# RustyWolf RustyWolf is a minimal, privacy-focused browser shell built in Rust with two engine modes: - **WebKit mode (default, light)** — the system webview: `WebKitGTK` on Linux, `WKWebView` on macOS, `WebView2` on Windows. No browser install needed. - **Gecko mode (opt-in)** — real Firefox (Gecko) engine through a RustyWolf-managed profile. Requires an installed Firefox. Switch between them any time with the **leaf toggle** in the toolbar (or the leaf on the RustyWolf home page in Gecko mode). Open tabs carry over in both directions. (complete honesty, this whole thing is vibecoded, however I never paid for any ai service (I got a free student plan for a year) so if you wanna avoid AI slop, just skip this but I never contributed to the AI BOOM with my money, if you wanna contribute, feel free to do so) image ## Engines | | WebKit mode | Gecko mode | |---|---|---| | Engine | WebKitGTK / WKWebView / WebView2 | Firefox (Gecko), driven by RustyWolf | | Weight | lightest — typically ~300 MB with a tab open | Firefox-weight | | RustyWolf UI | full chrome (tabs, URL bar, ADS, K, D, Properties) | Firefox's own UI + RustyWolf home page | | Adblock | built-in lightweight blocker (ADS toggle) | Firefox strict tracking protection | | Extras | keep-in-ram tabs (`K`), popup gate, download panel, properties page | Firefox features, managed profile, tab handoff | The leaf button shows the current engine: **lit green = WebKit**, **dim = Gecko**. ## What It Does - Really, I mean really lightweight in WebKit mode! the reason I even made this is because I need a lightweight browser to run on my old macbook unibody 2010 4gb ddr3 - in a gentoo(openrc)+i3wm setup it took only ~285 MB RAM with one tab open (dvorakmortonxd.dev) compared to firefox which took ~866 MB - tabs have a toggle for Keeping-in-ram (`K`): with it off the tab is unloaded, only the URL is kept, and it reloads on click - background tabs are suspended automatically, and the download ticker only runs while something is downloading - Privacy-first defaults: DuckDuckGo home + search fallback from the URL bar - Multi-tab browsing with back, forward, reload, and keyboard shortcuts (`Ctrl/Cmd+T`, `W`, `L`) - Built-in custom adblock with top-bar toggle (`ADS`), persisted across restarts - Popup handling that behaves like a real browser: clicked links open tabs, clicked `window.open` popups (OAuth/"Sign in with Google", SoundCloud, ...) open real popup windows with `window.opener` intact, and scripted popups go through the permission gate - Native user agent by default, so sites (and their login flows) see an honest browser; `--ua-chrome` is available for stubborn sites - Download support with live progress panel (`D`) and session download history - Properties page with session browsing history + download history - Default window size `1000x600` (still fully resizable) - Optional `--private` mode in both engines - Engine switch with tab handoff: WebKit tabs become Firefox tabs and vice versa ## Run ```bash cargo run -- # pick a URL / window title cargo run -- --url https://example.com cargo run -- --url example.com cargo run -- --title "RustyWolf" # engine selection (persisted in ~/.config/RustyWolf/config.json) cargo run -- --engine webkit cargo run -- --engine gecko cargo run -- --engine gecko --firefox /path/to/firefox # compatible user agent for picky sites (WebKit mode) cargo run -- --ua-chrome # misc cargo run -- --private cargo run -- --dry-run # Linux backend controls cargo run -- --linux-backend x11 cargo run -- --linux-backend wayland cargo run -- --linux-disable-dmabuf ``` The leaf button in the toolbar switches engines immediately; the choice is remembered for the next launch. ## Gecko Mode (real Firefox engine) There is no embeddable Gecko in 2026, so Gecko mode supervises a real Firefox with a dedicated profile under `~/.config/RustyWolf/gecko-profile`: - hardening prefs are rewritten on every launch (strict tracking protection, DNT/GPC, no telemetry, no sponsored content, no Pocket) - downloads go straight to your Downloads folder - new tabs stay blank; the RustyWolf home page is the start page and carries the leaf button back to WebKit - `browser.sessionstore.interval` is shortened so RustyWolf can hand your tabs back to WebKit - Firefox is launched with `--no-remote --new-instance`, so your normal Firefox session is never touched (`--firefox` / `RUSTYWOLF_FIREFOX` to point at a specific binary) ## Privacy Notes WebKit mode applies baseline hardening in page context: - `navigator.doNotTrack = "1"` - disables legacy `openDatabase` - disables `RTCPeerConnection` Adblocking is built-in and lightweight. It is not full uBlock Origin parity. Gecko mode uses Firefox's own strict tracking protection instead. # Linux Setup (prerequisites) Install WebKitGTK development/runtime packages before building. ## Debian ```bash sudo apt update sudo apt install -y libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libgtk-3-dev build-essential pkg-config git appmenu-gtk3-module appmenu-gtk2-module curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh source "$HOME/.cargo/env" ``` ## Arch ```bash sudo pacman -Sy sudo pacman -S --needed webkit2gtk-4.1 gtk3 base-devel pkgconf git appmenu-gtk-module curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh source "$HOME/.cargo/env" ``` ## Gentoo (u can replace doas with sudo btw) ```bash doas emerge --sync doas emerge --ask net-libs/webkit-gtk:4.1 x11-libs/gtk+ virtual/pkgconfig dev-vcs/git x11-misc/appmenu-gtk-module doas mkdir -p /etc/portage/package.use echo ">=media-libs/gst-plugins-base-1.24.13-r1 gbm" | doas tee /etc/portage/package.use/rustywolf-media doas emerge --ask 'media-libs/gst-plugins-base[gbm]' media-plugins/gst-plugins-soup media-plugins/gst-plugins-vpx media-plugins/gst-plugins-hls media-plugins/gst-plugins-dash media-plugins/gst-plugins-libav curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh source "$HOME/.cargo/env" ``` For Gecko mode just make sure Firefox is installed (`emerge www-client/firefox` or the binary release). For NVIDIA, make the DRM modeset setting part of the boot command line, not only `/etc/modprobe.d`, then reboot: ```bash doas cp /etc/default/grub /etc/default/grub.bak doas sed -i 's/^#GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""/GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="nvidia-drm.modeset=1 nvidia-drm.fbdev=1"/' /etc/default/grub doas grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg doas reboot ``` After reboot, verify the active command line: ```bash cat /proc/cmdline ``` ## Linux media playback deps (important) If Linux logs `gstreamer element autoaudiosink not found` or YouTube/audio fails, install GStreamer audio/video plugins. Debian/Ubuntu/Pop!_OS example: ```bash sudo apt update sudo apt install -y gstreamer1.0-tools sudo apt install -y gstreamer1.0-plugins-base gstreamer1.0-plugins-good sudo apt install -y gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-libav sudo apt install -y gstreamer1.0-pulseaudio gstreamer1.0-pipewire gstreamer1.0-alsa ``` Verify the sink exists: ```bash gst-inspect-1.0 autoaudiosink ``` If your distro is not Debian-based, install the equivalent GStreamer base/good/bad/libav + audio sink plugin packages. # Linux Troubleshooting (Wayland/X11) RustyWolf supports both X11 and native Wayland on Linux. Some NVIDIA + WebKitGTK stacks can fail with dmabuf/gbm allocation errors, especially on Wayland. On NVIDIA X11, RustyWolf disables WebKitGTK's broken dmabuf renderer automatically. This avoids the blank webview/GBM allocation failure while keeping GStreamer media codecs available for sites such as YouTube. Try these launch modes: ```bash # auto backend (also applies the NVIDIA/X11 WebKitGTK fallback when needed) cargo run # native wayland cargo run -- --linux-backend wayland # X11/XWayland cargo run -- --linux-backend x11 # last-resort compatibility fallback cargo run -- --linux-disable-dmabuf # force the upstream dmabuf renderer anyway WEBKIT_FORCE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 cargo run ``` If you still see `Failed to load module "appmenu-gtk-module"`, that is a desktop GTK setup issue (not a RustyWolf crash). Debian/Ubuntu/Pop!_OS fix: ```bash sudo apt update sudo apt install -y appmenu-gtk3-module appmenu-gtk2-module ``` If you do not want global appmenu integration, remove `appmenu-gtk-module` from GTK settings files: ```bash ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini /etc/gtk-3.0/settings.ini /etc/xdg/gtk-3.0/settings.ini ``` If RustyWolf segfaults instantly with `Couldn't register with accessibility bus` when launched from a bare TTY/SSH shell, there is no session D-Bus for the GTK accessibility bridge (`libatk-bridge`). Launch it from your graphical session, or make `DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS` available (on many systems `export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/$(id -u)/bus`). # MacOS ## installing Homebrew (skip if already installed) ```bash /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)" ``` Gecko mode finds Firefox in `/Applications/Firefox.app` automatically; WebKit mode uses the system `WKWebView`. # Windows Setup Install the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime (Evergreen) for WebKit mode, then build normally with the Rust MSVC toolchain. - WebView2 Runtime: https://developer.microsoft.com/microsoft-edge/webview2/ - Rust toolchain target: `x86_64-pc-windows-msvc` Gecko mode finds Firefox under `Program Files` / `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Mozilla Firefox`, or use `--firefox`. ## Dev Quick Checks ```bash cargo fmt cargo check cargo test cargo clippy --all-targets # exercises the Gecko handoff against a real headless Firefox cargo test -- --ignored --nocapture ```