bnema.dev

Getting Started

Launch the Browser

dumber browse

Or use the desktop entry after running dumber setup.

Basic Navigation

Dumber uses modal keybindings inspired by Zellij:

Mode Activation Purpose
Pane Mode Ctrl+P Split, close, focus panes
Tab Mode Ctrl+T Create, close, switch tabs
Vim Mode Ctrl+Y Scroll, navigate headings, and focus page inputs with Vim-style commands; arrow keys stay native and page focus stays inside the page while other app shortcuts wait until exit
Resize Mode Ctrl+N Resize pane splits
Session Mode Ctrl+O Session management

Press Escape or Enter to exit any mode. Vim Mode stays local to the active pane and automatically leaves the mode when focus moves into the omnibox, find bar, overlays, or a page editable.

Pane Mode Quick Reference

  1. Press Ctrl+P to enter pane mode
  2. Use arrow keys or hjkl to split in that direction
  3. Shift+arrows to focus adjacent panes
  4. X to close current pane

Vim Mode Quick Reference

  1. Press Ctrl+Y to enter Vim Mode
  2. Use h, j, k, l to scroll left, down, up, or right
  3. Use Shift+J / Shift+K for faster vertical jumps
  4. Arrow keys continue to use the browser engine's native page navigation while Vim Mode is active
  5. Use gi to cycle through visible page inputs; use ]] and [[ to move through headings
  6. Tab and Shift+Tab traverse focusable page controls while a page input is focused
  7. Other app-level shortcuts stay suspended until you leave Vim Mode
  8. Press Escape or Enter to leave the mode
  9. Ctrl+Y can activate Vim Mode even when a page input or editor is already focused

Engine behavior: CEF and WebKit execute Vim Mode scroll steps with the shared BuildPageScrollByJS resolver (viewport-center start, nested-scroller handoff, document fallback). The application repeater owns held-key cadence; each engine runs one immediate step per tick. Cross-origin frames are best-effort. CEF may use native precision-wheel input only before the browser frame is ready.

Omnibox

Press Ctrl+L to open the omnibox for:

  • URL navigation
  • Search (uses default search engine)
  • Bang shortcuts (!g query for Google, !gh query for GitHub)

Floating Pane

  • Press Alt+F to toggle the floating pane.
  • Press Ctrl+W to close the active pane; if the floating pane is active, this fully releases it so the next open starts fresh.
  • Some Alt+<key> bindings can conflict with browser-engine shortcuts or desktop-level handlers.

See Floating Pane for profile shortcuts and configuration.

Configuration

Edit ~/.config/dumber/config.toml or use:

dumber config open

See Configuration for all options.

Launcher Integration

Use with rofi or fuzzel:

dumber dmenu | rofi -dmenu -show-icons | dumber dmenu --select

Website Permissions

Dumber includes a built-in permissions system for camera, microphone, and screen sharing:

  • Custom dialog - Clean permission prompts replace native GTK dialogs
  • Persistent choices - "Always Allow" and "Always Deny" are saved per-origin
  • Privacy-focused - All permissions stored locally
  • Camera & Microphone - Fully working on Wayland/PipeWire

⚠️ WebKit fallback note: Screen sharing does not currently work on Wayland with WebKitGTK 6.0. This is a known WebKitGTK limitation and does not describe the default CEF backend.

When a website requests camera or microphone access, you'll see a permission dialog with options to allow once, always allow, deny, or always deny.

See Website Permissions for details.

Crash Reporting

If Dumber exits unexpectedly, crash reports are automatically generated:

# List all crash reports
dumber crashes

# View the latest crash report
dumber crashes show latest

# Generate GitHub issue payload
dumber crashes issue latest

See Session Exit Classification for troubleshooting.

Next Steps