Linklever

Open a link in browser A, from browser B

2026-06-03T00:00:00+00:00

Normally, when you click an https://</code> link in a browser, it opens in the same browser. The browser doesn't send it the OS, which means Linklever can't route it to another browser.

The Linklever browser extension now solves this problem.

Linklever already routes links you open from non-browser apps: your text editor, your chat client, your PDF reader. Now, it can also route a link you click or type inside Firefox, Chrome, or any Chrome-like browser.

How It Works</h2> When you switch on Auto-route in the extension options, the extension checks every link your browser is about to load against your Linklever rules. If a rule sends the link to a different browser, the extension closes the tab and Linklever opens the link in the right browser. If the rule targets the current browser, or no rule matches, the link loads normally in your current tab. So if you have a rule that opens example.com</code> in Chrome, and you type that URL into Firefox, the Firefox tab closes and Chrome opens it instead. How to Enable it</h2> Step 1: Install the extension if you haven't. It is available for Firefox</a> and for Chrome, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, and Opera</a>. Step 2: In the Linklever desktop app, open Settings</code> and turn on Browser Plugins</code>. </img> Step 3: Click the Linklever icon in your browser, then check Open matching links in Linklever</code>. You can also set this on the options page. </img> Step 4: In the options page, set This browser is</code> to the browser you are configuring. Linklever uses this so it never sends a link back to the same browser it came from. The extension tries to detect this for you; correct it if it looks wrong. </img> About Permissions</h2> Auto-route asks for two browser permissions, webNavigation</code> and tabs</code>. They let the extension see the URL the browser is about to load and close the tab when a rule sends it elsewhere. Your browser only prompts for them when you turn auto-route on, and you can revoke them at any time by turning auto-route off. The extension sends those URLs only to the Linklever desktop app on your own computer, over the operating system's native messaging channel. Nothing goes to Linklever or any third party over the internet. See the Privacy Policy</a> for details. Keep Reading</h2> The Linklever Browser Extension</a>: How the extension started</li> Browser Extension guide</a>: Full setup and options</li> </ul> Thanks</h2> Thanks to Sparus42 for the suggestion. Let me know what you think! doug@linklever.net</a>

Not all links are for the browser 2026-06-03T00:00:00+00:00 Some links are not meant for a browser at all. They're called custom URL schemes, and you've seen them before. A notion://</code> link belongs in the Notion desktop app. A steam://</code> link belongs in Steam. A Linklever customer pointed out that Linklever used to force these links into a browser anyway. The workaround was to add a fake "browser" entry pointing at the real app, plus a rule to send the link there. That got messy fast. Today's release fixes that. What Changed</h2> Linklever now sends any URL with a custom scheme straight to your operating system. A custom scheme is anything that is not http</code>, https</code>, or file</code>. The OS opens the link in whatever app is registered for that scheme. So notion://</code> opens in Notion, steam://</code> opens in Steam, and slack://</code> opens in Slack. No fake browser entry needed. Test a scheme in Linklever and it shows the app that will open it. A notion://</code> link goes to Notion: </img> A mailto://</code> link goes to your mail app, here Thunderbird: </img> Turn Web Links Into App Links</h2> This pairs with filters. A filter rewrites a URL before the rules engine sees it, so if you combine a filter with the change above, a normal web link can open in a desktop app. For example, to open Notion web links in the Notion app, add a filter with this pattern: https://(*notion.com*) </code></pre> and this template: notion://$1 </code></pre> Now Linklever rewrites https://www.notion.com/page/123</code> to notion://www.notion.com/page/123</code> and hands it to the OS, which hands it to Notion. Steam works the same way. Pattern: https://store.steampowered.com/app/(*) </code></pre> Template: steam://store/$1 </code></pre> Now a Steam store link opens the Steam app on the right page. Your Turn</h2> Many desktop apps register a custom scheme. For the apps you use, you can write a filter to route their links straight to the app. See the Filters guide</a> for more info. Thanks</h2> Thanks to Sparus42 for the suggestion. Let me know what you think! doug@linklever.net</a> New Feature: Copy URL 2026-05-15T00:00:00+00:00 A Linklever customer wrote in with a suggestion: when the browser picker</a> appears, sometimes you don't actually want to open the URL in any browser. You just want to copy it somewhere else: a note, a chat, an input field, etc. Until now, that meant cancelling the picker, going back to where the link came from, and copying the link there. It's a small detour, but one you might take many times a day. Today's release adds a Copy button right on the picker. The Button</h2> A small copy icon now sits next to the URL: </img> Click it, and Linklever sends the URL to your clipboard. The icon swaps to a green checkmark so you know it worked: </img> The picker stays open so you can still pick a browser, or press ESC</code> to close it. Keyboard Shortcut</h2> If your hands are on the keyboard, you can skip the mouse. While the picker has focus, press Ctrl+C</code> on Windows and Linux, or Cmd+C</code> on macOS. Thanks</h2> Thanks to AtmanActive for the suggestion. Let me know what you think! doug@linklever.net</a> New Feature: Ask Hotkey 2026-04-13T00:00:00+00:00 Most of the time, your Linklever rules open the browser you expect, but occasionally you may want to pick a different browser. The Ask hotkey accomodates this need. Hold the hotkey when you click a link and Linklever opens the browser picker</a>, ignoring whatever rule would normally match. Example</h2> You have a rule that sends github.com to Firefox, but just this once, you want to open a github link in Chrome instead. Hold Shift, click the link, and choose Chrome in the picker. How It Works</h2> When a link arrives, Linklever checks whether your chosen modifier is held right then. If it is, the browser picker opens regardless of which rule would have matched. If it isn't, the usual rule evaluation runs and the matched browser opens. The check is platform-specific: Win32 GetAsyncKeyState</code> on Windows, CGEventSource</code> on macOS, and EVIOCGKEY</code> on /dev/input/eventN</code> on Linux, which works on both X11 and Wayland. Configuration</h2> In the Settings tab, you'll find an Ask Hotkey dropdown with four choices: Ctrl, Alt, Shift, or Off. Shift is the default. </img> Linux Users</h2> This feature requires your user to be in the input</code> group. If the hotkey doesn't work, run groups</code> to check. To add yourself, run sudo usermod -aG input $USER</code> and then log out and back in. On GNOME, the terminal captures Ctrl and Alt before they reach Linklever. If you click a lot of links from a terminal, stick with Shift. More Info</h2> See the Settings guide</a>. Let me know what you think! doug@linklever.net</a> How to Open Links in Firefox Containers 2026-01-03T00:00:00+00:00 If you use multiple accounts for the same service (work and personal Gmail, for example), you've probably run into this: you click a link and it opens in the wrong account. Or you have to keep logging in and out. Or your work and personal tabs are mixed together, making it hard to find what you need. Firefox's Multi-Account Containers feature solves this by isolating browsing contexts. Cookies and site data stay separate between containers, so you can be logged into multiple accounts simultaneously. With Linklever and a third-party extension, you can automatically route links to specific containers based on rules. Click a work link anywhere on your computer, and it opens in your Work container without any extra steps. What You Need</h2> Firefox with the Multi-Account Containers</a> extension</li> The open-url-in-container</a> extension</li> Linklever (version 0.57.0 or later)</li> </ol> Note: The open-url-in-container extension is a third-party project not developed by EnduraByte. Use it at your own discretion. How It Works</h2> The open-url-in-container extension registers a custom protocol. When Firefox opens a URL like ext+container:name=Work&url=https://example.com</code>, the extension opens the URL in the container named "Work". Linklever can pass arguments to browsers. With the URL placeholder feature (available in version 0.57.0), you can include parts of the URL in those arguments. This allows you to set up a custom browser entry that passes the special URL format to Firefox. Example: Open Office Links in a Work Container</h2> Step 1: Create a container in Firefox called "Work" if you don't have one already. Click the Multi-Account Containers icon and create a new container. Step 2: In Linklever's Apps tab, add a custom app. Set the path to Firefox and add this argument: ext+container:name=Work&url={url} </code></pre> Example on macOS: </img> Step 3: In the Rules tab, add a rule to route Office URLs to your new Firefox entry: </img> Now when you click an Office link anywhere on your computer, it opens in Firefox in the Work container. Container Names with Spaces</h2> If your container name has spaces, replace them with %20</code>. For example, a container called "My Work" would be: ext+container:name=My%20Work&url={url} </code></pre> More About URL Placeholders</h2> The {url}</code> placeholder used above is part of a broader feature. You can use placeholders for any part of the URL, for example the host, path, or query string. This lets you do things like strip tracking parameters or build custom URL formats for other tools. See the Browsers guide</a> for the full list of placeholders and more examples. Your Turn</h2> Consider setting up containers for contexts you want to keep separate: banking, social media, shopping, or client work. Keep Reading</h2> Browser Arguments</a>: The feature that makes this possible</li> Profile Picker</a>: Another way to separate browsing contexts</li> </ul> Questions or feedback? doug@linklever.net</a> New Feature: Profile Picker 2025-10-13T00:00:00+00:00 Last week I shared about the new Ask rule type and the browser picker. </img> Now, if the browser has more than one browser profile, you can pick which profile to open. </img> Let me know what you think! doug@linklever.net</a> New Feature: Browser Picker 2025-10-06T00:00:00+00:00 Sometimes you don't want to decide which browser to use until you click the link. That's what the new Ask rule type is for. Linklever already has two rule types: Url and App. These tell Linklever how to decide which browser to launch: either to look at the URL or at the name of the app that has focus when you click. Now there's a third option: Ask. </img> When a link matches a rule with type Ask, Linklever shows you a browser picker: </img> You can type to search, select a browser, and optionally check Remember so Linklever doesn't ask next time. Let me know what you think! doug@linklever.net</a> New Feature: Browser Arguments 2025-09-29T00:00:00+00:00 A couple of days ago, I shared Linklever on Hacker News</a>. The post received valuable feedback. User mrbluecoat asked, "Does it support opening in incognito mode [...] ?" The answer until then was no, but today the answer is yes! Linklever now supports passing custom arguments to the browser. What do custom arguments have to do with incognito mode? Many browsers have a command line option to open in private or incognito mode. Chrome Incognito</h2> For example, in the Apps tab, I can add a custom app that includes Chrome's incognito flag: </img> Then, in the Rules tab, I can add a rule to route example.com to Chrome Incognito: </img> Finally, when I open example.com in some app, for example TextEdit, Linklever opens Chrome in incognito mode: </img> Your Turn</h2> What uses can you think of? Here are the argument lists for some popular browsers: Chrome / Chromium</a> (Also for all Chrome-like browsers: Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, etc.)</li> Firefox</a></li> </ul> Let me know what you find! doug@linklever.net</a> Browser Extensions are Here! 2025-07-15T00:00:00+00:00 With the Linklever Chrome or Firefox browser extension, you can now right-click a link and open it in any browser. </img> When you click Open in Linklever, the browser sends the link to Linklever, which runs it through your rules and filters and opens it in your preferred browser, which could be the same browser or a different one. "But copy-paste works fine"</h2> You know that clicking a http or https link in a browser always opens the link in the same browser. To open a given link in another browser, you copy-paste it. The full flow goes like this: you right click, click Copy, open another browser, open a new tab, select the address bar, and paste in the link. How fatiguing! After doing this copy-paste ritual many times, for many sites, you're likely to forget or give up, compromising the isolation you wanted. Not only is copy-paste inconvenient, it's insecure. Any app can read your clipboard and see the copied link. Many links contain identifiers or secrets, such as usernames, email addresses, or auth tokens. Example</h2> Let's imagine you only use Example Site in Google Chrome. You already have a rule in Linklever: *example.com* -> Chrome, which opens everything for example.com in Chrome. You're only logged in with that browser so that Example Site doesn't track you all over the web. Later, in some other browser, say Edge, you see a link to Example Site. If you click it, it'll open in Edge. That's not what you want, so you go through the copy-paste ritual described above. Imagine this: instead of left-clicking the link, you right-click it and click Open in Linklever. Chrome opens a tab with the link. That's a more natural experience, and one that preserves your privacy and security. Get Started</h2> To use this feature, you'll need: The Linklever browser extension for Firefox</a> or Chrome</a>. The Chrome extension works in Chrome-like browsers, too: Edge, Vivaldi, Brave, Opera, etc. </li> The latest version of Linklever. By default, Linkever will update automatically, or you can download it</a> manually. </li> </ul> Let me what you think! doug@linklever.net</a> What Is Browser Middleware? 2025-06-13T00:00:00+00:00 Linklever is what I call a browser middleware app. Middleware is software that facilitates interaction between other software. For example, if you've ever made payments with PayPal or Venmo, then you've used financial middleware to facilitate the transfer of money between your financial institution and that of a seller or personal acquaintance . Browser Middleware facilitates interaction between your computer's operating system and its installed web browsers. When you click a link anywhere outside of a web browser, for example in an email client like Outlook or Apple Mail, the operating system opens the default web browser, for example Edge on Windows or Safari on macOS. All operating systems allow you to change the default browser. If you change it to a browser middleware app like Linklever, then the middleware has the chance to decide which browser to open, as well as the chance to modify the link you clicked. Try Linklever today!</a>

Your Turn</h2>
Many desktop apps register a custom scheme. For the apps you use, you can write a filter to route their links straight to the app. See the Filters guide</a> for more info.</p>
Thanks</h2>
Thanks to Sparus42 for the suggestion.</p>
Let me know what you think! doug@linklever.net</a></p>

Thanks</h2>
Thanks to Sparus42 for the suggestion.</p>
Let me know what you think! doug@linklever.net</a></p>

`Keyboard Shortcut</h2> If your hands are on the keyboard, you can skip the mouse. While the picker has focus, press Ctrl+C</code> on Windows and Linux, or Cmd+C</code> on macOS.</p>Thanks</h2> Thanks to AtmanActive for the suggestion.</p> Let me know what you think! doug@linklever.net</a></p>`

`Thanks</h2> Thanks to AtmanActive for the suggestion.</p>Let me know what you think! doug@linklever.net</a></p>`

`More Info</h2>See the Settings guide</a>.</p> Let me know what you think! doug@linklever.net</a></p>`

Keep Reading</h2>

Browser Arguments</a>: The feature that makes this possible</li>
Profile Picker</a>: Another way to separate browsing contexts</li> </ul>
Questions or feedback? doug@linklever.net</a></p>

Your Turn</h2>
What uses can you think of?</strong> Here are the argument lists for some popular browsers:</p>
Chrome / Chromium</a> (Also for all Chrome-like browsers: Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, etc.)</li>
Firefox</a></li> </ul>
Let me know what you find! doug@linklever.net</a></p>

Linklever

Open a link in browser A, from browser B

`Keep Reading</h2> The Linklever Browser Extension</a>: How the extension started</li> Browser Extension guide</a>: Full setup and options</li> </ul> Thanks</h2> Thanks to Sparus42 for the suggestion.</p> Let me know what you think! doug@linklever.net</a></p>`

Thanks</h2>
Thanks to Sparus42 for the suggestion.</p>
Let me know what you think! doug@linklever.net</a></p>

Not all links are for the browser

New Feature: Copy URL

New Feature: Ask Hotkey

How to Open Links in Firefox Containers

New Feature: Profile Picker

New Feature: Browser Picker

New Feature: Browser Arguments

Browser Extensions are Here!

What Is Browser Middleware?