Ren Browser

A modern browser for Reticulum Network using Reticulum-Go and Micron-Parser-Go.

This project is under heavy active development and may be unstable on some platformas until v1.0

Features

• NomadNet compatible - renders Micron (.mu) pages served over Reticulum.
• Full interface control - Hot reload interfaces.
• Multiple identities - create, import, export, rename, and switch between Reticulum identities.
• Document reader - open epub and PDF files downloaded over the network.
• Micron editor - write and preview .mu pages.
• Extension system - install JS or WASM plugins with per-permission grants (network, storage, navigation).
• Runs anywhere - desktop builds for Linux, Windows, and macOS, an Android APK, and a headless server binary/Docker image for your server or rpi zero w.
• Localized UI - English, German, Spanish, and Russian, with more community translations welcome.

Documentation

Guides by language in docs/:

Language	Folder
English	docs/en/
Russian	docs/ru/
Spanish	docs/es/
German	docs/de/

Start with Getting started in your language.

Install

Pre-built downloads

Grab the latest release for your system from GitHub Releases.

System requirements

Package	What you need on the host
Linux AppImage	Bundles GTK 4, WebKitGTK 6, and other libraries via linuxdeploy. No separate WebKit install. Some distros need FUSE or APPIMAGE_EXTRACT_AND_RUN=1.
Linux Flatpak	Flatpak plus the org.gnome.Platform runtime (GTK 4 and WebKitGTK 6). The app bundle does not ship those runtimes itself.
Linux Arch package	GTK 4 and WebKitGTK 6.0 from pacman (sudo pacman -U renbrowser-linux-*.pkg.tar.zst).
Linux plain binary	GTK 4 and WebKitGTK 6.0 at runtime, for example libgtk-4-1 and libwebkitgtk-6.0-4 on Debian/Ubuntu 24.04+, Fedora, or Arch.
Windows .exe	Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime. Usually already on Windows 10/11. The NSIS installer can install it if missing; the portable .exe does not.
macOS .app	Recent macOS with the system WebKit framework (no extra browser runtime to install).
Android APK	Android 5.0 or newer (API 21+). Universal APK covers arm64 and 32-bit ARM.
Server binary / Docker	No desktop GUI stack. Static Linux/FreeBSD/NetBSD builds; OpenBSD may link against the system libc. Docker image is linux amd64 only.

Docker or Podman

The published image is ghcr.io/quad4-software/renbrowser.

The image runs as a non-root user, so create the host directories first (otherwise Docker creates them as root), pass your host UID/GID, and map config and profile data under /data:

mkdir -p "$HOME/.reticulum-go" "$HOME/.renbrowser"
docker run --rm --name renbrowser -p 8080:8080 \
  --user "$(id -u):$(id -g)" \
  -e HOME=/data \
  -v "$HOME/.reticulum-go:/data/.reticulum-go" \
  -v "$HOME/.renbrowser:/data/.renbrowser" \
  -e REN_BROWSER_CONFIG=/data/.reticulum-go/config \
  ghcr.io/quad4-software/renbrowser:latest

The same flags work with podman run instead of docker run. On Podman you can use --userns=keep-id instead of --user "$(id -u):$(id -g)". If SELinux blocks the bind mount, add :Z to the volume flags (for example -v "$HOME/.reticulum-go:/data/.reticulum-go:Z").

Then open http://localhost:8080 in any browser on the same machine.

For a custom build from this repo:

task build:docker
task run:docker

The server image currently has no login screen. Only expose it on networks you trust, or put it behind a reverse proxy with access controls. See SECURITY.md.

Build from source

For contributors or platforms without a pre-built package.

You will need:

• Go 1.26 or newer
• WebKitGTK-6.0 (for wails desktop apps)
• Node.js 22+ and pnpm 11+
• Task (optional, recommended)
• Reticulum config at ~/.reticulum-go/ (or set REN_BROWSER_CONFIG)

Steps:

git clone https://github.com/Quad4-Software/Ren-Browser.git
# or via rngit: git clone rns://06a54b505bb67b25ef3f8097e8001edc/public/ren-browser
cd Ren-Browser
task build
# or make build
./bin/renbrowser

Go modules pull Quad4 dependencies from GitHub automatically; no extra repos to clone.

Platform-specific builds:

task build:windows
task build:darwin
task build:android      # universal APK (arm64 + armeabi-v7a)
task build:android:emu  # emulator (host ABI)

Installers (AppImage, Arch package, .app bundle, etc.):

task package
task package:linux:arch

Nix flake:

nix develop
nix build

Android builds need the Android SDK (API 34, NDK r26+). Set ANDROID_HOME and run task android:install:deps if the build complains about missing tools.

Release APK signing uses a Java keystore (.jks or .keystore), not a public certificate file. A .p12 (PKCS#12) bundle also contains the private key and must be kept secret. Generate a release keystore locally (never commit it):

keytool -genkeypair -v -keystore release.keystore -alias renbrowser \
  -keyalg RSA -keysize 4096 -validity 10000

Point Gradle at it when packaging:

export ANDROID_KEYSTORE_FILE="$PWD/release.keystore"
export ANDROID_KEYSTORE_PASSWORD='your-store-password'
export ANDROID_KEY_ALIAS=renbrowser
export ANDROID_KEY_PASSWORD='your-key-password'
task package:android

Android / iOS memory tagging (MTE)

Stock Go 1.26.x still crashes under ARM Memory Tagging Extension (SEGV_MTESERR) because C.GoString / runtime.findnull over-reads tagged C memory. Tip has the Android fix (CLs 749062 / 751020). Go 1.27 should ship it. Upstream iOS support is still open (CL 751000).

Android and iOS app builds therefore use a local tip toolchain under build/tools/go-mte (gitignored), with a small iOS parity patch. First mobile build compiles that toolchain once (needs network + a bootstrap Go). Desktop and server builds keep system Go from go.mod.

task toolchain:mte   # optional: prebuild the mobile Go toolchain
task build:android

Override pin with GO_MTE_REF=<commit> or force a rebuild with GO_MTE_FORCE=1.

Using the app

• Address bar: enter a NomadNet destination or use built-in schemes (about:, settings:, etc.).
• Discovery: find nodes announced on your Reticulum interfaces.
• Settings: manage interfaces, themes, extensions, and profile data.
• Data: bookmarks, history, and tabs are stored in ~/.renbrowser/renbrowser.db. Older state.json files are migrated on first launch.

Type license in the address bar to read the in-app license text.

Extensions

Install extensions from Settings → Extensions (zip or folder), or unpack into ~/.renbrowser/plugins/<id>/ with a renbrowser.plugin.json manifest.

An example extension lives in extensions/hello-extension/. Extension authors work with permissions (storage, navigation, network, and related caps) declared in the manifest. See internal/plugins/manifest.go for the full schema.

Server mode

Run Ren Browser as a web app without the desktop shell. Useful for homelab servers, Docker, or a machine that already runs Reticulum.

task build:server
./bin/renbrowser-server --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080

Cross-compile headless server binaries (pure Go, CGO_ENABLED=0):

task build:server GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm64 OUTPUT=bin/renbrowser-server-linux-arm64
task build:server GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm GOARM=6 OUTPUT=bin/renbrowser-server-linux-armv6
task build:server GOOS=freebsd GOARCH=amd64 OUTPUT=bin/renbrowser-server-freebsd-amd64
task build:server GOOS=windows GOARCH=amd64 OUTPUT=bin/renbrowser-server-windows-amd64.exe

Release builds also ship renbrowser-server-linux-amd64, linux-arm64, linux-armv6 (Raspberry Pi Zero W), freebsd-amd64, freebsd-arm64, openbsd-amd64, netbsd-amd64, and windows-amd64 (renbrowser-server-windows-amd64.exe).

Common environment variables (also readable from a .env file in the working directory):

Variable	Purpose
WAILS_SERVER_HOST / REN_BROWSER_HOST	Bind address
WAILS_SERVER_PORT / REN_BROWSER_PORT	Port (default 8080)
REN_BROWSER_CONFIG	Path to Reticulum config
REN_BROWSER_TRUST_PROXY	Trust X-Forwarded-* from a reverse proxy
REN_BROWSER_BASE_PATH	URL prefix when served under a subpath

Use --public-mode to keep favorites, history, and tabs in the browser (localStorage) instead of the server database.

Development

task dev

Run the full quality gate before sending changes (make check or task check):

make check
task test:interop   # optional; needs a live Reticulum network
make screenshots    # optional; refresh README preview images

Prefer Task? The same targets exist as task check, task screenshots, and so on. This repo also ships a Makefile if you do not want Task installed. Tree integrity helpers also use Make only: make tree-rsm-verify, make tree-rsm-sign, and make hooks-install (see SECURITY.md).

Project layout

Path	Contents
main_desktop.go / main_server.go	Desktop and headless entry points
internal/	Reticulum, NomadNet, rendering, SQLite store, plugins
frontend/	Svelte 5 UI
build/	Packaging and platform tooling

Regenerate with make screenshots or task screenshots. Images are written under screenshots/desktop/ and screenshots/mobile/ in dark/ and light/ subfolders. On Linux you can also capture the native window after launch:

REN_BROWSER_SCREENSHOT_DIR=screenshots/desktop REN_BROWSER_SCREENSHOT_THEME=dark ./bin/renbrowser

Contributing

Patches and guidance: CONTRIBUTING.md

Security reports: SECURITY.md

Legal and licensing questions: LEGAL.md

License

Ren Browser is released under the MIT License.