What is Re:Link?
Re:Link is a Browser, except that it doesn’t open any website; instead, it redirects the request to other installed browsers in the system based on predefined customizable rules.
Re:Link for Windows runs on Windows 10 and above and is open source. You can download the source code and binaries from GitHub.
Re:Link for Mac runs on MacOS 10.14 and above and is open source. You can download the source code and binaries from GitHub.
Why Re:Link?
The annoying thing with a single default browser is that when you click on a link in Slack, WhatsApp, Email client or any other app, it always opens in the default browser. When you want to open a specific link in a different browser for some reason, you have to manually copy the link and then open the desired browser and paste the link and click Go.
How about having multiple default browsers? How about intercepting the link click and redirecting the link to the desired browser based on some rules? For example, google.com opens in Chrome, while outlook.com opens in Edge and github.com in Firefox? That’s exactly what Re:Link does.
How does Re:Link work?
- User clicks on link inside apps or Email client or enters a URL in the Run dialog
- The operating system (Windows/Mac) sends the link to the default browser (Re:Link)
- Re:Links resolves the link to a browser based on Rules
- Re:Link opens the link using the resolved browser or the Fallback browser if link resolution fails.
![Re:Link Architecture](http://relink.shameel.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/ReLink-Architecture-HLD-1.jpg)
Here is the simple rule that I use:
Edge: Social Media, Email and Collaboration, Microsoft stuff.
Firefox: Dev-related search, GitHub, StackOverflow and other Developer activities and Open Source stuff.
Chrome: General search, Storage, Documents, Testing & validation, Google stuff.
Brave: Things I wouldn’t like being tracked.
Note that Re:Link need not be running all the time for this to work. It intercepts URL requests and link clicks on the fly and opens it in your favorite browsers.
How to setup Re:Link?
Proceed to the Re:Link for Windows or Re:Link for Mac to see how to download and set up this app.