QUTEBROWSER(1)

📦
version 3.7.0 · 10 versions
, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

👑 NAME 👑

qutebrowser — bestie, it's a keyboard-driven, vim-like browser built on Python and Qt. Yes, that combo. It eats.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

qutebrowser [-OPTION [...]] [:COMMAND [...]] [URL [...]]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

okay so. qutebrowser is a browser that is keyboard-focused with a minimal GUI — like, the GUI is doing the absolute bare minimum and honestly? slay. It's based on Python and Qt and it's free software, licensed under the GPL. Periodt.

It was inspired by other browsers/addons like dwb and Vimperator/Pentadactyl — real ones know. iykyk.

🫶 heads up bestie: the commands and settings of qutebrowser are not described in this manpage. They live in the help integrated inside qutebrowser — just use the :help command to show it. That's where the good stuff is.

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

🌸 positional arguments

  • :command — Commands to execute on startup. (yes, with the colon, it's giving very much "run this immediately" energy)
  • URL — URLs to open on startup (empty as a window separator 👀)

⭐ options

  • -h, --help — show this help message and exit
  • -B BASEDIR, --basedir BASEDIR — Base directory for all storage.
  • -C CONFIG, --config-py CONFIG — Path to config.py.
  • -V, --version — Show version and quit.
  • -s OPTION VALUE, --set OPTION VALUE — Set a temporary setting for this session.
  • -r SESSION, --restore SESSION — Restore a named session.
  • -R, --override-restore — Don't restore a session even if one would be restored.
  • --target {auto,tab,tab-bg,tab-silent,tab-bg-silent,window,private-window} — How URLs should be opened if there is already a qutebrowser instance running.
  • --backend {webkit,webengine} — Which backend to use.
  • --qt-wrapper {PyQt6,PyQt5} — Which Qt wrapper to use. This can also be set via the QUTE_QT_WRAPPER environment variable. If both are set, the command line argument takes precedence. (the CLI said "i'm the main character" and won 💅)
  • --desktop-file-name DESKTOP_FILE_NAME — Set the base name of the desktop entry for this application. Used to set the app_id under Wayland. See https://doc.qt.io/qt-6/qguiapplication.html#desktopFileName-prop
  • --untrusted-args — Mark all following arguments as untrusted, which enforces that they are URLs/search terms (and not flags or commands). trust issues: valid, honestly.

🦋 debug arguments

  • -l {critical,error,warning,info,debug,vdebug}, --loglevel {critical,error,warning,info,debug,vdebug} — Override the configured console loglevel
  • --logfilter LOGFILTER — Comma-separated list of things to be logged to the debug log on stdout.
  • --loglines LOGLINES — How many lines of the debug log to keep in RAM (-1: unlimited).
  • -d, --debug — Turn on debugging options.
  • --json-logging — Output log lines in JSON format (one object per line).
  • --nocolor — Turn off colored logging.
  • --force-color — Force colored logging
  • --nowindow — Don't show the main window.
  • -T, --temp-basedir — Use a temporary basedir.
  • --no-err-windows — Don't show any error windows (used for tests/smoke.py).
  • --qt-arg NAME VALUE — Pass an argument with a value to Qt. For example, you can do --qt-arg geometry 650x555+200+300 to set the window geometry.
  • --qt-flag QT_FLAG — Pass an argument to Qt as flag.
  • -D DEBUG_FLAGS, --debug-flag DEBUG_FLAGS — Pass name of debugging feature to be turned on.

🍓 FILES 🍓

  • ~/.config/qutebrowser/config.py: Configuration file.
  • ~/.config/qutebrowser/autoconfig.yml: Configuration done via the GUI.
  • ~/.config/qutebrowser/quickmarks: Saved quickmarks.
  • ~/.local/share/qutebrowser/: Various state information.
  • ~/.cache/qutebrowser/: Temporary data.
🧚 note: qutebrowser conforms to the XDG basedir specification — if XDG_CONFIG_HOME, XDG_DATA_HOME or XDG_CACHE_HOME are set in the environment, the directories configured there are used instead of the above defaults. so if your paths look different than the list, that's why, she's just following the spec fr fr.

💀 BUGS 💀

Bugs are tracked in the Github issue tracker at https://github.com/qutebrowser/qutebrowser/issues.

If you found a bug, use the built-in :report command to create a bug report with all information needed. 😭 it literally does the paperwork for you, iconic.

If you prefer, you can also write to the mailinglist at qutebrowser@lists.qutebrowser.org instead.

For security bugs, please contact security@qutebrowser.org (or if GPG encryption is desired, contact me@the-compiler.org with GPG ID 0x916EB0C8FD55A072). 🔥 secret agent vibes.

Alternatively, report a vulnerability via GitHub's private reporting feature.

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

🫶 RESOURCES 🫶

💖 AUTHOR 💖

qutebrowser was written by Freya Bruhin. All contributors can be found in the README file distributed with qutebrowser. absolute legends, every single one 🎀

and that's the whole page bestie!! ✨ this one's qutebrowser, from the qutebrowser manpage set, dated 04/03/2026. go forth and keyboard-drive your browser, you're gonna eat 💅🔥

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