uzbl/uzbl

Health v2 · maintenance only

Adoption not part of the score

1045 stars · 156 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-30, confidence not recorded

Uzbl is a collection of lightweight web interface tools for Linux that adhere to the Unix philosophy, built on WebKitGTK+. It ships as uzbl-core (a scriptable WebKit view controlled via stdin/fifo/sockets), uzbl-browser (a complete keyboard-driven browser), and uzbl-tabbed (tabbed browsing on top of uzbl-browser).

Use cases

• browse the web with vim-like keyboard controls
• embed a scriptable webkit view in shell scripts
• build a custom browser from composable unix tools
• store browser history and config as plaintext under version control
• control a browser remotely via unix sockets or fifos
• use a minimal browser with no built-in UI widgets

When to choose

• you want a fully scriptable, hackable browser on Linux
• you prefer keyboard-driven browsing with vi/emacs-style modes
• you want plaintext config and data that plays well with scripts and version control
• you need a bare WebKit view to integrate into your own tooling

When to avoid

• you need a modern browser with full JavaScript/web compatibility and security updates
• you want a GUI with buttons, tabs, and sync features out of the box
• you need cross-platform support (Linux/X11 only)
• you expect active development - the latest release is from 2018

Facets

application · maturity maintenance

web-framework developer-tools plugin-system web-development developer-tools privacy cpp web-browser webkit unix-philosophy keyboard-driven minimalist scriptable command-line linux desktop

Member repositories

For agents

markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="uzbl/uzbl")