{"slug": "browsh", "name": "Browsh", "category": "browsers", "category_name": "Browsers and extensions", "description": "", "recommenders": 9, "commenters": 14, "warners": 1, "score": 7.837, "rising": -0.29, "first": "2025-11-05", "latest": "2026-10-03", "why": "Browsh [0] - it runs firefox headless, and renders everything to ascii in the terminal", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 9, "neutral": 3, "compare": 1, "warn": 1}, "spark": [3, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Browsh [0] - it runs firefox headless, and renders everything to ascii in the terminal", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "brow.sh", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.brow.sh", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Browsh", "brow.sh", "browsh"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 799161026, "item_id": 49947564, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49947564", "by": "kavith", "date": "2026-10-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "they seem quite cool", "excerpt": "hmm, I don't know - I've been using Zen [1] primarily the last couple of hours and it seems to have come a long way since I last tried it. Thanks for sharing carbonyl & brownsh, they seem quite cool. Just not sure they'd be the perfect fit for me as my primary browser. [1] https://zen-browser.app/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox 157"}, {"id": 790164336, "item_id": 49385271, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49385271", "by": "closetheloopdev", "date": "2026-08-21", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "browsh [2] can also play YouTube videos if you'd like.", "excerpt": "If you want to live only in the terminal, you can also use one of the text-based browsers [1] instead of Chrome, Firefox, etc. browsh [2] can also play YouTube videos if you'd like. You can also just use the system console with tmux or GNU screen if you absolutely don't want any graphics at all. The TUI programs usually do not consume a lot of resources. They are also very fast and optimized for keyboard-only navigat", "context": "", "use_case": "terminal web browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop Making TUIs"}, {"id": 784410496, "item_id": 49025656, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49025656", "by": "jdiff", "date": "2026-07-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If you were interested, check out Browsh.", "excerpt": "If you were interested, check out Browsh. It's a similar project but based on Firefox and it's been around for quite some time now.", "context": "", "use_case": "terminal web browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "Brow6el: A full-featured web browser for the terminal using Chromium"}, {"id": 769609600, "item_id": 48100600, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48100600", "by": "Levitating", "date": "2026-05-11", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Or firefox flavoured https://www.brow.sh/", "excerpt": "Or firefox flavoured https://www.brow.sh/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ratty \u2013 A terminal emulator with inline 3D graphics"}, {"id": 745657040, "item_id": 46603565, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46603565", "by": "siraben", "date": "2026-01-13", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "are such lifesavers on airplane wifi", "excerpt": "browsh and carbonyl[0] are such lifesavers on airplane wifi. I find that carbonyl has even better chromium rendering than browsh. [0] https://github.com/fathyb/carbonyl", "context": "", "use_case": "Low-bandwidth browsing on planes", "switched_from": "", "story": "Text-Based Web Browsers"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 784419168, "item_id": 49026198, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49026198", "by": "westurner", "date": "2026-07-23", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I don't think any of these text-based web browsers are actively maintained", "excerpt": "I don't think any of these text-based web browsers are actively maintained; \"Show HN: Browsh \u2013 A modern, text-based browser\" (2018) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17487552 browsh-org/browsh: A fully-modern text-based browser, rendering to TTY and browsers https://github.com/browsh-org/browsh \"Forking Chrome to render in a terminal\" (2023) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34547259 fathyb/carbonyl: Chromium r", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Brow6el: A full-featured web browser for the terminal using Chromium"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["terminal web browser", "terminal web browsing", "page fetching", "low-bandwidth browsing on planes", "text-based web browsing", "server-side page rendering"], "compared": [{"slug": "carbonyl", "name": "Carbonyl", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "chawan", "name": "Chawan", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46597518", "title": "Text-Based Web Browsers", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49021647", "title": "Brow6el: A full-featured web browser for the terminal using Chromium", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45830829", "title": "Ratatui \u2013 App Showcase", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49943862", "title": "Firefox 157", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49384210", "title": "Stop Making TUIs", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48186231", "title": "Browse.sh, an open source catalog of browser skills", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 3}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {"compare": 1, "recommend": 2}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 799161026, "item_id": 49947564, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49947564", "by": "kavith", "date": "2026-10-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "they seem quite cool", "excerpt": "hmm, I don't know - I've been using Zen [1] primarily the last couple of hours and it seems to have come a long way since I last tried it. Thanks for sharing carbonyl & brownsh, they seem quite cool. Just not sure they'd be the perfect fit for me as my primary browser. [1] https://zen-browser.app/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox 157"}, {"id": 790164336, "item_id": 49385271, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49385271", "by": "closetheloopdev", "date": "2026-08-21", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "browsh [2] can also play YouTube videos if you'd like.", "excerpt": "If you want to live only in the terminal, you can also use one of the text-based browsers [1] instead of Chrome, Firefox, etc. browsh [2] can also play YouTube videos if you'd like. You can also just use the system console with tmux or GNU screen if you absolutely don't want any graphics at all. The TUI programs usually do not consume a lot of resources. They are also very fast and optimized for keyboard-only navigat", "context": "", "use_case": "terminal web browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stop Making TUIs"}, {"id": 784419168, "item_id": 49026198, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49026198", "by": "westurner", "date": "2026-07-23", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "I don't think any of these text-based web browsers are actively maintained", "excerpt": "I don't think any of these text-based web browsers are actively maintained; \"Show HN: Browsh \u2013 A modern, text-based browser\" (2018) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17487552 browsh-org/browsh: A fully-modern text-based browser, rendering to TTY and browsers https://github.com/browsh-org/browsh \"Forking Chrome to render in a terminal\" (2023) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34547259 fathyb/carbonyl: Chromium r", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Brow6el: A full-featured web browser for the terminal using Chromium"}, {"id": 784410496, "item_id": 49025656, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49025656", "by": "jdiff", "date": "2026-07-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If you were interested, check out Browsh.", "excerpt": "If you were interested, check out Browsh. It's a similar project but based on Firefox and it's been around for quite some time now.", "context": "", "use_case": "terminal web browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "Brow6el: A full-featured web browser for the terminal using Chromium"}, {"id": 770984640, "item_id": 48186540, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48186540", "by": "d3Xt3r", "date": "2026-05-18", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Not to be confused with Browsh[1], a terminal-based web browser.", "excerpt": "... Not to be confused with Browsh[1], a terminal-based web browser. https://www.brow.sh/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Browse.sh, an open source catalog of browser skills"}, {"id": 769609600, "item_id": 48100600, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48100600", "by": "Levitating", "date": "2026-05-11", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Or firefox flavoured https://www.brow.sh/", "excerpt": "Or firefox flavoured https://www.brow.sh/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ratty \u2013 A terminal emulator with inline 3D graphics"}, {"id": 765759137, "item_id": 47859946, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47859946", "by": "npodbielski", "date": "2026-04-21", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I was using https://www.brow.sh/ for page fetching.", "excerpt": "I was using https://www.brow.sh/ for page fetching. This looks more interesting, but also it is just wrapper around Chrome Developer Tools? `kuri-fetch` is not stand-alone then, it needs chrome running somewhere.", "context": "", "use_case": "page fetching", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kuri \u2013 Zig based agent-browser alternative"}, {"id": 745657040, "item_id": 46603565, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46603565", "by": "siraben", "date": "2026-01-13", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "are such lifesavers on airplane wifi", "excerpt": "browsh and carbonyl[0] are such lifesavers on airplane wifi. I find that carbonyl has even better chromium rendering than browsh. [0] https://github.com/fathyb/carbonyl", "context": "", "use_case": "Low-bandwidth browsing on planes", "switched_from": "", "story": "Text-Based Web Browsers"}, {"id": 745599952, "item_id": 46599997, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46599997", "by": "thw_9a83c", "date": "2026-01-13", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "That one is also really cool.", "excerpt": "From the article: In this article I\u2019m not going to include the admittedly cool browsh, because... These browsers are cool but I didn't know about browsh [1]. That one is also really cool. Thanks! [1]: https://www.brow.sh/", "context": "", "use_case": "text-based web browsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Text-Based Web Browsers"}, {"id": 745571313, "item_id": 46598207, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46598207", "by": "dieggsy", "date": "2026-01-12", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "rather than \"cheating\" by using an existing browser like browsh (which is still quite cool)", "excerpt": "The top comment in the article mentions it, but chawan[1] is really quite neat. Many sites are still have their quirks (or may be broken), but I think it's the closest I've seen a text browser approximate a \"real\" browser. The support for CSS, JS, and images (depends on your terminal) is already quite impressive even if imperfect. To my knowledge it's an actual browser implementation rather than \"cheating\" by using a", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Text-Based Web Browsers"}, {"id": 739044048, "item_id": 46190253, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46190253", "by": "HPsquared", "date": "2025-12-08", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Edit: https://www.brow.sh/", "excerpt": "It's kind of cheating, but I wonder if you could set up some kind of \"server side rendering proxy\" that would run all the JS on a given page, and send the client a plain html page with hyperlinks in place of interactive JS elements. Edit: https://www.brow.sh/", "context": "", "use_case": "Server-side page rendering", "switched_from": "", "story": "Damn Small Linux"}, {"id": 734449473, "item_id": 45903092, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45903092", "by": "yjftsjthsd-h", "date": "2025-11-12", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The usual solution is to run the real browser somewhere else and remote into it", "excerpt": "> though modern web-browsing is a challenge. (Maybe one that somebody has solved, I haven't dug at all.) The usual solution is to run the real browser somewhere else and remote into it, eg. https://github.com/tenox7/wrp or https://www.brow.sh/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The PowerPC Has Still Got It (Llama on G4 Laptop)"}, {"id": 733345841, "item_id": 45834115, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45834115", "by": "actionfromafar", "date": "2025-11-06", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It looks amazing.", "excerpt": "Character based interfaces are just nice, IMHO. The Borland IDE was the pinnacle of dev interfaces IMHO. It updated to have modern language server support etc would be my dream dev environment. It would be cool to see how far a compliant web browser could be taken in text mode. It's really sad that most terminals don't have proper image support, btw. Edit: A comment here linked to https://www.brow.sh/ It looks amazin", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ratatui \u2013 App Showcase"}, {"id": 733308480, "item_id": 45831780, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45831780", "by": "awesomeusername", "date": "2025-11-05", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Browsh [0] - it runs firefox headless, and renders everything to ascii in the terminal", "excerpt": "Browsh [0] - it runs firefox headless, and renders everything to ascii in the terminal It's glorious [0] https://www.brow.sh/", "context": "", "use_case": "Terminal web browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ratatui \u2013 App Showcase"}]}