Getting Started

Sylphi Route sits between the links you click and the browsers you use. This guide walks you from a fresh download to a working setup where every link is handed to Sylphi Route first.

1. Install from the Mac App Store

Download Sylphi Route from the Mac App Store using the button on the home page. Once it finishes installing, launch it from your Applications folder or Spotlight.

Sylphi Route is a small menu-bar app. It doesn’t display web pages itself — it only decides which browser should.

2. First launch

On first launch, Sylphi Route adds an icon to your menu bar. Click it to open the main window, where you’ll manage your rules and browsers.

The first time it runs, macOS may ask you to confirm that you want to open an app downloaded from the App Store. Choose Open.

3. Set Sylphi Route as your default browser

For Sylphi Route to route links, macOS needs to send links to it first. That means making Sylphi Route your default browser.

You can usually do this in one of two ways:

1. From Sylphi Route’s window, click Set as Default Browser (exact label may differ in the shipping app). macOS will show a confirmation dialog — choose Sylphi Route.
2. Or open System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Default web browser and select Sylphi Route from the list.

Once set, every link you click — in Mail, Slack, Notes, or anywhere else — passes through Sylphi Route.

4. Pick a fallback browser

Before you write any rules, choose a default target: the browser Sylphi Route opens when no rule matches. This is typically your everyday personal browser.

With a default target set, Sylphi Route is already useful — it behaves like a normal default browser until you start adding rules to peel specific links away to other browsers or profiles.

Next steps

• Head to Creating Rules to start routing links.
• Hitting a snag? See Troubleshooting & FAQ.