long time:

* Python is much slower than SBCL (yes, even if rendering is done by Blink); including the lack of threading

* Bookmarks are pure crap, they don't have tags nor directories to sort them better

* Less hackable (e.g. something that should be possible in Nyxt: https://github.com/qutebrowser/qutebrowser/issues/3933)

* Massive gaps: https://github.com/qutebrowser/qutebrowser/issues/2328 https://github.com/qutebrowser/qutebrowser/issues/2492 https://github.com/qutebrowser/qutebrowser/issues/5731 (!!!)

* Per domain/URL settings never progressed further than the initial batch of properties: https://github.com/qutebrowser/qutebrowser/issues/3636

* Adblocking is better than hostfile but still missing a lot compared to uBlock (https://github.com/qutebrowser/qutebrowser/issues/6480). No script blocking matrix like uBlock "advanced mode" at all.

My impression is that it has been stuck in bug fixing/dependency churn for a long time now. Switched to Firefox while waiting for Nyxt to be usable (apparently, Nyxt 4 will be it).

wkat42424• 2 years ago

Nyxt does have ublock origin? It would be a must have for me too.

treeshateorcs• 2 years ago

you can redirect in QB. this is how i do it (from my config):

    def redirect(info: interceptor.Request):
        if info.request_url.host() == "en.m.wikipedia.org":
            new_url = QUrl(info.request_url)
            new_url.setHost("en.wikipedia.org")
            try:
                info.redirect(new_url)
            except interceptors.RedirectFailedException:
                pass

rnhmjoj2• 2 years ago

My impression is that it has been stuck in bug fixing/dependency churn for a long time now

I don't think it's just your impression: it's exactly what happened. Depending on Qt for the rendering engine means the browser has been tied to the painfully long release cycle of the whole of Qt. Quickly fixing bugs or implementing new features is hard, they have to hack around limited APIs, beg for more and continually fix new bugs introduced by upstream (both Qt and google).

anonzzzies5• 2 years ago

For me; CL/SBCL. It is more fun for me.

nelsonfigueroa• 2 years ago

The tree based history feature is amazing

bmacho• 2 years ago

IMO browsers should remember browsing history (what pages have I been on, and how did I get there), yet I never seen a browser that can do that.

olejorgenb3• 2 years ago

Firefox does, but does a really poor you if exposing that info. (See places.sqlite)

dang2• 2 years ago

Related. Others?

Nyxt – The Hacker's Browser - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39183823 - Jan 2024 (2 comments)

Nyxt: The Hacker's Browser - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36006423 - May 2023 (252 comments)

Nyxt 3.0.0 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35869378 - May 2023 (30 comments)

Why Lisp? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35852321 - May 2023 (327 comments)

Nyxt 3 Pre-release 1 (a Lisp powered web browser) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32097424 - July 2022 (66 comments)

Lisp in Production: an interview with the guys behind Nyxt Browser [video] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30271989 - Feb 2022 (15 comments)

Nyxt browser annotations beat pen and paper - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30184792 - Feb 2022 (46 comments)

“Why should I use Nyxt if I can use Vimium?” - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28632422 - Sept 2021 (10 comments)

Nyxt 2.2.0 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28623720 - Sept 2021 (35 comments)

Nyxt – The Internet on Your Terms - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28037300 - Aug 2021 (1 comment)

Show HN: Nyxt Browser 2.0.0 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27219646 - May 2021 (121 comments)

Nyxt Browser - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26509612 - March 2021 (125 comments)

Nyxt browser: mouseless copy/paste - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25956152 - Jan 2021 (56 comments)

Dashboard for Nyxt - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25151976 - Nov 2020 (2 comments)

Nyxt Browser 2.0.0 Pre-release - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24353927 - Sept 2020 (11 comments)

opan3• 2 years ago

It used to be called Next Browser, so older posts might call it that.

dang2• 2 years ago

Ah thanks! Extending backward:

Next browser 1.3.2: Hooks, file manager and clipboard ring - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21023816 - Sept 2019 (1 comment)

Next browser 1.3.0: your Lisp daily driver - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20613661 - Aug 2019 (3 comments)

Next browser – web browser in Common LISP - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20064589 - May 2019 (49 comments)

Show HN: Next Browser native on Linux - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18608454 - Dec 2018 (114 comments)

Next browser campaign: last week of fundraising - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18308031 - Oct 2018 (2 comments)

Next Browser Feedback (Lisp) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18038967 - Sept 2018 (2 comments)

Next – extensible keyboard-oriented web browser - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16985119 - May 2018 (15 comments)

Show HN: NEXT Browser – A Lisp-based browser - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16108081 - Jan 2018 (3 comments)

nEXT Browser: A nEXT Generation Extensible Lisp Browser – Alpha - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15797548 - Nov 2017 (12 comments)

Show HN: nEXT Browser – A Lisp-based browser - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15418719 - Oct 2017 (44 comments)

OsrsNeedsf2P• 2 years ago

Instantly switch between your tabs [...] Easily find relevant tabs with a fuzzy search

I personally use virtual desktops for organizing windows of tabs, but if I was one of the masochists who had 100+ open tabs, I would be moving to this immediately

jolmg5• 2 years ago

As one such masochist, I hesitate because the tabs aren't tabs. I'm not saying there should be tabs, but this is different. I tend to see a page and open interesting links in new tabs, so the tabs to the right of the current tab are related to this tab. So, there's a tree-like organization to the tabs, even though they're presented linearly. In this browser, that kind of information seems lost, at least in its stock configuration.

Windows are also about particular topics, but here all windows have all buffers available.

The fuzzy search doesn't really do anything for me. I'm not really interested in seeing e.g. all Amazon tabs together. I'd prefer to see some Amazon tabs that are about particular selections of books next to other tabs of various URLs and titles that are also about those particular selections of books, and in the tree/linear-like order they were opened in.

Also, the tree-like order isn't always from following a link. I may, for example, check out a book on an Amazon product page, and a reviewer makes mention of other similar books, so I may open tabs next to this one that search those titles somewhere (DDG/Amazon/etc).

If I were to make this usable for me, it's probably by automatically keeping record of what buffer I was on when I opened a new one, then making a buffer that presents this information in a modifiable tree. The fuzzy search can be replaced by a search in this buffer. It would simply scroll to the spot, so I'd have access to ancestors and descendants from the match.

A benefit of generalizing to buffers rather than webpages is that presumably I could make simple placeholder buffers that act as parents representing topics where I would have used windows in the past.

Also, I'd need keybindings to walk the tree like Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-Shift-Tab. Maybe also a way to set the root node for a window, to limit the navigation of Ctrl-Tab in it.

Another thing is that it also facilitates closing tabs when one's done with a topic. Firefox has "close all tabs to the right" for that, though one can also middle click a tab repeatedly until enough tabs have been closed to close a (sub)topic. The buffer tree would simply need to have some "close this and descendants" type of option.

forgotpwd162• 2 years ago

If I were to make this usable for me, it's probably by automatically keeping record of what buffer I was on when I opened a new one, then making a buffer that presents this information in a modifiable tree.

This is already available in the form you described as Global History Tree. See: https://nyxt-browser.com/article/global-history-tree.org

But this is only a presentation and no management (currently) exists. A 1-1 window/buffer map is (also) an open issue.

trenchgun3• 2 years ago

Chrome has tab search. In MacOS, Shift+Cmd+A

matt_trentini• 2 years ago

I am one of those masochists frequently with 200+ tabs open and Firefox does an excellent job managing them.

Prefix a query with '%' to search only within open tabs.

binary_slinger• 2 years ago

Some good ideas here especially the history tree and keyboard history. Don't care much for the hacker = keyboard mentality, I enjoy using my mouse.

softwreoutthere• 2 years ago

"I don't want to learn. I don't want to drive. The more you drive, the less intelligent you are."

sourcepluck13• 2 years ago

Please, it's only in the comments that people are reducing a complex reality to a silly and childish "hacker = keyboard" thing.

Nyxt aims to provide a great experience for emacs and vim users from the first run, but also has CUA bindings, and also has absolutely standard support for pointing, clicking, dragging, you name it. Get your mousing hand ready, binary_slinger, because the 1s and 0s are ready to get slung inside Nyxt

Valodim3• 2 years ago

Pretty wise comment about web extension support by the main dev here: https://github.com/atlas-engineer/nyxt/issues/2875#issuecomm...

mikae1• 2 years ago

People tend to think in terms of what they could lose, and not in terms of potential gains. It's easier for users to take familiar extensions to a new browser, than having to learn how to use an analog.

How is this thinking wise? What are the potential gains and analogs for the end (without having to learn how to code)?

What is the analog to Bypass Paywalls Clean and Cookie AutoDelete as an example?

If writing new extensions in Common Lisp was so easy, why do they only list two extensions as available?[1]

Nyxt and qutebrowser target power users but leave out WebExtension support. I think they'd be a lot more popular if they didn't.

[1] https://nyxt.atlas.engineer/extensions

trenchgun3• 2 years ago

They do not leave out WebExtension support, they are working to get there:

We're focusing on #2989 since it will allow running Nyxt on macOS and support WebExtensions. https://github.com/atlas-engineer/nyxt/issues/2875#issuecomm...

Valodim3• 2 years ago

Did you interpret the comment as an argument for not having web extensions and recreating the features builtin instead? Because I'm fairly sure it's saying the opposite, even the last you quoted.

Valodim3• 2 years ago

Another interesting one, about whether or not to build on electron: https://github.com/atlas-engineer/nyxt/issues/2989#issuecomm...

Ylpertnodi• 2 years ago

Took a while to find this (windows user, me - always looking for something new):

For which operating systems is Nyxt available?

Linux BSD (unofficial) macOS (experimental) Windows (unofficial (via WSL))

Official ports for Windows and macOS are in development.

pjmlp6• 2 years ago

As someone that started in computing when affordable computing was all about keyboard, and mices only existed in computers with prices similar to buying a car or a mortgage, I don't get the hype of keyboard == hacker mentality.

Specially since that on my hacker circle of Demoscene, during the 16 bit days, we were mostly on Atari and Amiga systems, then we had plenty of mouse time, and no one ever stop to wonder we weren't hackers because we had mices.

lll-o-lll• 2 years ago

Even outside of the “hacker” community, keyboard has always been associated with higher expertise. Average “MS Word” user - Navigate through various menus to find what they want to do. Power Users - Memorized all the “shortcuts”.

I think that’s mostly what it is. A keyboard (and a bunch of memorizing), gives mastery over the applications UI.

anonzzzies5• 2 years ago

I still miss Wordperfect for that reason: messing around with Word wysiwyg, even with people who have decades of experience, is just painful to watch or do.

pjmlp6• 2 years ago

Some shortcuts are helpful, until one needs to do anything that affects visual position or drawing.

Very few people master shortcuts that require three key chords or more.

pdntspa• 2 years ago

Maybe it just strokes the egos of those desperate for some validation

poincaredisk2• 2 years ago

I don't get the hype of keyboard == hacker mentality.

This is not about a hype or "looking cool". Mouse and GUIs are faster and more ergonomic for exploratory activities ("how do I do X" for a new task, skimming a document or folder, etc), while keyboard (keyboard shortcuts, command line) is faster for routine, repeatable tasks. Web browsing is full of the latter.

I personally strongly prefer the keyboard and find it exhausting to reach for the mouse all the time, but it's a matter of personal preference. I don't think less of someone when I see they heavily use the mouse when programming, though in my opinion they are missing out.

pasc1878• 2 years ago

Browsing is mainly of exploration (e.g. reading) then data entry (which does require a keyboard but all on one page no scrolling) and much less repeatable tasks.

My hand is usually already on the mouse. Switching apps, scrolling text etc.

I started on PC-DOS and mainframes so was originally all keyboard, but having mouse made things much easier for me.

Now don't get me started on gestures - I can never remember any. - Which might be some of the reason to use mice I can't remember a lot of keyboard shortcuts let me have discoverable menus etc. Pit Smalltalk did not become mainstream.

hakfoo• 2 years ago

I was surprised that Trackpoint-style devices still remain a niche product since it explicitly solves the "I need to move the cursor but don't want to reach for the mouse" problem.

I'm aware of about four models of standalone keyboard with it available, but that's trivial even compared to the bazillion keyboards with touchpads for couch typing.

corank3• 2 years ago

For text editors or IDEs, basically contexts where we expect a lot of typing, I get why sticking to the keyboard is desirable. I don't get how it's better to browse the web without using the mouse. Most of the time on the web I just read, not type.

christophilus• 2 years ago

For me, I’m often using the web as a reference while programming. It’s nice to be able to flip over to it (using the keyboard) and use the same familiar key bindings I’m using while in my workflow.

opan3• 2 years ago

Most of the time on the web I just read, not type.

This is kind of why it works. In vim you spend most of your time in normal mode, reading, moving around, making quick edits. It takes good advantage of the whole keyboard even when you're not writing new text. I use qutebrowser, which has default vim-style bindings for everything and an emphasis on the keyboard. It works very well.

wkat42424• 2 years ago

I don't get the hype of keyboard == hacker mentality.

It's all about investing a little time to learn something that dramatically speeds up your workflow. A mainstream user has no interest in this even if they work with the computer all day. Hackers as computer enthusiasts do.

When you worked on those early computers you either had to be an enthusiast or be forced by an employer to use them :)

GUIs are great for infrequent tasks. TUIs for efficiency at frequent ones.

ucosty• 2 years ago

We're talking about a web browser, right? What workflow?

pjmlp6• 2 years ago

I don't consider being computer enthusiasts a synonymous with keyboard only use.

As mentioned, I started into computing when TUIs were the only affordable computing model.

There is no magic to me about whatever greatness of TUI and CLI.

tsukurimashou• 2 years ago

its a productivity thing, would you rather type text with a physical keyboard or would you rather use a virtual keyboard and mouse?

you can miss more easily with a mouse and have to adjust the position of the cursor to line up on two axis before any action

kstenerud2• 2 years ago

That's a false dichotomy. I'd rather have a physical keyboard and a physical mouse (or touchpad).

The "line up the two axis" thing is immaterial, and has no practical impact on actual productivity.

pjmlp6• 2 years ago

Why bringing virtual keyboard into the picture, we aren't talking about tablets and phones.

codingdave3• 2 years ago

That is a really biased way to spin things. Of course virtual keyboards are the worst of both worlds. And lining up a mouse on multiple axes is just an odd way to look at it -- on a keyboard you need to line up your fingertip on three axes for every keystroke, if you are wanting to go to that level of detail.

JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B• 2 years ago

I guess it depends on the kind of application. I use the keyboard a lot, but I'd kill myself if I had to use the git command-line interface. Once I bought Sublime Merge, I stopped learning what was (and still is) a waste of time to me. I'm faster with a global visual description and a mouse for some tools.

goodpoint• 2 years ago

Keyboard is not only faster, but requires less attention.

pjmlp6• 2 years ago

Depends on the typing skills between chair and monitor.

shiomiru• 2 years ago

For best ergonomics, both should be well supported.

If I'm programming and want to look up something in the docs, then it's annoying to switch to the mouse and then back, but I pretty much have to with traditional browser UI. (Or tab through a million links to find the right button to click, use cursor keys to scroll, etc.)

Similarly, if I'm just scrolling around with the mouse, then I should be able to do everything that I can with the keyboard (apart from text input). The context menu is good for discoverability, but being context-dependent makes it impossible to rely on muscle memory.

vunderba• 2 years ago

I think you're projecting a bit. I'm sure there are a few weird KEYBOARD VS MOUSE people that occupy the same bizarre neurotic domain space as TABS VS SPACES, but most people just have their own personal preference and leave it at that.

Personally, it's not about what's faster - it's about switching. If my hands are already resting lightly on the keyboard, then the keyboard is faster - and vice versa.

To decrease the amount of switching I have to do, I use an extension called Vimium that quickly highlights all links with key bindings. For example "g i" automatically puts the first <input> level field into focus.

https://github.com/philc/vimium

antasvara• 2 years ago

As a younger person, I've never really been alive for a computer that had no mouse.

So for people of my generation, it's really only the tech savvy ones that would use key commands for anything but the most rudimentary stuff (think copy, paste, save, and print).

Thats not to say that keyboard == hacker mentality, but that a keyboard-first tool like this wouldn't really target the average consumer at this point.

sourcepluck13• 2 years ago

I don't get the hype of keyboard == hacker mentality

There's no (or extremely little...) hype, it's just the sort of thing which starts to appear prominent in a world where conversations are driven more and more by the titles on videos and articles, rather than the other way around.

I claim that the following are all pretty factual, all at once:

1. meese can be faster and more convenient, in certain cases

2. keyboards can be faster and more convenient, in certain cases

3. what people (even the computer-savvy) are used to matters much more than what is "objectively" best or fastest or whatever

4. "hacker" is a polysemic term - playful creative norm-bending, technical mastery of some domain, making Ataris and Amigas do funny stuff it seems they shouldn't have been able to, getting access to a gaming console you weren't supposed to, solving a problem in a surprising manner, reverse engineering some game, etc

5. emacs is an empowering, wonderful text editor

6. so is (hyper/super/ultra/n/eo/) vi(m)

7. nyxt is about much more than keyboard shortcuts (Lisp, freedom, etc)

airstrike• 2 years ago

I think it goes like this https://i.imgflip.com/9d2ec7.jpg

guerrilla2• 2 years ago

WebKit backend though, right?

jolmg5• 2 years ago

Yes, but they're trying to add a Chrome-based one:

https://github.com/atlas-engineer/nyxt/issues/2989

They have this repo for Common Lisp bindings to QtWebEngine, but it's been archived:

https://github.com/atlas-engineer/cl-webengine

Seems they're currently trying Electron:

https://github.com/atlas-engineer/cl-electron

guerrilla2• 2 years ago

Oh, that's disappointing. I want this on Gecko, to support the competition and get away from Firefox's increasingly user-unfriendly UI.

brimstedt• 2 years ago

Any initiative to make a fast powerful UI is a good one imo.

Some features, like clipboard history and window management (i.e "tabs") are better left to the desktop environment though. Every app shouldn't need to reimplement this logic.

forgotpwd162• 2 years ago

The homepage probably to broaden the audience talks about tabs but as can see in screencasts, in-program, they're called (borrowing from Emacs) buffers. In contrast to tabs, buffers don't belong to a specific window and can switch to one within another window.

Bigie• 2 years ago

I've used this browser for a long time. At first, it was very promising, but later on, I found it quite distracting when I needed to work, so I had to give up. If you enjoy the vim-style feel of operation, you might want to try this browser's extension, as it can accommodate your habits along with normal web browsing. Of course, I still hope that the browser can improve, and I will try downloading it again to use for a while.

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/vimium/dbepggeogbai...

sam_lowry_• 2 years ago

I am using Vimium all the time. It's so ingrained in my muscle memory that I do not remember the key combinations anymore.

in9• 2 years ago

I feel I could use it more. I use the link jumping all the time, but that's basically it. What other features do you guys use?

falqun• 2 years ago

I don't know, I feel like some of the more pressing features of this browser are already provided with add-ons such as Vimium. And I would really like to see this on a Firefox back-end / compatible with the likes of uBlock origin. I don't want to have another chrome derivative that has a fancy new UI to boast.

bitvoid2• 2 years ago

I don't want to have another chrome derivative that has a fancy new UI to boast.

It uses WebKitGTK, not Chrome.

As for why not vimium?

https://nyxt-browser.com/article/nyxt-versus-plugins.org

ecef9-8c0f-4374• 2 years ago

The comments got me already antagonistic towards the project.

But what I saw was quite nice. I mean I won't switch my default browser but there were some good ideas.

jpgvm• 2 years ago

Not sure if anyone else remembers uzbl but I'm sad that didn't catch on. Will give this a go I guess.

theiasson• 2 years ago

I definitely remember ( and miss) both uzbl and luakit.

sylware• 2 years ago

A hacker browser is either:

- an headless big tech engine (blink|webkit|geeko) with AI bots strapped to a virtual mouse and virtual keyboard, probably installed on compromised systems, and remotely controlled.

- a real everyday hacker browser, namely certainly not with a c++ big tech engine (blink|webkit|geeko), but along the line of a simple no-gc computer language which does not require an insane compiler (excluding de-facto c++,java,rust,etc). Ofc, they will have to piggy back the planned obsolescence of Big Tech browsers and shadowy permanent compatibility breaking of Big Tech with their engine (don't forget big tech wants to make you dependent on their own complexity, not anything else).

jarbus• 2 years ago

As long as qutebrowser still works, I'll stay loyal. Designed for vim keys first and foremost + python config is plenty for me.

wruza• 2 years ago

I love visual navigation and exploration and wish programming was mouse-only too (with an on-screen keyboard to help with names). I’m actually using this setup for browsing - lots of bookmarks and gestures and an on-screen kbd.

Typing is overrated. Very sad that our tools are all typing-based.

(Yes I can point at least at prolog, epilog, mov reg,imm and int nn parts in a 8086 hexdump, if you’re curious how true of a hacker this is.)

ezequiel-garzon• 2 years ago

This is a timely coincidence for me. I started using yesterday Shortcat [1] for the Mac, and I'm very pleased. It gives you access to pretty much everything with the keyboard, not just the browser. To be fair, Nyxt provides other features such as scripting.

[1] https://shortcat.app/

hiatus• 2 years ago

I really wish it was open-source. I loved the concept and the app worked in most applications (though not the best with Slack). But I have reservations when it comes to granting full screen access to an app made by some unknown developer.

Vegenoid• 2 years ago

I feel the same, so I simply block its network access (via LuLu), and it works just fine that way. I wish it was open source so I could hack on it and so development could continue - it's a really cool idea and works pretty well.

ethagnawl2• 2 years ago

I was intrigued until I saw this in the FAQ:

What is Nyxt?
Nyxt is a browser with deeply integrated AI and semantic document tools that work as a second brain to help you process and understand more, more quickly.

No mention of what sort of "AI", where it's run, etc. If nothing else, this sounds like a recipe for a warm laptop and unreliable results.

sigmonsays• 2 years ago

The AI plug is obligatory. They have to ride the hype train too.

This browser was around before AI was popular and when I used it, it was great. The only downside is the lack of ability to run extensions, like bitwarden.

goku122• 2 years ago

Nyxt is supposed to be as extensible as Emacs and way more extensible than mainstream browsers that use WebExtensions. The lack of extensions is likely due to its miniscule market share.

dartos6• 2 years ago

Nyxt has been around long before the whole ai hype.

I guess they’re just trying ti ride the marketing wave.

medo-bear3• 2 years ago

im inclined to believe this is gof ai not nn ai

sourcepluck13• 2 years ago

Had to look that up: "Good Old-Fashioned Artificial Intelligence"

sourcepluck13• 2 years ago

I agree that's is a bad look, and I wonder who does Nyxt's writing. And I wonder what they mean, I didn't think there was any sort of LLM integration, and definintely not built in... has something changed there?

Do they just mean it's built with Lisp? What are these semantic document tools?

ksp-atlas• 2 years ago

When I first tried nyxt I never saw anything about AI (I never ended up using it because it would frequently crash and it was annoying to customize)

scrps• 2 years ago

Just clustering, which makes sense, as far as I can see peeking at the code. Whole codebase is lisp which I don't have a ton of experience with so caveat emptor.

https://github.com/atlas-engineer/nyxt/tree/master/libraries...

vindarel2• 2 years ago

Last time I looked there was no AI at all. I guess it's a buzzword the so called manager of the team felt obliged to put in.

kelsey98765431• 2 years ago

Pretty sure firefox is the hackers browser

sourcepluck13• 2 years ago

Somebody call jwz, quick

geddawm• 2 years ago

It's a show stopper that there's no macos support (afaiu). Eagerly awaiting that...

alanbernstein2• 2 years ago

What I want is a hacker's bookmark manager, but integrated into my existing browser (Firefox).

irthomasthomas2• 2 years ago

I use nyxt browser and a lisp function to send my bookmarks to GitHub issue. my domain https://undecidability.com redirects to it. And the code for it is at https://GitHub.com/irthomasthomas/label-maker (it started as an gh issues ai manager. Bookmarks is just my main use-case for that)

alanbernstein2• 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing. I use Firefox partly to support open source and/or degoogle a bit, but I'm also mostly pretty happy with the multi-device sync features. Any support for that stuff in nyxt? Or if not, do you use anything else for them?

TheRealPomax• 2 years ago

Does still need "show multiple pages in the same window" functionality though. If I can segment emacs, I should be able to segment my hacker browser.

sourcepluck13• 2 years ago

When are we getting a web engine written in SBCL? :) or how hard would it be, I wonder...

One thing about Nyxt that's great is this idea of trying to push towards being renderer-agnostic. I'm not sure how achievable that is in reality, but when you hear the idea you think oh yeah, surely that would make sense if we want to have good things in the world.

To all the people saying "I like my mouse! Why are these keyboard people so elitist!", the Nyxt people are not on a crusade against your lovely mouse. This isn't ratpoison (a window manager I adored using for a while, but that's a different story).

I have never seen anything on the Nyxt blog or elsewhere claiming mouse-users aren't humans, with full rights, deserving of fine browsing experiences like the rest of us. If I missed something, go ahead, please link it to us all and prove your point.

sourcepluck13• 2 years ago

https://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/inspiration.html

That's linked to from the ratpoison page, I enjoyed reading it a few years ago, it hasn't gotten any less funny in the meantime.

Why did I ever leave ratpoison...

medo-bear3• 2 years ago

gold. thank you for this. as regards ratpoison, have you looked at stumpwm?

arminiusreturns2• 2 years ago

I wish it was a GPL compat license, but a common lisp renderer agnostic system has me super curious!

edit: ok this is fast and I like it! eww take a backseat!

anthk3• 2 years ago

https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/License:BSD-3-Clause

It's compatible.

You have it under Guix too.

arminiusreturns2• 2 years ago

I meant more copyleft, not just compat, but you are correct!

ThinkBeat• 2 years ago

I have been interested in this project for a while now. That somebody has now added to the documentation:

"Nyxt is a browser with deeply integrated AI"

Made me entirely lose interest.

It sounds like it could be a privay problem

I did however dig deep to figure out what their EULA and whatnotstates. (or the code)

anthk3• 2 years ago

Classical AI, not the bullshit parroter.

sourcepluck13• 2 years ago

I still find it confusing - was that a thing, historically, that the mere use of Common Lisp meant that the thing written in Common Lisp was considered "AI"? I thought it was a general-purpose, high-level language, that was sometimes used for projects which might be called Artificial Intelligence projects, depending on the whims of authors.

Or is something more specific being referred to?

tremon• 2 years ago

Classical AI? Like what the Greeks used? Or are you referring to the post-Gothic renewal era?

drakenot• 2 years ago

Every time I've tried to use Qutebrowser, or similar -- I end up bouncing from it because I want proper extension support.

igneo676• 2 years ago

It's a great browser, but sadly my 2fa keys don't work with it. Looking forward to the day the underlying engine adds support

emrah• 2 years ago

So "hacker" is someone who is allergic to using a mouse. We've come a long way from what it used to mean..

bitvoid2• 2 years ago

Nyxt differs fundamentally in its philosophy- rather than exposing a set of parameters for customization, Nyxt allows you to customize all functionality. Every single class, method, and function is overwritable and reconfigurable. You'll find that you are able to engineer Nyxt's behavior to suit almost any workflow.

sourcepluck13• 2 years ago

TL;DR There's simply no grounds for rat-molesters to feel so triggered.

No-one is saying "hacker" means someone who is allergic to mouses, it's not what's being said whatsoever. The Nyxt page there unfortunately leans a bit too heavily on the "keyboard" bit, but the fact that that has taken off as a hot take here in this HN discussion is nonetheless an inaccurate reading of the project.

The point being made is that it's a browser for people who want to configure a browser in Common Lisp, i.e., what's sometimes called "power users" (I don't love that term, personally). It's fully FOSS, and the expected audience is people who know their way around terminals, IDEs, Emacs, vim, and so on.

These types of people often learn the available shortcuts in order to get around faster. Not always. However, programmers and tinkerers who like keyboard shortcuts are first-class citizens in Nyxt, is the point. Vim and Emacs keybindings are available out of the box.

However, CUA bindings and mouse-manipulation are also both fully supported. So, there's no issue.

sourcepluck13• 2 years ago

Oh, one other thing I just wondered: has there been any progress on interacting with Nyxt from Emacs? I saw something about that at some stage.

123456789aaa• 2 years ago

out of 215 comments, how many have tried to use the software?

(my #216: it can be hard to figure out how to get around in it because it is all text.)

Nyxt: The Hacker's Browser

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