Horse Browser replaces tabs with Trails. The sidebar shows the path your browsing actually took, clicks branch off, pages stay where you left them, and everything is still there next time you open the browser. The rest of this page is the long version of how that works in practice.
It runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux.
What a Trail is
A Trail is the path your browsing took, drawn out in the sidebar. Click a link and a new page opens beneath the one you came from instead of replacing it. Click another link and that branches too. Every page is moveable, renameable, deletable. Tabs, history, and bookmarks all fold into one vertical layout. Close Horse and reopen it: everything is still there, like a Notes app.
How Trails work in practice
Each new line of browsing starts its own Trail
A new Trail is a fresh starting point in the sidebar. Old Trails stay where they were. To open one on your current Trailhead:
Keyboard users:
- ⌘+T
Mouse users:
- Click + at the top of the sidebar
Once you’ve opened the Trail, enter the search term or URL you need and start browsing. To create a new Trailhead instead, use ⌘+⌥+N.
Pages are moveable on the Trail
Drag pages around inside their Trail, or out into a different Trail. Whole Trails can be reordered too.
Mouse users:
- Drag-and-drop individual pages
Keyboard users:
- ⌥+⌘+⇧ + arrow keys
Trails can be collapsed
Fold a Trail away when you’re not using it. It’s still there, folded, not deleted.
Keyboard users:
To collapse a Trail
- ⌘+⇧+◀
To expand a Trail
- ⌘+⇧+▶
Mouse users:
- Click > next to your Trail to expand and again to collapse
Pages can be deleted from your Trails
Closing a page is how you keep the sidebar clean.
Keyboard users:
- ⌘+W
Mouse users:
- Click X next to your page Trail to delete
To delete a full Trail, you need to collapse your Trail first and then delete the Trail as you would an individual page.
Trails are hierarchical, with nested Sub-Trails
Sub-Trails sit underneath the Trail you opened them from. That’s the hierarchy that builds itself as you click links inside an existing Trail.
To create a SubTrail:
Mouse users:
- Click + at the side ****of the page or ••• and select **New Subtrail**
- You can also drag-and-drop one Trail onto another Trail to nest it inside
Keyboard users:
- ⌘+⌥+T
Side-Trails are separate-but-connected branches
A Side-Trail sits next to the Trail you branch from instead of underneath it. Useful for chasing something tangentially related without burying the Trail you’re already on.
To create one:
Mouse users:
- Visit Menu > File > New SideTrail
- Drag-and-drop your Trail so that is is separate, non-nested within the Trail
Keyboard users:
- ⌘+⌥+⇧+T
Trails can be grouped into Trailheads and Folders
Trailheads and Folders are two more shapes of Trail, used to keep different parts of your life from bleeding into each other.
A Trailhead is a top-level container with its own header. Most people end up with one for work and one for personal stuff, sometimes a third for a side project.
A Folder is a Trail that starts with a folder rather than a web page, useful for grouping related Trails inside a Trailhead.
To create a new Trailhead or Folder:
- Click on the relevant icon at the top of the sidebar
- Give your Trailhead / Folder a name and hit Return to save
- Click + to add Subtrails, or use ⌘+T for a Trailhead and ⌘+⌥+T for a Folder. Alternatively, simply drag-and-drop Trails inside.
Trails can be managed in bulk
- Select multiple Trails at once with ⌘ + Click
- Right-click for bulk actions (delete, copy to Markdown, or add to a new folder). You can also drag-and-drop multiple Trails at once.
Trails can be renamed and given icons
A Trail’s title defaults to the first page it contains, which isn’t always what you’d recognise it by later. Renaming and adding an emoji makes the sidebar easier to scan.
Mouse users:
Select the ‘set name’ option in Menu or under ••• next to the page or Trail
Keyboard users:
- ⇧+⌘+L
To add custom icons:
- Click on the blank square next to your page or Trail, and select your preferred emoji. You can also remove the icon in the same way.
- Alternatively, right-click or click on ••• on the relevant page or Trail and select Set Icon.
Pick your own search engine
Default is Google. Bing, Kagi, Brave, DuckDuckGo and others are all in Settings.
Mouse users:
- Visit Menu > Horse > Settings
Keyboard users:
- ⌘+,
Notes live inside Trails
A Note is a Trail you can write inside, instead of (or alongside) loading web pages. Plain text for now; more is coming.
- Click on the Note icon at the top of the sidebar
- Give your Note a name and hit Return to save
- Click + to add Subtrails to your Note or use ⌘+⌥+T. Alternatively, simply drag-and-drop Trails inside.
Everything is keyboard-driven
You can run Horse without touching the trackpad. The full shortcut list is in Menu, and Settings (⌘+,) lets you remap the Trail shortcuts.
Pages survive quits, updates, and crashes
Horse writes the sidebar to disk as you go. When you quit, update, or the laptop dies, everything is back where it was the next time you open the browser. There’s also an offline backup for the cautious.
That’s the whole shape
Trails replace tabs, branch as you click, and stay where they were between sessions. Trailheads and Folders sit on top, Notes sit inside. Most of the rest of the manual is detail.
