Rust · WebView2 · Windows

Nous

Pure mind. Pure web.

A borderless browser distilled to its essence. No chrome, no UI — just the content, and a few keys to move through it.

Download Nous.exe Source

Version 1.0.2 688 KB Released December 2025

Requires Windows 10/11 with WebView2 Runtime (pre-installed on most systems).

Nous showing a full-bleed wallpaper as its home page, with no browser chrome visible.

What it is

Pure web content. Nothing else.

Nous is a Rust/WebView2 shell with everything a browser usually shows stripped away — no tabs, no URL bar, no toolbars, no decoration — summoned back only by a keystroke when you actually need it.

Chrome: None. Borderless window with subtle padding.
Scrollbars: Hidden by default.
Binary: ≈600 KB.
Stack: Rust, wry, tao.

Keys

Everything is a keystroke away.

Global

`Alt`+`F`	URL bar
`Alt`+`B`	Bookmarks
`Alt`+`A`	Add bookmark
`Alt`+`H`	Help
`Ctrl`+`R` · `F5`	Reload
`Ctrl`+`+` · `Ctrl`+`−` · `Ctrl`+`0`	Zoom in / out / reset
`Ctrl`+`Q`	Quit

In Bookmarks

`Shift`+`F`	Search & filter
`Shift`+`D`	Delete selected
`Shift`+`E`	Edit selected
`Esc`	Close

Config

A handful of lines in `nous.conf`.

Drop a nous.conf next to the executable. Bookmarks are saved alongside in bookmarks.json.

home        = https://duckduckgo.com
padding_x   = 0.15
padding_y   = 0.15

Point home at a data: URL and you have an always-on wallpaper:

home = data:text/html,<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><style>*{margin:0;padding:0}body{background:url('IMAGE_URL') center/cover no-repeat fixed;height:100vh}</style></head><body></body></html>

Setting	Default	Description
`home`	wallpaper	Start-page URL or `data:` URL
`padding_x`	0.15	Horizontal padding (0.0 – 0.5)
`padding_y`	0.15	Vertical padding (0.0 – 0.5)

Philosophy

νοῦς

— the Ancient Greek concept of mind and intellect. Pure thought, distilled into code.

ΝΟΥΣ Nous