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Why I Built My Own Browser

Eduardo Pazmiño
Eduardo Pazmiño
v0.0.31

The frustrations, the vision, and the journey of creating Manaby.

Table of Contents

Every developer has that one project. The one that starts as “I could build this” and becomes an obsession. For me, that project is a browser.

The Frustration

I spend most of my day in a browser. Coding, researching, reading docs, watching videos, managing tasks. The browser is my operating system.

And yet, I was constantly frustrated.

Chrome is fast but boring. The UI is cluttered with stuff I don’t use. Google wants me signed in so they can track everything I do. And after years of using it, I was just bored.

Firefox is privacy-focused, which I appreciate. But it felt slow. The dev tools aren’t as good. And it’s falling behind in market share, which means some sites don’t work properly.

Safari is beautifully integrated with macOS. But I also use Windows and Linux. And the extension ecosystem is limited.

Arc got close to what I wanted. The sidebar, the spaces, the clean UI. But then Chromium happened. They’re pivoting away from the browser. And it’s not open source—I can’t fix what annoys me.

Brave blocks ads and trackers, which is great. But the crypto stuff feels out of place. And the UI is just Chrome with extra features bolted on.

None of them were exactly what I wanted.

What I Actually Wanted

I started writing down what my ideal browser would look like:

  1. Split views – I need to see two pages side by side. Not in separate windows. In the same window, split 50/50 or 70/30. Like VS Code does with editors.

  2. A command palette – Raycast changed how I use my Mac. Why can’t my browser have the same thing? Press a shortcut, type what you want, get there instantly.

  3. Zen mode – Sometimes I just want to read an article without tabs, toolbars, and distractions. A fullscreen reading experience.

  4. Beautiful themes – If I stare at this thing all day, it should look good. Not just light and dark mode—real themes like Dracula, Nord, Tokyo Night.

  5. Privacy by default – Block trackers. Block ads. No account required. No data leaving my machine.

  6. Keyboard-first – I don’t want to reach for my mouse. Everything should be accessible via shortcuts.

The Moment I Decided to Build It

One night, I was trying to compare two code implementations side by side. I had a browser tab open on the left monitor and another on the right. When I needed to scroll both simultaneously, I realized how broken the experience was.

“This should be a split view.”

That thought wouldn’t go away.

A week later, I had a prototype. A window with two webviews side by side. It was ugly. It was buggy. But it worked.

And I was hooked.

The Journey

Building a browser is harder than I expected. Every feature opens a rabbit hole:

  • Tabs? Okay, now I need tab state management. And tab dragging. And tab closing animations. And tab overflow handling. And tab memory management.

  • Split views? Now I need focus tracking. And keyboard navigation between splits. And proper ratio calculations. And what happens when you close a tab in a split?

  • Passwords? Encryption. Master password. Autofill detection. Secure storage. Form injection.

Every “simple” feature became weeks of work.

But that’s also what made it fun. Every problem had a solution. Every bug taught me something. Every feature completed felt like a small victory.

Why I’m Sharing It

Manaby started as a personal tool. I built it for myself, exactly the way I wanted it.

But other people asked about it. Friends who saw it on my screen. Colleagues who noticed the split views. Strangers on Twitter who saw a screenshot.

“Can I try it?”

So I decided to share it.

It’s not perfect. It probably never will be. But it’s honest. It’s exactly what I wanted, and maybe what you want too.

No investors telling me to add features I don’t believe in. No business model pushing me toward monetization. No growth hacks or engagement tricks.

Just a browser, built by a developer, for developers (and anyone else who wants control over their tools).

The Philosophy

If I had to summarize Manaby in one sentence:

A browser that respects your time, your attention, and your privacy.

That’s it. That’s the goal. Everything else follows from that.

If any of this resonates with you, download Manaby and give it a try. I’d love to hear what you think.

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