Smallweb Browsers for the Terminal
The smallweb is the set of document protocols that sit beside the web rather than on it: Gemini, Gopher and Finger. Pages are text with a short list of links, there is no scripting or tracking, and a complete client fits in a few hundred kilobytes.
Gopher came out of the University of Minnesota in 1991 and Gemini was published in 2019 as a deliberately limited alternative to HTTP. Both are still served today by personal capsules, journals, weather and news mirrors and software documentation, and a terminal browser renders them exactly as intended, since the format is text to begin with.
Below is a list of terminal browsers for the smallweb.
amfora
A fancy terminal browser for the Gemini protocol.
A fancy terminal browser for the Gemini protocol.
bombadillo
A non-web client for the terminal, supporting Gopher, Gemini and much more.
A non-web client for the terminal, supporting Gopher, Gemini and much more.
chawan
A TUI web browser.
A TUI web browser.
ereandel
A Gemini web browser using shell script.
A Gemini web browser using shell script.
offpunk
An offline-first command-line browser.
An offline-first command-line browser.
phetch
A terminal client designed to help you quickly navigate the gophersphere.
A terminal client designed to help you quickly navigate the gophersphere.
rogallo
A terminal client for browsing the Gemini protocol.
A terminal client for browsing the Gemini protocol.
Know any terminal tools that would be good for this list? Post a Tool here!
