Quickstart

Get productive with Glide Browser in minutes

This guide will get you from installation to productive browsing with Glide in just a few minutes.

If you haven’t installed Glide yet, see the Installation guide first.

First Launch

When you first launch Glide, you’ll see a standard browser interface with the Firefox tab bar. Glide enhances this with powerful keyboard controls.

Understanding Modes

Glide uses a modal editing system inspired by Vim. You’re always in one of several modes:

• Normal mode - For navigation and browser control (default)
• Insert mode - For typing in text fields
• Hint mode - For selecting links and buttons with the keyboard
• Visual mode - For selecting text
• Command mode - For running commands

The current mode is shown in the bottom-right corner of the window.

Basic Navigation

In normal mode, you can navigate using keyboard shortcuts:

1. Scroll with keyboard

   Use j to scroll down and k to scroll up, just like in Vim.

   j  - Scroll down
   k  - Scroll up
   h  - Scroll left
   l  - Scroll right
   
2. Navigate pages

   Quick page navigation shortcuts:

   gg      - Scroll to top of page
   G       - Scroll to bottom
   <C-d>   - Scroll down half a page
   <C-u>   - Scroll up half a page
   
3. Use hints to click

   Press f to enter hint mode. Labels will appear over clickable elements.

   Type the label characters to select an element. For example, if you see a link labeled “ab”, type ab to click it.

   f   - Show hints and follow in current tab
   F   - Show hints and follow in new tab
   

Switching Modes

Enter insert mode

Press i when focused on the page to enter insert mode, then click or focus a text field.

Or use gi to automatically focus the first input field on the page.

Return to normal mode

Press <Esc> or <C-[> from any mode to return to normal mode.

Tab Management

1. Open the tab picker

   Press <Space><Space> to open the fuzzy tab picker. Start typing to filter tabs, then press <Enter> to switch to the selected tab.

2. Navigate tabs

   <C-j>   - Next tab
   <C-k>   - Previous tab
   gt      - Next tab (Vim-style)
   gT      - Previous tab (Vim-style)
   
3. Manage tabs

   <leader>d   - Close current tab (leader is <Space> by default)
   <leader>n   - New tab
   u           - Reopen closed tab
   

Using the Command Line

Press : to open the command line, similar to Vim.

Common commands

:tab             - Open tab picker
:tab_close       - Close current tab
:reload          - Reload page
:config_reload   - Reload Glide configuration

The command line has fuzzy matching and tab completion. Start typing and press <Tab> to complete.

Essential Keybindings

Here’s a quick reference of the most useful keybindings:

Key	Action
f	Show hints to click links
F	Show hints to open links in new tab
i	Enter insert mode
gi	Focus first input field
v	Enter visual mode
yy	Copy current URL
p	Open URL from clipboard
<Space><Space>	Open tab picker
:	Open command line
<leader>r	Reload page (<Space>r by default)
<leader>R	Hard reload bypassing cache
<C-o>	Jump back in history
<C-i>	Jump forward in history
gg / G	Scroll to top/bottom
<Esc>	Return to normal mode

Common Workflows

Open a link in a new tab

1. Press F to enter hint mode for new tabs
2. Type the hint label that appears over your link
3. The link opens in a new tab

Search the page

1. Press : to open the command line
2. Type :findbar or use the default keymap (usually /)
3. Type your search query
4. Use n and N to navigate matches

Copy a URL and open it

1. Navigate to a link with f
2. Press yf instead to copy the link URL
3. Or press yy to copy the current page URL
4. Press p to open the copied URL

Switch between recent tabs

1. Press <Space><Space> to open the tab picker
2. Start typing part of the tab title or URL
3. Press <Enter> to switch to the selected tab

Configuration

Glide is highly customizable through a TypeScript configuration file.

1. Create your config

   Run the :config_init command to create a default configuration file at ~/.config/glide/glide.ts (or your platform’s equivalent).

2. Edit your config

   Run :config_edit to open your config file in your default editor, or manually edit ~/.config/glide/glide.ts.

3. Reload your config

   After making changes, run :config_reload to apply them without restarting the browser.

Example configuration:

// Change the leader key from Space to comma
glide.g.mapleader = ",";

// Add a custom keybinding
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "<leader>g", async () => {
  await browser.tabs.create({ url: "https://github.com" });
}, { description: "Open GitHub" });

// Set global options
glide.o.hint_size = "14px";
glide.o.native_tabs = "hide";

// Add an autocmd to run code when visiting specific sites
glide.autocmds.create("UrlEnter", /github\.com/, () => {
  console.log("Welcome to GitHub!");
});

Your config file has full TypeScript type checking and autocomplete support. See the Configuration guide for more details.

Next Steps

Core concepts

Learn about modes, keymaps, hints, and configuration in depth

Customization guide

Customize Glide’s appearance, behavior, and keybindings

API reference

Explore the complete API for advanced configuration

Community

Join the Zulip chat to ask questions and share tips

Tips for New Users

Start simple: You don’t need to learn everything at once. Master basic navigation (hjkl, f for hints, <Space><Space> for tabs) first, then gradually add more shortcuts to your workflow.

Use the which-key feature: When you press a partial key sequence (like <Space>), Glide will show you available completions after a short delay.

Check the hints: If you’re not sure how to interact with something, press f to see what’s clickable.

Some websites may not work well with keyboard navigation initially. You can press <C-,> to move focus out of custom elements, or temporarily switch to ignore mode if needed.