Show HN: your website as a TUI, over SSH right now

Posted by keepamovin on Tuesday July 07, 2026 @08:18PM
from the show-hn dept.

Try it at: ssh krnl.duetbrowser.com

No sign up, totally free - no download. Let me know what you think.

This is a real TUI browser rendering the web as ANSI with its own layout engine. The backend is Google cloud run, running browserbox and the Krnl TUI browser and it is routed through a simple SSH server endpoint.

Prior art exists (brow.sh) but I wasn't satisfied with their graphical take. I wanted the raw, old skool terminal days of the early internet - BBS, and old green phosphor library comptuers - but running the modern web, with all the bells and jingle jangle whistles (JavaScript, etc).

No funding, no VC, just 100% raw terminal fun. Not sure how long the demo will last, but try it out.

( 7 comments | 4 points | on HN )

Re:Show HN: your website as a TUI, over SSH right now by quotemstr on Tuesday July 07, 2026 @10:33PM (#48826810)

You might want to consider using atomic update escape codes: https://github.com/contour-terminal/vt-extensions/blob/maste...

The interface flickers like crazy right now.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Show HN: your website as a TUI, over SSH right now by keepamovin on Tuesday July 07, 2026 @10:51PM (#48826923)

Thank you. Can you record a video of the flickering you’re seeing?

edit: I just recorded a demo here: https://youtu.be/dbNlXjC0lo0

Which parts are flickering? In your run, what did you see? A video (or asciinema) would be most helpful!

I just tested your atomics idea now and it seems to improve render speed noticably, and it might appear more smooth. Thanks for that. Please check it out and lmk what you think - the fleet will be rolled a bit later, I'll let you know when you can try the update.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Show HN: your website as a TUI, over SSH right now by zgubi on Wednesday July 08, 2026 @02:40AM (#48828391)

  ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  KRNL — the text-mode web browser, in the cloud │
  │  Ctrl-C or close the terminal to end the demo.  │
  └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Starting BrowserBox Terminal Kernel...

Error: Failed to start kernel - Cannot find module 'chroma-js' Require stack: - /tmp/sea-terminal-kit-f476015698c8cef721a6637233bd9330/client/node_modules/terminal-kit/lib/termkit.js - /tmp/sea-terminal-kit-f476015698c8cef721a6637233bd9330/client/noop.js Connection to krnl.duetbrowser.com closed.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Show HN: your website as a TUI, over SSH right now by rrvsh on Wednesday July 08, 2026 @04:07AM (#48829006)

same sadly

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Show HN: your website as a TUI, over SSH right now by keepamovin on Wednesday July 08, 2026 @04:14AM (#48829067)

Thanks. Will look into that.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Show HN: your website as a TUI, over SSH right now by rrvsh on Thursday July 09, 2026 @11:14PM (#48855337)

I am in SEA, yes. This is pretty cool! Definitely more usable than brow.sh, sadly

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Show HN: your website as a TUI, over SSH right now by keepamovin on Friday July 10, 2026 @12:41PM (#48862290)

Thanks! Glad you liked it and tried it and super happy you found it more usable! A lot of work went into making it click. If you want to run on own hardware: https://win9-5.com/krnl

[ Parent | on HN ]