bm

README

bm

Terminal bookmark manager with vim keybindings. Folders, fuzzy search, copy to clipboard — all in a single YAML file you can keep in your dotfiles, private repo, or self-hosted server.

Installation

With Homebrew (macOS):

brew install bopeng95/tap/bm

With Go:

go install github.com/bopeng95/bm/cmd/bm@latest

Prebuilt binaries are on the releases page.

A Nerd Font is recommended for the icons; --ascii works without one.

Usage

Run bm. If you know vim you already know your way around — motions, counts, / to fuzzy-search, : for commands. A few things worth knowing:

• a adds: a trailing slash makes a folder (docs/), and paths nest (work/go/GitHub creates the folders in between).
• Enter copies the bookmark's URL — it works even over SSH via OSC 52. Set open_in_browser: true to open it in the browser instead.
• Edits stay in memory until you save with :w.
• The mouse works: wheel scrolls, click selects, click again toggles.

Press ? inside bm for the full keybinding list, settings, and themes.

Commands

Command
:w	save
:wq, :x	save and quit
:q, :q!	quit; ! skips the unsaved-changes prompt
:sort, :sort all	sort the current folder / every folder
:fold, :unfold	collapse / expand all folders
:theme <name>	switch themes (see Themes)
:set <key> <value>	change a setting (see Configuration)

CLI flags

Flag
--file <path>	use another bookmarks file (settings.file_location makes it persistent)
--theme <name>	theme for this run only
--ascii	plain ASCII icons
--import <file>	import a browser's bookmarks HTML export
--export	export as browser-importable HTML
--out <dir>	output directory for --import/--export

Configuration

Bookmarks live in ~/.config/bm/bookmarks.yaml (or under $XDG_CONFIG_HOME) — plain YAML you can edit by hand:

version: 1
folders:
  - name: "dev"
    bookmarks:
      - name: "GitHub"
        url: "https://github.com"
bookmarks:
  - name: "Hacker News"
    url: "https://news.ycombinator.com"

For a fuller starting point, copy examples/bookmarks.yaml (the tree in the screenshot above).

Hand-edit freely: broken entries are kept and flagged rather than dropped, saves are atomic, and bm never writes a file it can't read back. And because a bookmarks file may come from someone else, bm treats it as untrusted — escape sequences are stripped, only http(s) URLs will open, and YAML aliases (*a) are refused outright.

Settings live in a separate ~/.config/bm/config.yaml; most can also be changed in-app (? or :set):

settings:
  line_numbers: true # show line numbers in the tree
  open_in_browser: false # Enter opens the URL in the browser instead of copying it
  confirm_open: true # confirm before opening in the browser (with open_in_browser)
  confirm_sort_all: true # confirm before :sort all
  display_url: true # show each bookmark's URL next to its name
  mouse: true # wheel scrolls, click selects; off restores plain drag-to-select
  name_truncate: 50 # cut names at this many columns; 0 = window edge
  max_indent: 0 # maximum visible nesting levels; zero means unlimited
  path_segments: 3 # trailing path segments shown in the header; 0 = full path
  theme: "" # a built-in theme name; empty = terminal colors
  file_location: "" # default bookmarks file; empty = the path above
ascii:
  enabled: false # plain ASCII icons instead of Nerd Font glyphs
  bookmark: "-"
  folder_closed: ">"
  folder_open: "v"

Import & export

Every browser reads and writes the same bookmarks HTML format:

bm --import path/to/bookmarks.html   # → ~/.config/bm/imports/<source>-<time>.yaml
bm --export                          # → ./<source>-<time>.html

An import never touches your current bookmarks — it writes a fresh file, which you open with bm --file. Only http(s) URLs are imported; anything skipped is listed.

Themes

By default bm uses only the 16 ANSI colors, so it matches your terminal's theme. 17 truecolor themes ship built in:

catppuccin-frappe · catppuccin-latte · catppuccin-macchiato · catppuccin-mocha · tokyonight-night · tokyonight-storm · tokyonight-moon · kanagawa-wave · kanagawa-dragon · gruvbox · everforest · rose-pine · rose-pine-moon · nord · onedark · dracula · solarized

Pick one with :theme <name>, the --theme flag, or settings.theme; :theme default returns to your terminal's colors.

License

MIT.