LinkRouter

A native macOS menu-bar app that makes every link open in the right browser — or the right browser profile.

LinkRouter registers as your default HTTP(S) handler. When a link is opened, it either applies your first-match rules (URL patterns, running browsers, source app, time of day) or shows a compact picker at the pointer so you can choose a browser, a Chrome-family profile, a private window, or a Firefox profile — with one keystroke.

Install

1. Download LinkRouter-<version>.dmg from the latest release — signed with Developer ID and notarized by Apple.
2. Open the DMG and drag LinkRouter into Applications.
3. Launch it, click Set as default, and confirm in System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Default web browser.

Requires macOS 14 or later. Updates arrive in-app via Sparkle — no reinstall needed.

What it does

• Route by rules — first-match rules on URL (glob/regex/contains), the link's source app, running-browser counts, link kind, and time windows. Send GitHub to Chrome, docs to your work profile, everything else to the favourite.
• …or pick every time — a floating picker appears at the pointer; keys 1–9, arrows, Return, Escape, or type to filter. Auto-dismiss after 15/30/60 s falls back to the favourite.
• Profiles and private windows — target a specific Chrome-family profile (Chrome, Canary, Beta, Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, Chromium, Arc) or Firefox profile, or open a private window directly (Edge uses --inprivate, others --incognito).
• Link cleaning — optionally unwraps known redirect links (Google /url, Outlook SafeLinks, Facebook l.php) and strips utm_* and common click-ID parameters (fbclid, gclid, …) before routing.
• Menu-bar extra — pause routing, route the clipboard link, check for updates, and reopen from a Recent list.
• History — a searchable list of the last 200 routed links with reopen, copy, and always-open-here actions.
• Links in from anywhere — Shortcuts intents (Open Link with LinkRouter, Open Link in a Browser), a Services menu entry (Route Link with LinkRouter on selected text), and clipboard routing.

Screenshots

Settings — Browsers	Settings — Rules	Settings — General

Menu bar:

Browsers

Profile and private-window rows work for any installed Chromium-family browser — Chrome, Chrome Canary, Chrome Beta, Brave, Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi, Chromium, and Arc — plus Firefox.

The catalog only lists apps that declare the http/https URL schemes, so non-browser apps that merely can open a link don't clutter the list. Rows pointing at a deleted profile or uninstalled browser show a Missing profile / Missing badge and drop out of the picker; Refresh re-resolves them.

Not supported: Safari and Orion profiles, and Arc Spaces — they can't be targeted from outside the browser.

Troubleshooting

• State file: ~/Library/Application Support/LinkRouter/state.json. If the file can't be decoded, the original is kept next to it as state.corrupt-*.json and the app reseeds from Launch Services.
• Logs: log stream --predicate 'subsystem == "app.linkrouter"' (categories app and routing).
• Browser moved or uninstalled: the row shows Missing and its picker toggle is disabled. Refresh in the Browsers pane re-resolves rows by bundle identifier.
• Profile deleted in the browser: the row shows Missing profile and leaves the picker until the profile returns or the row is removed.

Development

Requires Xcode 16 or later.

# Build
xcodebuild -project LinkRouter.xcodeproj -scheme LinkRouter \
  -destination 'platform=macOS' -derivedDataPath build \
  CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY="-" CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO build

# Test
xcodebuild -project LinkRouter.xcodeproj -scheme LinkRouter \
  -destination 'platform=macOS' -derivedDataPath build \
  CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY="-" CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO test

Or open LinkRouter.xcodeproj in Xcode and run. The built app is build/Build/Products/Debug/LinkRouter.app. Copy it to /Applications before making it the default browser, so Launch Services isn't talking to a translocated copy.

The Xcode project is maintained by hand — when adding a source file, register it in project.pbxproj (file reference, build file, group, Sources phase).

Releases

Release tags use vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH (e.g. v1.0.0) and must point to a commit reachable from main — the workflow rejects tags from unmerged branches. Tagging runs tests, archives a universal Apple Silicon + Intel build, signs with Developer ID and hardened runtime, notarizes and staples the app and its signed DMG, generates the signed Sparkle appcast, and attaches LinkRouter-<version>.dmg, SHA256SUMS, and appcast.xml to the GitHub Release. It also attaches a copy named LinkRouter.dmg, so https://github.com/henrikogaard/linkrouter/releases/latest/download/LinkRouter.dmg always downloads the newest release. The website links there. The app version comes from the tag; the build number is the workflow run number. No unsigned fallback is published.

One-time signing setup and required secrets/variables (DEVELOPER_ID_P12, DEVELOPER_ID_P12_PASSWORD, APPSTORE_API_PRIVATE_KEY, APPLE_TEAM_ID, APPSTORE_API_KEY_ID, APPSTORE_ISSUER_ID):

./scripts/setup-signing.sh

Use a Developer ID Application certificate and a Team API key — the workflow passes an issuer ID and doesn't support Individual API keys. Never commit certificate or key files.

Updates

LinkRouter uses Sparkle for in-app updates. The public EdDSA key is committed in the SPARKLE_PUBLIC_ED_KEY build setting and substituted into SUPublicEDKey in Info.plist, so update checks are enabled in every normal build.

Releases need the matching private key as the SPARKLE_PRIVATE_ED_KEY GitHub Actions secret. When set, the release workflow runs generate_appcast over dist/ and attaches appcast.xml; the app's SUFeedURL is releases/latest/download/appcast.xml. If the pair is regenerated, update the build setting and the secret together — old builds can't verify a new pair.

Preview and nightly builds

• Preview (Actions → Preview → Run workflow, or gh workflow run preview.yml --ref <branch> -f version=1.0.0): a signed, notarized DMG uploaded as a workflow artifact — it installs as LinkRouter Preview.app with its own bundle identifier (app.linkrouter.LinkRouter.preview), its own ~/Library/Application Support/LinkRouter Preview state folder, and update checks disabled. Previews never overwrite a normal install, and since they ship as artifacts rather than GitHub Releases, they can never appear in the appcast. Artifact downloads always arrive zipped — for releases, use the bare DMG on the release page instead. Retained 14 days.
• Nightly (Actions → Nightly, or every night at 03:00 UTC): an ad-hoc-signed LinkRouter-nightly-<sha>.zip of main. macOS will warn; right-click → Open to run. Prefer tagged releases. Retained 14 days.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Like the app? You can buy Henrik a coffee.