A few months back I reported that Kagi, the company behind the paid, private and privacy-focused search engine of the same time, is porting its Orion web browser to Linux – now we have our first look at how its Linux GUI is shaping up.
A recent development screenshot of Orion’s WIP Linux build was shared by Kagi devs—pictured in the hero image above—and it reveals that Orion for Linux will use GTK4/libadwaita for its GUI.
A logical (and expected) choice: GTK4 is a modern, widely-used toolkit across Linux distros, with consistency at its core. And libadwaita provides widgets and capabilities that will make it easier for Kagi to replicate features found in native macOS and iOS versions of Orion.
Indeed, if you’re familiar with Orion on macOS you’ll instantly see that the WIP Linux GUI appears remarkably consistent with the macOS build, pictured below:
One thing that is different is the amount of icons shown in the toolbar. This might be because we’re looking at a development build (and having features in reach is efficient for testing), or because the dev who shares the screenshot has customised their toolbar.
Either way, from the icons on show it appears most of the Orion feature set, including its per-site ‘sticky’ page tweaks and element erasing, window saving, and focus mode, are either planned or in-progress for the browser’s initial Linux release.
When will Orion for Linux be available to download and test?
Probably not for a while.
If you’re interested being notified when the Linux version is available—and/or to show support for the Linux version in general—you can sign up for e-mail alerts. To learn more about Orion (for macOS) in general, visit the Orion landing page or comprehensive FAQ.
Kagi says it has begun open-sourcing components used in Orion but that the browser is not (currently) open source software.
There’s also a question mark over how and where the initial preview builds will be distributed, with many Linux users asking Kagi to avoid offering a DEB and instead go straight to Flathub instead, arguing it will broaden access across distros.
Thanks Andres