This is the one setup step that makes everything else work. When BrowserFairy is your default browser, macOS hands it every link you click in other apps, so it can decide where each one opens. This page walks through making BrowserFairy default, fixing the common partial state, and choosing a fallback browser.

Why BrowserFairy needs to be the default

Your Mac sends links to whichever app is set as the default web browser. When you click a link in Mail, Slack, Notes, Messages, a calendar invite, or Finder, macOS opens it in that default app. If a regular browser is your default, the link just opens there with no routing.

Making BrowserFairy the default puts it in the middle. macOS sends the link to BrowserFairy, BrowserFairy checks your rules, and then it opens the link in the right browser. The status line in Settings says it plainly: this is Required for BrowserFairy to intercept links from email, documents, and other apps.

It does not replace your browsers

Making BrowserFairy your default does not remove or replace Safari, Chrome, or any other browser. BrowserFairy does not show web pages itself. It only decides where each link should open, then hands it off to a real browser. All your browsers stay exactly as they are.

Make BrowserFairy the default

Everything happens in one place: Settings > General > Default Browser.

Open the BrowserFairy menu from the menu bar icon at the top right of your screen, then choose Settings… (or press ⌘,).
In the sidebar, select General. The first section is Default Browser.
Look at the status row. If BrowserFairy is not yet the default, you will see a warning and a Make Default button. Click Make Default.
macOS shows its own confirmation dialog asking whether you want to change your default web browser. Confirm it to set BrowserFairy as the default.

The status in BrowserFairy may take a second or two to catch up after you confirm. Once it does, you will see BrowserFairy is your default browser.

General

Default Browser

BrowserFairy is your default browser

Required for BrowserFairy to intercept links from email, documents, and other apps.

Fallback browser

Opens links when no rule matches.

BrowserLauncher

Browser Profiles

Enable browser profiles

Route links to a specific browser profile (e.g. Work, Personal).

Supported browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Edge, Helium, and Opera.

Settings > General. The Default Browser section shows your current status and the Make Default button.

The three status states

BrowserFairy needs to own both kinds of web link, http and https, to catch every link reliably. The status row in the Default Browser section tells you exactly where you stand:

BrowserFairy is your default browser means BrowserFairy owns both http and https. Everything is set up correctly and you are done with this step.
BrowserFairy only handles some web links is the partial state. BrowserFairy owns one of http or https, but another browser still owns the other. Some links will route correctly and others will slip past to the other browser. The subtitle explains it: Another browser still handles some web links. BrowserFairy must own both http and https to intercept links reliably.
BrowserFairy is not the default browser means another browser still owns both. No links are being routed yet.

Fixing the partial state

The partial state usually appears if the macOS confirmation dialog only changed one of the two link types, or if another browser grabbed one back. To fix it, click Make Default again and confirm the macOS dialog. That re-claims both http and https for BrowserFairy, and the status should change to BrowserFairy is your default browser.

Do not stop at the partial state

If the status reads BrowserFairy only handles some web links, routing will look unreliable: some links open in the right browser and others do not. This is not a bug in your rules. Click Make Default again until the status reads BrowserFairy is your default browser.

Verify in System Settings

You can double-check the result in macOS itself. Open the Apple menu, choose System Settings, then go to Desktop & Dock. Scroll to Default web browser and confirm it is set to BrowserFairy. If it shows another browser, return to BrowserFairy's Settings and click Make Default again.

If the Make Default button does not seem to take effect, or the status keeps falling back to a partial state, see Troubleshooting for default-browser fixes.

Choose a fallback browser

When a link comes in and none of your rules match it, BrowserFairy has to send it somewhere. That destination is the Fallback browser, found just below the status row in Settings > General. Its subtitle says exactly what it does: Opens links when no rule matches.

To set it, click the Fallback browser popup and choose a browser from the list. The list shows the browsers installed on your Mac. By default, the fallback is whatever was your system default browser before you switched to BrowserFairy, so links keep opening where you are used to until your rules take over.

Pick a browser you are happy to treat as your catch-all. Anything that does not match a rule lands there, so a general everyday browser is usually a good choice.

Fallback is your safety net

You do not need a rule for every link. Set the fallback to your everyday browser, then add rules only for the links you want to send somewhere specific. Everything else flows to the fallback automatically.

With BrowserFairy set as your default and a fallback chosen, you are ready to send your first link somewhere specific. Continue to Create your first rule.