Grinch

Grinch chooses which browser or app opens each link on your Mac. Set it as your default browser, then give it a few rules.

For example, you can open GitHub links in Chrome, send everything else to Safari, and use a separate browser profile for work. Links from Slack, Mail, and other apps follow the same rules automatically.

Grinch is inspired by Finicky and Finch, two other macOS apps for routing links. If you already use Finicky, most v4 configs work with Grinch; see Moving from Finicky.

Documentation: https://jamtur01.github.io/grinch/

Install

Requires macOS 13 or later. Releases are universal binaries (Apple silicon and Intel), signed with a Developer ID and notarized.

Download the latest Grinch-vX.Y.Z.dmg from Releases, open it, and drag Grinch.app onto the Applications shortcut in the DMG window. Install to /Applications directly: running Grinch.app from ~/Downloads or anywhere else triggers Gatekeeper translocation, which makes the same app appear several times in the default-browser picker.

Get started also covers installing from the terminal, with the community Homebrew cask, and how to uninstall.

From source

Requires Rust stable via rustup. Put ~/.cargo/bin first on PATH; see the contributor prerequisites to verify the tools.

git clone https://github.com/jamtur01/grinch
cd grinch
make run

Ad-hoc signed source builds don't include automatic updates. Pass UNIVERSAL=1 to make build to produce a fat binary locally (needs both rustup targets: rustup target add aarch64-apple-darwin x86_64-apple-darwin).

Your first config

1. Create ~/.config/grinch.js, creating ~/.config first if needed:

   module.exports = {
     default: "com.apple.Safari",
     rules: [
       { match: "github.com", open: "com.google.Chrome" },
     ],
   };

   This sends github.com and its subdomains to Chrome, and everything else to Safari. Only use configs you trust: Grinch evaluates them as JavaScript.

2. Launch Grinch from Applications. Its eyes appear in the menu bar.

3. In System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Default web browser, select Grinch.

4. Check a decision without opening a browser:

   $ /Applications/Grinch.app/Contents/MacOS/Grinch --test "https://github.com/"
   URL:     https://github.com/
   Final:   https://github.com/
   Browser: com.google.Chrome

After changing the config, choose Reload Config from the Grinch menu. If a reload fails, Grinch keeps the last config that loaded.

Documentation

• Get started: install, first rule, default browser, updates, and uninstalling.
• Configuration: rules, match types, browser targets and profiles, URL rewrites, the ctx object, and options.
• Troubleshooting: --test, --list-rules, the menu bar, the diagnostic log, and every command-line flag.
• Integrations: sign-in popups, the grinch: URL scheme, browser add-ons, and URL shorteners.
• Moving from Finicky: what carries over and what to change.
• Performance: routing benchmarks and historical memory measurements. Run bench/run.sh to repeat the routing benchmarks.

examples/grinch.example.js is a feature reference config.

Support and security

Only the latest published release is supported for issues and security fixes. Upgrade and reproduce the problem before filing a bug; older releases do not receive backported fixes.

For bug reports, feature requests, and development, see CONTRIBUTING.md. Report vulnerabilities privately using SECURITY.md, not a public issue.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.