BrowserFairyBrowserFairy

Get Started

Install and first launch

Get BrowserFairy from the Mac App Store, find it in the menu bar, and open it for the first time.

This page takes you from downloading BrowserFairy to having it running and ready in your menu bar. It only takes a couple of minutes, and you do not need to be technical to follow along.

Install from the Mac App Store

BrowserFairy is distributed through the Mac App Store, so there is nothing to drag into your Applications folder and no installer to run.

  1. Open the App Store app on your Mac, or use the download button on the BrowserFairy website.
  2. On the BrowserFairy product page, click Get, then confirm with your Apple Account if prompted.
  3. Wait for the download to finish. When it does, the button changes to Open.
  4. Click Open to launch BrowserFairy for the first time.

BrowserFairy requires macOS 13 or later.

Find it in the menu bar

BrowserFairy is a menu bar app. It has no Dock icon and no window that stays on screen, so when you open it the first time it can feel like nothing happened. That is expected.

Look at the top right of your screen, in the menu bar (the status area next to the clock and Wi-Fi icons). You will see the BrowserFairy icon appear there. That icon is how you reach everything in the app.

Can't spot the icon?

If your menu bar is crowded, macOS may hide some icons. Try widening the menu bar by quitting a few other menu bar apps, or hold Command and drag icons to rearrange them so BrowserFairy is visible.

Open the menu

Click the BrowserFairy icon in the menu bar. A left click and a right click do the same thing: both open one menu. There is no separate action for one or the other.

The menu contains these items, in order:

  • About BrowserFairy
  • Browser Launcher… (also shows its keyboard shortcut, by default ⌥⌘B)
  • Rules Editor…
  • Settings… (⌘,)
  • Help, a submenu with Getting Started, Documentation, and Contact Support
  • Quit BrowserFairy (⌘Q)

This menu is your home base. Rules Editor… is where you build the rules that route your links, Settings… is where you set your default and fallback browsers, and Browser Launcher… opens the pop-up picker for choosing a browser by hand.

The Settings window, opened to the General pane. You reach it from the menu bar with Settings… The sidebar stays clickable so you can move between panes.

The rules editor opens on first launch

The very first time BrowserFairy launches, it opens the Rules Editor for you automatically, so you can start setting up routing right away. After that first run, the editor no longer opens by itself; you open it any time from the menu bar with Rules Editor….

You do not need to build a rule yet. We will walk through your first rule step by step in Create your first rule.

Keep BrowserFairy running

BrowserFairy can only route a link while it is running. It sits quietly in the background and uses almost no resources, so the simplest approach is to leave it running all the time. As long as the menu bar icon is there, BrowserFairy is ready.

If you choose Quit BrowserFairy from the menu, the icon disappears and links go straight to your previous default browser until you open BrowserFairy again.

Start BrowserFairy automatically (optional)

BrowserFairy does not have a built-in launch-at-login setting. To have it start every time you log in, add it as a login item in macOS:

  1. Open the System Settings app.
  2. Go to General, then Login Items.
  3. Under Open at Login, click the + button.
  4. Choose BrowserFairy from your Applications, then click Open.

From then on, BrowserFairy starts on its own whenever you log in, and it is ready to route links without you opening it.

Without a login item, you must open it yourself

If you do not add BrowserFairy to Login Items, it will not start automatically after you restart or log out. Until you open it again, clicked links go to your previous default browser instead of through your rules.

Next step

BrowserFairy is installed and running, but it cannot route any links until you make it your Mac's default browser. That is the one required setup step, and it takes a single click. Continue with Set your default browser.