Not all links are for the browser

Doug Slater Doug  ·  2026-06-03

Some links are not meant for a browser at all.

They're called custom URL schemes, and you've seen them before. A notion:// link belongs in the Notion desktop app. A steam:// 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

Linklever now sends any URL with a custom scheme straight to your operating system. A custom scheme is anything that is not http, https, or file. The OS opens the link in whatever app is registered for that scheme.

So notion:// opens in Notion, steam:// opens in Steam, and slack:// opens in Slack. No fake browser entry needed.

Test a scheme in Linklever and it shows the app that will open it. A notion:// link goes to Notion:

A mailto:// link goes to your mail app, here Thunderbird:

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*)

and this template:

notion://$1

Now Linklever rewrites https://www.notion.com/page/123 to notion://www.notion.com/page/123 and hands it to the OS, which hands it to Notion.

Steam works the same way. Pattern:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/(*)

Template:

steam://store/$1

Now a Steam store link opens the Steam app on the right page.

Your Turn

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 for more info.

Thanks

Thanks to Sparus42 for the suggestion.

Let me know what you think! [email protected]