An open-source browser that only reads Markdown. No scripts, no cookies, no CSS chaos. Just the content you came to read, served in a clean and structured format directly from the source.
"The internet doesn't have to be heavy."
Bare is an experimental browser built to explore a text-based internet.
It ignores traditional web pages and renders only .md files directly from HTTP responses.
- Blazing fast: No heavy frameworks to download.
- Privacy: No script support means zero tracking.
- Focus: Content is presented consistently regardless of the source.
Bare is built with:
- Tauri 2.0 — Lightweight and secure app framework (~2–5 MB vs Electron's ~100 MB)
- Rust — Backend for safety and performance
- pulldown-cmark — Fast CommonMark + GFM markdown parser
- reqwest — Async HTTP client with TLS
- Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS — Minimal frontend without frameworks
- ✅ Rendering
.mdfiles over HTTP/HTTPS - ✅ Local markdown files (Ctrl+O)
- ✅ HTML-to-Markdown conversion with Readability mode
- ✅ Back/forward navigation with history
- ✅ Bookmarks with persistent storage
- ✅ Light/dark mode with system sync
- ✅ In-page search (Ctrl+F)
- ✅ Zoom in/out (Ctrl+/Ctrl-)
- ✅ Keyboard shortcuts (Vim-inspired)
- ✅ Configurable settings (font, theme, zoom, content width)
- ✅ Three-dot menu for less-used functions
- ✅ About dialog with version information
- ✅ Gemini protocol support (gemini://) — Added in v0.1.3
- Full Gemini protocol implementation
- TOFU (Trust On First Use) certificate handling
- Gemtext-to-Markdown conversion
- Input dialog for interactive Gemini pages
- ✅ Gopher protocol support (gopher://) — New in v0.1.4!
- Full RFC 1436 implementation
- Gophermap-to-Markdown conversion with emoji icons
- Support for text files, menus, and search
- Search dialog for interactive Gopher queries
- ✅ Explicit content negotiation — HTTP
Acceptheader signals preference for Markdown- Servers and CDNs that support content negotiation can serve cleaner content directly
- Header:
Accept: text/markdown, text/plain;q=0.9, text/html;q=0.5
⚠️ PDF export⚠️ Tab support⚠️ Custom themes/plugins
Bare is designed with privacy as the top priority:
| Feature | Status | Privacy benefit |
|---|---|---|
| JavaScript | ❌ Not supported | Zero tracking, no malware |
| Cookies | ❌ Not supported | No third-party tracking |
| CSS | ❌ Minimal/none | No CSS fingerprinting |
| Images | Prevents tracking pixels | |
| Tracking | ❌ Impossible | Total protection |
⚠️ The project is not yet ready for general use.
- Rust (latest stable)
- Node.js (for Tauri CLI)
- Tauri Prerequisites
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/FrankBurmo/bare.git
cd bare
# Install Tauri CLI
cargo install tauri-cli
# Run in development mode
cargo tauri dev
# Build for production
cargo tauri build(Coming when the first release is ready)
See PLAN.md for a detailed roadmap including:
- 5 development phases from PoC to polished product
- Technical decisions and architecture
- Evaluation of a server component
- Open questions and decisions
Contributions are welcome! Please read .github/copilot-instructions.md for coding standards and project philosophy before submitting pull requests.
- Simplicity first — Don't add unnecessary complexity
- Privacy always — Never compromise on security or privacy
- Test thoroughly — Write tests for new functionality
- Document — Public APIs should have documentation
Bare is inspired by:
- Gemini Protocol — Minimalist document protocol
- Lynx — Text-based browser since 1992
- Gopher — Simple document distribution since 1991
- A minimal markdown reader for the modern internet
- A privacy tool
- An experiment in simplicity
- ❌ A full-featured browser (we will never support JavaScript)
- ❌ An HTML renderer (only markdown is first-class)
- ❌ A text editor (view only, not edit)
- ❌ A social media tool
Bare is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0). See LICENSE.
- Issues:GitHub Issues
- Discussions:GitHub Discussions
"For a world where content matters more than animations."