LinkPilot

Decides which browser — and which profile of it — every link on this computer opens in, and takes the tracking out of links on the way. You make named categories like Work, Home or School, point each at a browser profile, and switch between them with one click.

LinkPilot was called Browser Switch until version 4.0.0. Installing it with the one command moves a copy in Programs\Browser Switch to Programs\LinkPilot, settings and all, and replaces its shortcuts. A few inside names keep the old one — the program file BrowserSwitch.exe, the registry entries BrowserSwitchURL and BrowserSwitch — because they are what Windows remembers as your default browser; renaming them would make you choose it again.

There is also LinkPilot for Android — the same idea for a phone, with Quick Settings tiles and home-screen widgets to switch. It is in the android folder; see its README.

Install

Needs Windows 10 or 11. Three ways — all give you the same program.

With the installer (easiest)

On the Releases page, download LinkPilotSetup-<version>.exe and run it. It installs LinkPilot for your account only (no administrator rights) and opens it; LinkPilot then walks you through the one step Windows leaves to you: choosing it as your default browser. The installer is not signed, so Windows may say "Windows protected your PC" — More info → Run anyway.

• Update: LinkPilot checks GitHub for a newer version by itself (on to begin with; About & updates tab → untick Check for updates automatically to stop it) and offers Update at the top of its window. That downloads the new installer, closes LinkPilot, puts the new version in place and starts it again. Your settings are kept. More under Updates. Running a newer LinkPilotSetup-<version>.exe yourself does the same: it says Update, and asks before closing a running LinkPilot.
• Uninstall: Settings → Apps → Installed apps → LinkPilot → Uninstall. If LinkPilot is your default browser, it first opens Settings on the page of the browser you used before, to make that the default again with one click. Your settings and link log are kept unless you tick Also delete my settings and link log (they go to the Recycle Bin).

With one command

Open PowerShell (press the Windows key, type powershell, press Enter), paste this and press Enter:

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Husarp/linkpilot/main/get.ps1 | iex

That's all. It downloads the source code of the latest release, builds the program on your PC with the C# compiler that is part of Windows — so no ready-made .exe is downloaded, and what runs is exactly the code you can read here — installs it for your account only (no administrator rights), and opens it. Read the script first if you like — it is short.

• Update: run the same command again, or press Update in the app. Your settings are kept.
• Uninstall: as with the installer.

From the files

1. On the Releases page, download LinkPilot-<version>.zip — the ready-made program with everything needed to install and remove it. (The release also has the installer, BrowserSwitch.exe on its own, the Android app, and the source code.)
2. Unzip it into a folder you will keep — Windows runs the program from there.
3. Double-click Install.cmd. LinkPilot opens and walks you through the rest.

The program is not signed, so Windows may say "Windows protected your PC" the first time — More info → Run anyway. More detail under Setting it up.

What a release has

File	What it is
LinkPilotSetup-<version>.exe	the installer — install, update and uninstall in one window. The app's own updater downloads this one
LinkPilot-<version>.zip	the ready-made program with Install.cmd, install.ps1, uninstall.ps1, Back to normal.cmd, this README and the licence
BrowserSwitch.exe	the program on its own
LinkPilot-Android-<version>.apk	the Android app (see Install on Android)
Source code (zip, tar.gz)	added by GitHub; what the one command builds from

What is the difference?

All three end with the same BrowserSwitch.exe on your PC. The difference is where it is made and where it goes:

	Installer	One command	From the files
The program	built by the author, downloaded ready-made	built on your PC from the source code, by the compiler that is part of Windows	built by the author, downloaded ready-made
What you trust	that the download matches the code	the code, which you can read here	that the download matches the code
"Windows protected your PC"	may appear once, as for any unsigned program	no — nothing ready-made was downloaded	may appear once
Where it goes	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\LinkPilot, for your account	the same	any folder you choose
Updating	Update in the app	the same command again, or Update in the app	a new zip, or Update in the app

Install on Android

Needs Android 8.0 or newer. The app is not in Google Play; it comes from the same release as the Windows program.

1. On your phone, open the Releases page and download LinkPilot-Android-<version>.apk (next to BrowserSwitch.exe).
2. Open the downloaded file. The first time, Android asks to allow installing apps from the app you opened it in (your browser or Files) — allow it, go back and tap Install. Google Play Protect may warn about an app from an unknown developer — More details → Install anyway.
3. Open LinkPilot. It walks you through the rest, like on Windows: your choices, then making it the default browser (Android's own question — no app can do this without you).

• Update: the app checks GitHub by itself when it opens or you come back to it (at most every 5 minutes; switch it off, or tap CHECK NOW, in Home › Updates). When there is a newer version, tap UPDATE: it downloads inside the app, Android asks once to let LinkPilot install apps, then asks you to confirm. Your settings are kept. More under Updates.
• Uninstall: as any app — long-press LinkPilot › App info › Uninstall. Android then asks which browser should be the default again.

What it does, and what differs from Windows: LinkPilot for Android.

What it does

• Categories — Work, Home, School… each pointing at a browser and profile; one click switches.
• The dock — lives next to the clock, with an icon per category if you like, and a short note after every switch.
• Keyboard shortcuts — one per category, next / previous, and rules on / off. With the smart queue, Next goes back to the category used before — one press flips back, like Alt+Tab.
• Link rules — links from chosen apps (Signal → Work), to chosen sites (github.com → Home) or with a chosen word in them (invoice → Work) go to their own category, whatever is live. A ready-made list of ~175 popular apps to pick from, plus the programs on your PC.
• Ask every time — a category that opens no browser of its own: each link it gets shows a small window next to the mouse asking which category to open it in.
• Link cleaning — 314 tracking parts (utm_source, fbclid, YouTube's si, the shops' own…) taken out of links, and 34 redirects (google.com/url?q=…, Outlook Safe Links, affiliate links) skipped, so links go straight to the page. If you like, a link you copy is cleaned too, so you paste the clean one.
• Link log — every link: which app it came from, where it opened, and what was changed.
• A short guide after the setup — your categories, how you switch, rules for your apps — each screen with a good answer filled in already. It can be taken again any time.
• Web page files (.htm, .html) show the browser they will open in.
• Offline and private — it never sends your links anywhere. It only goes online to check for a newer version (you can switch that off) and to download it when you press Update.

Privacy and security

It works offline. LinkPilot never sends your links, categories, rules or the link log anywhere, and has no account, ads, tracking or analytics. The one time it connects to the internet is to ask GitHub whether a newer version exists — when it starts and when you open its window, at most every 5 minutes (switch that off in the setup or on the About & updates tab), or when you press Check now — and, when you press Update, to download the new version's installer. GitHub then sees only what any visit to a website shows, such as your internet address. Nothing about your links is sent.

What it keeps, and where — all of it in plain text, in its own folder, on your PC only:

File	What it holds
config.txt	your categories, rules, shortcuts and settings
link-log.txt	the link log: the newest 1000 links you opened from other programs (and copied links it cleaned, if that is on) — and so a record of sites you visited. Switch it off, or clear it, on the Link log tab
recent-apps.txt	the programs that opened links lately, for app rules
file-icons\	the icon web page files show

What you copy is looked at only if you turn on Clean copied links too — just to see whether it is one link on its own — and never kept; what a password manager copies is not looked at at all.

What it touches in Windows: only your own account's part of the registry (HKEY_CURRENT_USER) — the registration that makes it a browser Windows can offer, and a Start menu, Desktop and Startup shortcut. It needs no administrator rights, changes nothing for other accounts, and installs no service or driver. Uninstalling removes all of it.

What it cannot do: make itself your default browser. Windows allows only you to choose that — no program and no command can — which is also what protects you from programs taking over your browser. LinkPilot shows you where to click.

What you can check: every line of code is here. The one-command install builds the program on your PC from this code, so nothing ready-made is downloaded. The ready-made .exe in the releases is built from the same code, but it is not signed, so Windows may warn about it the first time.

Made for personal use. All rights reserved — © 2026 Husarp: free to download and use, but not to copy, change, share or sell without written permission — see LICENSE.

Why it is built this way

Windows will not let a script change your default browser. The setting carries a signature tied to your account, and anything written directly is thrown away. That protection stops programs hijacking your browser, and it is worth keeping.

So this does not fight it. LinkPilot becomes the default browser and passes each link straight on to the real one, based on which category is live.

Nothing was downloaded to build it. BrowserSwitch.exe is compiled from the .cs files and BrowserSwitch.ico by the C# compiler already inside Windows (build.cmd rebuilds it).

The dock

LinkPilot lives in the notification area next to the clock — "the dock" — and starts there when you sign in. While its window is open it also has a taskbar button (untick Show a taskbar button on About & updates to keep it in the dock only). Closing the window does not stop it — the first time, a note says so and where to find it.

• Click its icon (blue square, two arrows) — the window opens, at once: the dock builds it unseen a few seconds after it starts, and closing the window only hides it (it is brought up to date each time it opens). The icon stays.
• Right-click it — your categories, with a tick on the live one: click one to switch. Also Open LinkPilot and Exit.
• Pin a category — in the window, select it and tick Show in dock. It gets its own icon; one click on that icon switches to it, with no window. Dock icon… chooses what it looks like: the browser's own icon — for Brave, Chrome and Edge the one with the profile's picture on it, the same the taskbar shows, which the browser keeps in the profile's folder; that icon recoloured — a small editor with Colour, Strength and Brightness sliders and a live preview, for two profiles of the same browser (a green Brave for Work, an orange one for Home); a colour with the category's first letter; or an image file.
• Hover over a pinned icon and it says which category it is: Work, or Switch to Work — choose which in the right-click menu, Hover text on dock icons.
• Every switch shows a short note at the bottom of the screen for about two seconds — "Links now open in: Work", and under it the browser and profile with the category's dock icon in front (recoloured, if you recoloured it). It never takes the focus and clicks go straight through it. It appears whichever way you switched: an icon, a shortcut, the window, or Back to normal.cmd.

Windows puts new icons in the hidden-icons area first — the ^ arrow next to the clock. To keep one always visible, drag it from there onto the taskbar, or switch it on in Settings → Personalization → Taskbar → Other system tray icons.

Web page files

Saved web pages — .htm and .html files — show the browser they will open in: a white page with that browser's icon on its corner, the same icon as in the dock (with the profile's picture, or recoloured, if yours is). It follows every switch, and the rules too, so the icon always tells the truth about where a double-click goes.

Right-click the dock icon → Icon of .htm / .html files to choose the look: A web page with the browser's icon, The browser's icon alone, or LinkPilot's own icon. Windows usually redraws at once; if an open folder still shows the old icon, press F5 in it.

Keyboard shortcuts

Off until you turn them on: in the window, the Shortcuts tab, then tick Turn on keyboard shortcuts. They then work anywhere, as long as the dock is running.

• One per category, and Next / Previous, which step through every category that has a browser, in order, round and round. Every switch shows the usual note — and if the category was already live, the note says so, so a key press never goes unanswered.
• Suggested keys are filled in already. Ctrl+Alt+1, 2, 3… where free, otherwise the same with Shift, otherwise Ctrl+Alt + a letter of the category's name; for next/previous Ctrl+Alt+Space / Shift+Space, otherwise PageDown/PageUp — each checked with Windows first, so only free keys are suggested. Other programs often hold every Ctrl+Alt+number already; then Work gets Ctrl+Alt+W, Home Ctrl+Alt+H, and so on.
• To change one: click its box and press any key — alone or with Ctrl, Alt, Shift or Win. Special keys work too: media keys (play/pause, volume, next track), F13–F24, mail/calculator/ browser launch keys, Print Screen, Pause. Clear empties a line. While you record, Enter, Esc, Tab and Backspace are recorded like any other key. While the tab is open the dock lets go of its keys, so pressing one records it instead of switching.
• Active — the tick in front of each name. Untick it to switch that one shortcut off: its keys are kept but do nothing, and other programs can use them again. The big Turn on keyboard shortcuts tick still switches all of them at once.
• Reset appears next to a shortcut once it differs from the one suggested, and puts that back.
• In next / previous — a tick per category. Next and Previous only stop at the ticked ones (all of them to begin with); a category's own shortcut works either way. If the live category is not ticked, they still move on from where it sits in the list.
• Smart queue (on to begin with) — Next and Previous go by recent use, like Alt+Tab: Next goes back to the category used before, so one press flips back, and Previous to the one used longest ago. Presses close together (within about three seconds) walk on through the rest instead of flipping between the same two. Untick it and they go in list order.
• Not every key can be used. Logitech's Easy-Switch keys (1, 2, 3 — they choose which paired device the keyboard talks to) are handled inside the keyboard itself and never reach the PC; that is also why Logi Options+ cannot reassign them. The top-row keys and the ones at the top right usually can be given F13–F24 in Logi Options+.
• A keyboard button that shows nothing when pressed is handled by the keyboard's own software (for Logitech: Logi Options+). Give it a keystroke there — F13 to F24 are ideal, since no keyboard has them and nothing else uses them — then record that.
• Each line says whether it will work: ready, taken by another program, used twice here, or types something — a plain K types k, so while it is a shortcut you could not type k anywhere. That is allowed; it is your choice. On Polish and many other keyboards Ctrl+Alt is AltGr — Ctrl+Alt+A types ą — so those are never suggested, and are flagged the same way if you pick one.

Link rules

Some links should always go to the same place, whatever is live: links from Signal to Work, GitHub links to Home. In the window, the Rules tab.

• Three kinds. comes from an app — the program the link was clicked in; address has — a site like github.com, which also covers the sites under it (gist.github.com), or any text with a / in it (github.com/my-company), looked for anywhere in the link; address has the word — a keyword (Add keyword…), see below.

• Keyword rules. invoice matches a whole word in the site, the path or a value after the ? — shop.com/invoice/12, ?q=my+invoice — but never part of a word (invoices) nor a parameter's name (?invoice=1). Several words must come one after another: pull request matches …/pull-request. At least 3 letters or digits; big or small letters do not matter. While you type, the dialog shows which of the sites you opened (from the link log) it would match, so a word that catches too much shows before it is saved.

• Suggestions as you type. Typing an address shows up to 8 sites: the ones you opened (from the link log, the most used first), then about 180 well-known ones (global and Polish — the same list as on Android). Only sites that start with what you typed, or one of whose parts does: re finds reddit.com, never youtube.com; goo also finds docs.google.com. Before you type: your own sites. Click one, or Down and Enter; Esc closes the list. In a keyword rule they show on Down, so the list of what it would match stays in view. Add apps… does the same for apps: the ones you use first (links opened, opened links lately, running now), then the rest — code finds Visual Studio Code; picking one ticks it.

• Sites you opened. Add address… lists the sites in your link log — how many links, when the last one was, and which already have a rule (greyed). Click one to use it; click a column's title to sort by it.

• Rules win over the live category. They are checked from the top, and the first that matches decides — Move up / Move down set the order. A link no rule matches goes to the live category as always. A link sent by a rule shows no note.

• A tick per rule keeps it but stops it. A rule whose category has been deleted is skipped.

• Edit… (or double-click a rule) changes the profile its links go to — and, for an address rule, the address.

• One rule per app, address or keyword. Adding (or editing into) one that already has a rule asks which stays: Replace the older rule — the new one takes its place in the order — or Keep the older rule.

• The list shows an app rule under When a link comes from, and an address or keyword rule under or its address has (a keyword as the word "invoice") — one list, so the order counts across all of them. An app rule shows its app's icon (when the program can be found), and Goes to profile the browser's icon as that profile shows it. With fewer than two categories the list says to make another first — a rule needs somewhere else to send links.

• Rules on / off — one switch for all of them, reachable three ways: the Use rules tick at the top of the Rules tab, Use rules in the dock's right-click menu, and its own keyboard shortcut (on the Shortcuts tab, suggested Ctrl+Alt+R, or the nearest free one). Off, every link simply opens in the live category — switch category and all links follow. The note says which it is now.

• Add apps… opens a ready-made list of about 175 popular apps in groups — chat & social, work & office, email, AI assistants, notes & study, gaming, development, music & video, creative, files & sync, utilities — with a search box. Tick any number, choose their category, Add. Above the built-in groups, four come from your own PC:

  • Opened links lately — the programs that really opened links here;
  • Opened the most links — the same from the link log, the busiest first, with how many links each opened;
  • Running now — every program open at the moment: open the app first, then find it here;
  • On this PC — every program in the Start menu.

  The search looks through all of them, so an app the built-in list does not know can be found by name without looking for its program file. Browse for a program… takes any other.

• How the app is known: when a program opens a link, Windows starts LinkPilot from inside it, so LinkPilot asks Windows who started it. Some apps start a Windows helper just to open the link — NetBird uses rundll32, others cmd — and then LinkPilot looks past it to the app that started it, so an app rule for that app works. (A rule made for rundll32.exe itself still wins.) A few apps — mostly from the Microsoft Store — hand links over through a Windows go-between that hides them; their rules cannot see them, so use an address rule for those. Opened links lately shows what really opened your links.

Ask every time

A category can open no browser of its own and ask instead. On the Categories tab, select the category, pick Ask every time at the bottom of the browsers on the right, and press Use this (the short guide can make one for you, called Ask). Handy while many links come that no rule covers yet.

• Each link it gets shows a small window next to the mouse: the link's site, and every category with a browser, one row each with its icon and how many links went to it and when the last did. Pick one and the link opens there.
• Enter, a double-click or a row's number 1–9 opens; Esc or Don't open opens nothing — the link log keeps it as (not opened), so Open again there can still send it.
• Sort by Name, Most used or Recently used; the choice is kept.
• Remember for github.com also adds an address rule, so that site goes straight to the one you picked from then on.
• It works as the live category, and as the category of a rule (Signal → Ask every time). It needs at least one other category with a browser.

Link cleaning

Many links carry extra parts that only say where the click came from — utm_source=newsletter, fbclid=…, YouTube's si=… — and some go through a middleman first, so it learns where you went: google.com/url?q=<the real link>, Outlook's Safe Links, Facebook's l.php. The Link cleaning tab takes both out before the link is handed on:

• Skip redirects — 34 middlemen whose links carry the real one inside: Google search results, Gmail and Docs, Google Ads, the Google app's shared links, Outlook and Teams Safe Links, Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, YouTube, Steam, LinkedIn, DuckDuckGo, VK, Slack, Reddit (and its emails), Tumblr, eBay, Adjust app links — and 13 affiliate networks, the shopping links that pay whoever sent them (Rakuten, Awin, Tradedoubler, Admitad, CJ, ShareASale, Skimlinks, VigLink, Digidip, Webgains, idealo, Partner-ads, FlexOffers). The real link opens directly.
• Remove tracking — 314 known tracking parts: utm_*, fbclid, gclid and the other ad click IDs, newsletter and email tracking (Mailchimp, HubSpot, Klaviyo, Marketo, Salesforce…), analytics such as Matomo and Adobe; on their own sites the share and tracking parts of Google search, YouTube, Spotify, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Reddit and Wikipedia; and the online shops' tracking, share and affiliate parts — Amazon, eBay, AliExpress (search results included), Allegro, Temu, Shein, Etsy, Walmart, OLX, Ceneo (mostly from the ClearURLs, AdGuard and Brave lists). The product itself stays in the link, and so does what you searched for on Google. Only parts known to be tracking are removed, and everything else in the link stays exactly as it was, so links keep working.
• Both are on to begin with; every part and middleman has its own tick, and Add a part… adds your own. Try a link shows what any link becomes.
• Clean copied links too (off to begin with) — when you copy a link — YouTube's Copy link, a link from a chat — the same cleaning is done to it right away, so pasting gives the clean link. A short note says so, and it goes in the link log as (copied). Only a copied link on its own is changed: text with a link inside, several lines, and anything a password manager copies (they mark it private) are left exactly as they are. What you copy is only looked at, never kept or sent. Windows' clipboard history (Win+V) still shows the link as it was copied as well — Windows keeps it before any program can clean it.

When a link you open had something taken out, a short note says so — Link cleaned, and what went — while the page opens. It happens before the rules look at the link, so a rule for github.com also catches a Google link to GitHub. Two things it cannot do: a link clicked inside a browser never reaches LinkPilot — Google's own result links included — so it is not cleaned; and short links (bit.ly, t.co) are not followed, because only their server knows where they lead and LinkPilot does not look links up online.

Link log

The Link log tab (also in the dock's right-click menu) lists every link LinkPilot handed on: when, which app it came from, where it opened and why ("Work — rule: comes from Signal"), and whether it was changed. Select one to see it in full — with the link as it came, if it was changed. Copy link, Open again, Clear log. The list updates by itself as links come in. A link left unopened in the Ask every time window shows as (not opened); Open again sends it through again.

The log stays on this computer only, in link-log.txt next to the program, and keeps the newest 1000 links. Keep a log of links switches it off.

Updates

LinkPilot asks GitHub whether a newer version exists by itself — on to begin with: 30 seconds after it starts, every 6 hours while it runs, and whenever its window opens or comes to the front — at most every 5 minutes. A check that fails says nothing (it is almost always "no internet"). Untick Check for updates automatically on the About & updates tab (or among the setup screen's choices) to stop that; Check now there always asks, gives up after 10 seconds, and says in words what went wrong if it cannot. GitHub there opens the releases page.

When there is a newer version, a strip at the top of the window says so, with Update and ✕ (✕ hides it until LinkPilot next starts). The dock mentions it once too, and its menu has Update to X…. Update (or Get update on About & updates) downloads LinkPilotSetup-<version>.exe from GitHub, with the progress shown, runs it and closes LinkPilot: the installer shows only its progress, puts the new version in place, keeps your settings, starts LinkPilot again and closes by itself; a short note then says LinkPilot updated. If the install fails, the installer puts the previous version back and starts it. If the download fails, LinkPilot says why, with Try again and GitHub (the release page) — nothing opens by itself. The downloaded installer is deleted the next time LinkPilot starts. A copy that is a git clone is updated with git pull and build.cmd instead. See Privacy and security for what that connection involves.

Under More on the same tab: Take the short guide again and Show the setup screen again (see Setting it up).

The window

Click the dock icon, or Switch browser on your Desktop. Each tab opens with its name and one line saying what it is for, and one round ⓘ next to that heading: click it and a panel explains every part of that tab — each section by name, in short points; a click on the ⓘ again, or anywhere else, closes it. While LinkPilot is not the default browser, the window opens on the setup screen instead (see Setting it up).

• Top — where links go right now, with the category's icon. While LinkPilot is not the default browser it says so instead — links then go straight to the default browser (it names which) — and a yellow strip offers to set it up. It checks again whenever the window comes to the front.
• Tabs:
  • Categories — Your categories on the left, each with its icon, what it opens in, its shortcut and whether it is in the dock; the live one is tagged LIVE; below them Show in dock and Dock icon…. With none yet, the list says how to start. On the right, Browsers and profiles on this PC — every browser with its profiles, and last, Ask every time (see Ask every time). Nothing is hard-coded: browsers come from the Windows registry, Firefox profiles from profiles.ini, and Chrome / Edge / Brave / Vivaldi profiles from each browser's own Local State file, so the names shown are the names you gave them. Each profile shows its own picture where the browser keeps one, and which of your categories use it (Work (Profile 2) ← Work).
  • Rules, Shortcuts, Link cleaning, Link log, About & updates — see their sections above.
• Bottom — Switch to: one button per category, with its icon, the live one filled blue: click one and links go there from that moment on.

To set a category up: select it on the left, select a profile on the right, press Use this for ….

Files

Switch browser (Desktop)	opens the window
LinkPilot (Start menu)	opens the same window
LinkPilot (Startup folder)	starts the dock when you sign in. Delete it to stop that — nothing else depends on it
Back to normal.cmd	the panic button — every link goes to your original default browser: no category is live any more, and the rules are switched off too. Nothing is uninstalled and no category or rule is lost
config.txt	your categories, rules and settings, in plain text. The window writes it; you can edit it by hand (see config.txt)
file-icons\	the icon web page files show right now — drawn after each switch; safe to delete
recent-apps.txt	the programs that opened links lately — offered when you add app rules
link-log.txt	the link log — the newest 1000 links; stays on this computer
Install.cmd	double-click to register LinkPilot with Windows — runs install.ps1
install.ps1	adds LinkPilot to the Windows list of browsers
uninstall.ps1	removes it completely — after making your previous browser the default again
Uninstall LinkPilot.exe	put there by the installer — what Settings → Apps runs to remove LinkPilot (the same window as the installer)
get.ps1	the one-command installer and updater (see Install)
build.cmd	rebuilds the program
BrowserSwitch.ico	the icon — two opposite arrows — built into the exe
LICENSE	all rights reserved — free to use, not to copy, change, share or sell

config.txt

One setting per line, name=value, in plain text. The window keeps it up to date; you can edit it by hand too, and the dock picks the change up by itself. A missing line means the setting as it is to begin with.

Line	What it is
category=Work|C:\…\brave.exe|--profile-directory="Profile 2"|Brave - Work	a category: name, browser, what it is started with, what it shows. Up to six more after it: in the dock (1), the dock icon, its shortcut, the shortcut suggested, no if next / previous skip it, off if its shortcut is off
category=Ask|(ask)||Ask every time	an Ask every time category: (ask) in place of a browser
active=Work	the live category
recent-live=Work|Home|School	the categories by recent use, the live one first — the smart queue's order
fallback=	the browser links went to before LinkPilot, recorded at install
rule=on|app|Signal|Signal.exe|Work	a rule: on or off | app, address or word | shown as | matches | category. For word, it matches the keyword's words in small letters, one space between: rule=on|word|Pull-Request|pull request|Work
rules=on	off: every rule kept, none used
rules-key=, default-rules-key=, rules-key-on=	the shortcut that turns rules on and off, the one suggested, and no if it is switched off
shortcuts=off	on: keyboard shortcuts work
next=, previous=, default-next=, default-previous=, next-on=, previous-on=	the next / previous shortcuts, the ones suggested, and no if one is switched off
smart-queue=on	off: next / previous go in list order instead of by recent use
ask-sort=most	how the Ask every time window sorts: most (used), name or recent
docktips=name	switch: dock icons say Switch to Work when hovered
fileicon=page	the look of .htm / .html files: page, browser or own
taskbar=on	off: no taskbar button, the window lives in the dock
clean=on, unwrap=on	remove tracking parts; skip redirects
clean-copied=off	on: clean a link when it is copied, too
clean-off=, unwrap-off=	one line per tracking part or redirect switched off
clean-add=ref|example.com	a tracking part of your own, and where (empty: everywhere)
log=on	keep the link log
check-updates=on	off: ask GitHub for a newer version only when you press Check now
setup=done, closed-once=yes, version=	the setup screen was seen; the note about closing the window was shown; the version that last ran

Setting it up

The one command under Install does all of this by itself. By hand:

1. Get the program, either way:

   • Download from the Releases page — LinkPilot-<version>.zip — and unzip it into a folder you will keep. The program is not signed, so Windows may say "Windows protected your PC" the first time — More info → Run anyway.
   • or build it: double-click build.cmd. It makes BrowserSwitch.exe with the C# compiler already inside Windows (.NET Framework 4). Nothing is downloaded.

   Keep the folder where it is afterwards: Windows is told to run the program from there.

2. Double-click Install.cmd from File Explorer. It runs install.ps1, which registers Browser Switch and opens it. Run it yourself: registry changes made from inside some programs — AI coding assistants included — land in a private copy of the registry that only that program sees, and Windows Settings would never see LinkPilot.

LinkPilot is not your default browser yet after that — Windows requires you to choose it yourself. So LinkPilot opens on a setup screen — on its first start, and again whenever it is not the default browser — in three steps (Back and Skip on the left, the blue button on the right):

1. How it works — why it has to be the default browser (every link must pass through it, and Windows sends links only to the default browser), and why it can be trusted: fully offline, sends nothing, made for personal use, open, easy to undo.
2. Your choices — clean links (on), with a real link shown before and after cleaning; clean copied links too (off), keep a log of links (on), check for updates automatically (on). All can be changed later on their tabs.
3. Make it your default browser — Open Windows Settings opens on LinkPilot's own page; press Set default; the setup screen notices by itself. If LinkPilot already is the default, this step just says so.

No program or command can make this choice for you — Windows ignores them, which is what keeps programs from taking over your browser.

Then a big You're all set! — and if you have no category yet, the browser you used until now becomes the first one, live (for example Firefox), so links keep going exactly where they went. Set them up → goes on to the short guide; Finish - I'll look around myself opens the main window instead.

The short guide

A few optional screens — about a minute — each one decision with a good answer filled in already: press the blue button on every screen and the setup is good. Next saves what the screen shows, Skip saves nothing, and a screen that does not apply is passed over.

1. Your categories — one tick per browser profile on this PC, each with a name suggested (the name you gave the profile, or the browser's own). A profile a category already uses shows that category's name instead.
2. How you switch — keyboard shortcuts on, with the keys suggested and whether each is free; the smart queue; and an icon per category in the dock.
3. When no rule decides — Open in the live category, or Ask every time (see Ask every time). Only with two categories or more.
4. Rules for your apps — up to six apps that opened links on this PC (or are running now) and have no rule yet, each with a category guessed for it — Teams to a category called Work, a game to Home; none is ticked, so tick the ones you want. More apps… opens the full list. Only with two categories or more.
5. Where things live — one line per tab, and Finish.

To take it again: About & updates tab → Take the short guide again. Show the setup screen again, just under it, brings back the three steps above.

By hand, in Settings → Apps → Default apps there are two ways:

• By app — under Set defaults for applications, find LinkPilot (blue square, two arrows), open it, press Set default.
• By link type — in the top box, Set a default for a file type or link type, type HTTP, click the app shown under it, and choose LinkPilot. Then the same for HTTPS.

Until you do, nothing changes. If you skip the setup screen, the window says so across the top in yellow, and its Set it up button brings the setup screen back.

If LinkPilot is not offered: double-click Install.cmd again — yourself, not from inside another program — then close Settings completely (clicking the X only hides it) and open it again. What install.ps1 sets up, and why:

• the registration — a link handler, BrowserSwitchURL, and an entry in RegisteredApplications saying it handles http, https, .htm and .html. This is what puts it in Windows' list of apps for links;
• an identity — a name, an icon and a publisher, both inside the exe and on the link handler, and one app ID, com.husarp.linkpilot (the same as the Android app's), shared by the link handler and the Start menu shortcut. Before 2.2.0 the exe had no icon and a blank name, so the most Windows could call it was "BrowserSwitch.exe";
• a Start menu shortcut, and an entry in Settings → Apps → Installed apps, so it can be found and removed like any other program.

If something goes wrong

A link must never die because the switcher is confused. Where a link goes is worked out in one place, and --dry reports exactly what a real click would do, so the two can never disagree:

0. first the link is cleaned — redirects skipped, tracking removed — if link cleaning is on;
1. (while rules are on) the first ticked rule that matches, if its category's browser still exists;
2. the live category, if its browser still exists;
3. otherwise the browser that was your default before LinkPilot was installed — recorded at install time, so a machine with nothing set up behaves exactly as it did before (installed again or moved while LinkPilot already is the default, it is taken over from the copy installed before);
4. otherwise the first browser Windows lists.

If step 1 or 2 lands on an Ask every time category, the small window asks which category's browser to use (and --dry just says it would ask); Don't open or Esc opens nothing.

Anything unexpected is written to errors.log. Tested against: no config at all, a config with no categories, a live category with no browser chosen, and a category pointing at a browser that has been deleted — all four fall through correctly.

Two levels of undo, on purpose:

• Pause — Back to normal.cmd. Instant, nothing removed; pick a category and tick Use rules on the Rules tab to switch back on.
• Remove — Settings → Apps → Installed apps → LinkPilot, or run uninstall.ps1. While LinkPilot is the default browser, it first opens Settings on the page of the browser you used before — one click on Set default (Windows lets no program do that click) — waits for it, and then removes everything, so Windows is never left pointing at something that no longer exists. Every registry key it created lives under your own user account and is deleted.

Command line

BrowserSwitch.exe <url>          open a link in the live category
BrowserSwitch.exe                open the window (starting the dock if it is not running)
BrowserSwitch.exe --tray         start the dock only - what runs when you sign in
BrowserSwitch.exe --switch Work  make a category live, no window
BrowserSwitch.exe --reset        every link to the original default browser - and rules off
BrowserSwitch.exe --dry <url>    write where the link WOULD go, and what cleaning changes, to dry-run.log; open nothing
   --dry <url> --from Signal.exe   ...as if the link had been clicked in Signal (tries app rules)
BrowserSwitch.exe --list         write the browsers and profiles it can see to detected.txt
BrowserSwitch.exe --selftest     build the window in memory and report what it holds, without showing it

One caveat, with Firefox

Firefox is launched with -P "profile name". If Firefox is already running with a different profile, it may open the link in the window that is already there rather than starting the profile you asked for. Chrome, Edge and Brave handle --profile-directory cleanly whether or not they are running.