Refrax
Consumer and social
web browser
SHOW HN2026
How HN took it
4 positive, 0 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 1 critical, out of 5 comments about the project. Thread score +0.38.
Idea: 3 for, 1 againstDesign: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Clever use of CAPortalLayer to mirror views
From 2 comments
This is a really clever use of CAPortalLayer. Feels like you're essentially bypassing the “one WKWebView per hierarchy” constraint by turning the problem into a rendering problem…
imadch on HNthat's a pretty genius use of the "portals" primitive; I suppose its akin to Portals in React-ish. Although I've never needed to open 2 tabs of the same site and wanted them…
arkits on HN
Looks amazing and a good Arc replacement
From 2 comments
This sounds great. I'm going to check it out. Any plans to include syncing (possibly over iCloud first)? Edit: Looks like you have it already. Browser looks amazing! Spot on to…
mista_v on HNNice one! Looking forward to trying it out. Have had the same grievances about Arc being abandone. Dia? … nah
jannniii on HN
Objections
Closed source, so hard to trust or adopt
From 1 comment
Why not open source it? Pretty sure no one will try seriously unless it’s open source. And you won’t get the flex without showing off the source. Growing it as a business seems…
ozozozd on HN
Security concerns about CLI integration and installing it
From 1 comment
This sounds great. I'm going to check it out. Any plans to include syncing (possibly over iCloud first)? Edit: Looks like you have it already. Browser looks amazing! Spot on to…
mista_v on HN
Unclear long-term maintenance and security patch plans
From 1 comment
This sounds great. I'm going to check it out. Any plans to include syncing (possibly over iCloud first)? Edit: Looks like you have it already. Browser looks amazing! Spot on to…
mista_v on HN
Requests
Open source the code
From 1 comment
Why not open source it? Pretty sure no one will try seriously unless it’s open source. And you won’t get the flex without showing off the source. Growing it as a business seems…
ozozozd on HN
iCloud syncing
From 1 comment
This sounds great. I'm going to check it out. Any plans to include syncing (possibly over iCloud first)? Edit: Looks like you have it already. Browser looks amazing! Spot on to…
mista_v on HN
Questions
How input events are handled across mirrored views
From 1 comment
This is a really clever use of CAPortalLayer. Feels like you're essentially bypassing the “one WKWebView per hierarchy” constraint by turning the problem into a rendering problem…
imadch on HN
How security patches will be handled long term
From 1 comment
This sounds great. I'm going to check it out. Any plans to include syncing (possibly over iCloud first)? Edit: Looks like you have it already. Browser looks amazing! Spot on to…
mista_v on HN
Alternatives named
Arc
From 1 comment
Nice one! Looking forward to trying it out. Have had the same grievances about Arc being abandone. Dia? … nah
jannniii on HN
Dia
From 2 comments
Nice one! Looking forward to trying it out. Have had the same grievances about Arc being abandone. Dia? … nah
jannniii on HNSame here.. I keep trying Dia every few months, but... nah. Not even after they tried to put back all the features that we love about Arc (it's just not the same).
mista_v on HN
Zen, SigmaOS, Helium, Safari
From 1 comment