{"slug": "links", "name": "links", "category": "browsers", "category_name": "Browsers and extensions", "description": "", "recommenders": 1, "commenters": 2, "warners": 1, "score": 0.131, "rising": 0.67, "first": "2025-12-10", "latest": "2026-08-31", "why": "One of the many reasons I prefer links (no graphics)", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0], "listed": false, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "One of the many reasons I prefer links (no graphics)", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["links"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 792204960, "item_id": 49512810, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49512810", "by": "1vuio0pswjnm7", "date": "2026-08-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "One of the many reasons I prefer links (no graphics)", "excerpt": "\"That's also the old behaviour of browsers and the current one of text browsers.\" As a daily text-only browser user for over three decades, using it as a \"daily driver\", I'm no doubt biased. I was a lynx user before links was released. I would never go back to using lynx. When I see HN comments suggesting lynx as an example of text-only browsing I question whether the commenter is actually using it as \"daily driver\",", "context": "daily text-only browser user for over three decades", "use_case": "offline HTML reader, daily text browsing", "switched_from": "lynx", "story": "P99 0 ms* autocomplete for 240M domain names"}, {"id": 786042641, "item_id": 49127665, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49127665", "by": "1vuio0pswjnm7", "date": "2026-07-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "links -dump \\\n   https://assets.msn.com/content/view/v2/Detail/en-in/AA296NRC", "excerpt": "Alternative to archive.ph No Javascript required, no CAPTCHA, text-only, HTTPS optional tnftp -4o\"|grep -o '<p.*</p>' \\ |tr -d '\\134' \\ |sed '1s/^/<meta charset=utf-8>/'\" \\ https://assets.msn.com/content/view/v2/Detail/en-in/AA296NRC > 1.htm firefox ./1.htm #links 1.htm #elinks 1.htm links -dump \\ https://assets.msn.com/content/view/v2/Detail/en-in/AA296NRC \\ |sed '1,/body\\\"/d;/readTime/,$d' \\ |less -r", "context": "", "use_case": "text-mode article reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "Situational Awareness Down 67% in July in AI Stock Rout"}, {"id": 773848832, "item_id": 48365552, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48365552", "by": "1vuio0pswjnm7", "date": "2026-06-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Or use a text-only browser", "excerpt": "Alternative to archive.ph Disable Javascript and CSS For example curl https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/john-lanchester/squillions \\ |sed '1s/^/<meta http-equiv=content-security-policy content=\\\"default-src none\\\">/' > 1.htm firefox ./1.htm There are also Firefox add-ons that can do this as well Or use a text-only browser links https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/john-lanchester/squillions links -dump https", "context": "", "use_case": "reading paywalled pages without JS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Squillions \u2013 two books about money-laundering"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 745400452, "item_id": 46587528, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46587528", "by": "kristopolous", "date": "2026-01-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "way better than the crusty old lynx and links on sites that need JS", "excerpt": "I've been using it for months now ever since I saw their presentation at GitHub This is a common flow for me lightpanda url | markitdown (microsoft) | sd (day50 streamdown) I even have it as a shell alias, wv(). It's way better than the crusty old lynx and links on sites that need JS. It's solid. Definitely worth a check", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Lightpanda migrate DOM implementation to Zig"}]}], "who": [{"by": "1vuio0pswjnm7", "context": "daily text-only browser user for over three decades", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49512810", "date": "2026-08-31"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["offline html reader, daily text browsing", "text-mode article reading", "text-mode page dump", "text-only browsing past paywalls", "reading paywalled pages without js", "text-only article dump"], "compared": [{"slug": "firefox", "name": "Firefox", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "lynx", "name": "Lynx", "co": 2, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "curl", "name": "curl", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "w3m", "name": "w3m", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49505219", "title": "P99 0 ms* autocomplete for 240M domain names", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49122994", "title": "Situational Awareness Down 67% in July in AI Stock Rout", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48756002", "title": "Why is Apple asking me to pay more for Big Tech's AI obsession?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48442062", "title": "The Small-Business Owners Managing Whole Armies of A.I. Employees", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48344535", "title": "Squillions \u2013 two books about money-laundering", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46586179", "title": "Lightpanda migrate DOM implementation to Zig", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {"warn": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 792204960, "item_id": 49512810, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49512810", "by": "1vuio0pswjnm7", "date": "2026-08-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "One of the many reasons I prefer links (no graphics)", "excerpt": "\"That's also the old behaviour of browsers and the current one of text browsers.\" As a daily text-only browser user for over three decades, using it as a \"daily driver\", I'm no doubt biased. I was a lynx user before links was released. I would never go back to using lynx. When I see HN comments suggesting lynx as an example of text-only browsing I question whether the commenter is actually using it as \"daily driver\",", "context": "daily text-only browser user for over three decades", "use_case": "offline HTML reader, daily text browsing", "switched_from": "lynx", "story": "P99 0 ms* autocomplete for 240M domain names"}, {"id": 786042641, "item_id": 49127665, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49127665", "by": "1vuio0pswjnm7", "date": "2026-07-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "links -dump \\\n   https://assets.msn.com/content/view/v2/Detail/en-in/AA296NRC", "excerpt": "Alternative to archive.ph No Javascript required, no CAPTCHA, text-only, HTTPS optional tnftp -4o\"|grep -o '<p.*</p>' \\ |tr -d '\\134' \\ |sed '1s/^/<meta charset=utf-8>/'\" \\ https://assets.msn.com/content/view/v2/Detail/en-in/AA296NRC > 1.htm firefox ./1.htm #links 1.htm #elinks 1.htm links -dump \\ https://assets.msn.com/content/view/v2/Detail/en-in/AA296NRC \\ |sed '1,/body\\\"/d;/readTime/,$d' \\ |less -r", "context": "", "use_case": "text-mode article reading", "switched_from": "", "story": "Situational Awareness Down 67% in July in AI Stock Rout"}, {"id": 780190705, "item_id": 48761919, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48761919", "by": "1vuio0pswjnm7", "date": "2026-07-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "links -dump 1.htm", "excerpt": "Alternative to archive.fo Text-only No CAPTCHA, no Javascript, no geo-blocking tnftp -4o\"|grep -o 'articleBody.*about\\\":'|sed ' 1s/^/<meta charset=utf8>/;s/articleBody\\\":\\\"//;s/.\\{10\\}$//;s/\\\\\\n/<br><br>/g;w1.htm' \" https://www.theverge.com/report/958678/apple-consumer-price-increase-ai-big-tech firefox ./1.htm links -dump 1.htm", "context": "", "use_case": "text-mode page dump", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why is Apple asking me to pay more for Big Tech's AI obsession?"}, {"id": 775147952, "item_id": 48446747, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48446747", "by": "1vuio0pswjnm7", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "links -source $(tmux capture -t0 -p --|tail -1)", "excerpt": "Alternative to archive.is Text-only, no CAPTCHA, no Javascript, no geo-blocking, no DDoS on blogger links -source $(tmux capture -t0 -p --|tail -1) \\ |egrep -o \"(\\\"text\\\":\\\"[^}]+)|(\\\"textAlign\\\":\\\"LEFT\\\")|(\\\"url\\\":\\\"[^\\\"]+)|(\\\"__typename\\\":\\\"TextInline\\\")\" \\ |sed '/\\\"url\\\":\\\"/{s/??.*//;s/$/\\\">/;s/.\\{7\\}/<a href=\\\"/;}; /\\\"__typename\\\":\\\"TextInline\\\"/{s/\\\"$/<\\/a>/;s/.\\{24\\}//;}; s/\\\"textAlign\\\":\\\"LEFT\\\"/<p>/g;/\\\"text\\\"", "context": "", "use_case": "text-only browsing past paywalls", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Small-Business Owners Managing Whole Armies of A.I. Employees"}, {"id": 773848832, "item_id": 48365552, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48365552", "by": "1vuio0pswjnm7", "date": "2026-06-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Or use a text-only browser", "excerpt": "Alternative to archive.ph Disable Javascript and CSS For example curl https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/john-lanchester/squillions \\ |sed '1s/^/<meta http-equiv=content-security-policy content=\\\"default-src none\\\">/' > 1.htm firefox ./1.htm There are also Firefox add-ons that can do this as well Or use a text-only browser links https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n09/john-lanchester/squillions links -dump https", "context": "", "use_case": "reading paywalled pages without JS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Squillions \u2013 two books about money-laundering"}, {"id": 745400452, "item_id": 46587528, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46587528", "by": "kristopolous", "date": "2026-01-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "way better than the crusty old lynx and links on sites that need JS", "excerpt": "I've been using it for months now ever since I saw their presentation at GitHub This is a common flow for me lightpanda url | markitdown (microsoft) | sd (day50 streamdown) I even have it as a shell alias, wv(). It's way better than the crusty old lynx and links on sites that need JS. It's solid. Definitely worth a check", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Lightpanda migrate DOM implementation to Zig"}, {"id": 739587842, "item_id": 46224240, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46224240", "by": "1vuio0pswjnm7", "date": "2025-12-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "links -dump 1.htm", "excerpt": "Alternative to archive.md, archive.ph Text-only: https://assets.msn.com/content/view/v2/Detail/en-in/AA1S3fVC/ https://assets.msn.com/content/view/v2/Detail/en-in/AA1S2nVb/ echo url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/world/asia/australia-social-media-ban-under-16.html \\ |curl -K/dev/stdin -Agooglebot > 1.htm firefox ./1.htm links -dump 1.htm|sed -n '/Effect/,/region./p' More https://assets.msn.com/content/view/v2/Det", "context": "", "use_case": "text-only article dump", "switched_from": "", "story": "Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban"}]}