Muxie

A Rust-based URL routing tool that intelligently opens URLs in different browsers based on configurable patterns. This tool acts as a browser demultiplexer - it intercepts URL requests and routes them to specific browsers based on matching patterns.

Muxie allows you to:

• Set different browsers for different websites or URL patterns
• Automatically route URLs to the appropriate browser based on wildcard patterns
• Install itself as the default system browser to handle all URL requests
• Auto-discover installed browsers from desktop entries

Packaged installation (recommended):

• Install Muxie via your distribution’s package manager.
• Set Muxie as the default browser in your desktop environment’s settings (e.g., GNOME/KDE).
• Optional: create a default configuration file if missing:

muxie config create

• Optional sanity check:

# Typically not needed: the system calls this for you
muxie open https://example.com

Standalone binary (installed from source or cargo install)

• Use this only if you are not using a distribution package.
• Run muxie install once to register handlers and create a basic configuration. This command does the following:
  • Installs the application icons and the .desktop file.
  • Install the D-Bus service for running the muxie daemon.
  • Sets muxie as your default browser (this requires xdg-settings command to available in your system).
• Use muxie uninstall to remove the installed files.

# Install as default browser and create basic configuration
muxie install

# Open a URL (typically called by the system)
muxie open https://example.com

# Uninstall - removes installed assets. Use --restore-default to attempt restoring the previous default browser.
muxie uninstall [--restore-default]

Configuration commands:

# Create a default configuration file if missing
muxie config create

# Validate configuration strictly (checks for executables and dialog providers)
muxie config validate

When a matched pattern lists two or more eligible browsers, Muxie shows a native selection dialog (if a GUI provider is available) and asks which browser to use for this URL.

• Providers: auto-detected in this order: kdialog (KDE), zenity (GNOME), yad.
• Displayed text uses a redacted URL (host only), never the full URL.
• Cancel behavior: if you press Cancel or close the dialog, Muxie aborts opening the URL.
• Headless or no provider: no prompt is shown; Muxie proceeds non-interactively as before.
• Error handling: if the selected browser fails to start, Muxie tries the remaining browsers for that pattern in the configured order (no re-prompt).

muxie install command needs xdg-settings command to be available.

The tool uses a TOML configuration file at ~/.config/muxie/muxie.toml with separate browser definitions and routing patterns that map to browser names:

version = 1

[[browsers]]
name = "Firefox"
executable = "firefox"
args = ["%u"]

[[browsers]]
name = "Chrome"
executable = "google-chrome"

[[patterns]]
pattern = "*.work.com"
browsers = ["Firefox"]

[[patterns]]
pattern = "github.com"
browsers = ["Chrome", "Firefox"]

[notifications]
enabled = true
redact_urls = true

[dialog]
# Dialog provider for selection prompts: one of "auto", "kdialog", "zenity", "yad"
# Default is "auto". When set to a specific provider, Muxie will use only that
# provider (no fallback).
provider = "auto"

• Build Debian package:

  • Install: cargo install cargo-deb
  • Build: just deb
  • Inspect: dpkg-deb -c target/${MUSL_TARGET:-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl}/debian/*.deb

• Build RPM package:

  • Install: cargo install cargo-generate-rpm
  • Build: just rpm
  • Inspect: rpm -qpi target/generate-rpm/*.rpm && rpm -qpl target/generate-rpm/*.rpm

Container smoke tests (optional, requires Docker):

• Debian/Ubuntu: just test-deb
• Fedora: just test-rpm