Guide·03 of 10
A page
Ask, saved names, profiles, and links clicked anywhere.
01·The first minute
01link
Open a site
lode⏎Ask takes a name you saved, a domain, or a search. Each row wears the browser profile it will open in, and return opens it there. Shift return opens beside.
Maildocs · WorkasksearchWorkIn Mail, with something to look up
02·When you are ready
02link
Name a site, or route every link like it
⌘K⌘K on a row opens its card. a adds a link under a short name. r routes the host, so anything matching it lands in that profile from then on, including links you click in other apps. d removes a link. The card always says why a destination opens where it does.
MailasksearchWorkdocs.example.com- aAdd link · docs
- rRoute this host · Work
A site you go to every day
03link
Search
lode⏎Anything without a dot is a search. Routes apply to searches too, so a query starting with a client's name lands in the profile that client lives in.
Hold lode, then return
04Few know thislink
Route the links you click
From the menu bar, Route Clicked Links Through Lodestar makes Lodestar the handler for links and applies your routes to every link clicked anywhere. A link that matches no rule goes to your saved browser, untouched. The same item gives the role back.
05Few know thislink
Dev servers
lode⏎localhost:3000, box.local, and private addresses are destinations, not searches, and they open over http because a machine on your desk has no certificate.
Hold lode, then return
03·The fine print
What nobody finds by pressing keys
- A bare domain routes by the longest matching pattern. Unrouted input opens in the fallback: your most recently focused browser window, or a profile you pin.
- A profile is named as browser:Name, the same form everywhere. There is no registry. The browser's own profile list is the authority, and every reference is checked at reload.
- A clicked link that matches a rule is diverted and nothing else happens: no rewriting, no fallback, no placement. A link someone sent you is not a request to rearrange your layout.
- Turning clicks off in the config makes Lodestar a transparent pass-through, so the off switch works from a text file. Uninstalling restores your saved browser first.
- Chromium browsers for now: Brave, Chrome, Edge.
04·Why
Why it works this way
Choosing a profile is a decision made again every time a link arrives, and the hand cannot learn a decision. A destination is named once. The half of the problem that needed it most was never the bar, where you already have the chance to choose. It was the clicked link, where you have none.
05·Settings
The settings behind this page
Read from the schema Lodestar itself emits. The settings window shows the same rows, and each wears the path it writes.
web.linksobjectNamed links.
$ lodestar config set web.links …web.routesobjectSubstring pattern → profile; longest match wins.
$ lodestar config set web.routes …web.fallbackstringmost-recent, or a profile as browser:name (brave:Work).
$ lodestar config set web.fallback …web.search-urlstringSearch template; %s becomes the encoded query.
$ lodestar config set web.search-url …web.clicks.enabledbooleanRoute links clicked in other apps. Set by the menu-bar flow.
$ lodestar config set web.clicks.enabled trueweb.clicks.browserstringBundle id links go to when no route matches (your previous default browser).
$ lodestar config set web.clicks.browser …gestures.web-barbooleanlode ⏎, links and search
$ lodestar config set gestures.web-bar true