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Google Chrome has ability to launch in an "app" mode by using -app command line switch, for example:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" -app=http://some-url

Using this I open the website in a minimalistic chrome - no address bar, no anything; Besides it uses a separate spot in the taskbar and even uses a favicon as an icon in the windows task bar.

Does Firefox has an ability like this?

I only found that i has -new-window switch, but it opens full browser window with tab, bookmarks and other bars, which I don't want.

Why do I need this: I want to have a desktop shortcut to open a specific twitch chat in a minimalistic browser window (like the window that appears when you use the pop out feature in the twitch chat, or in case of Google Chrome - even better, without the window).

In case Firefox CLI doesn't have such functionality, maybe there is another way to do this, for example through a javascript URL, autohotkey or anything like that?

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  • Both of your options result in full screen browser. Sorry, fullscreen is nothing I asked for. I want "chromeless" browser as\minimal UI browser that has nothing but windows title bar and page content. I do not plan to use it in full screen. Chrome "-app" option does that perfectly. Just try it out and you will see what I mean.
    – Ubeogesh
    Commented May 17, 2018 at 17:59
  • 2
    Cool deal, I appreciate the update and I've removed both as I told you I would since you didn't get what you needed from them and so much time has passed. I hope you find a solution to this still if you've not already. Thank you!!
    – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style
    Commented May 17, 2018 at 19:00
  • If you found my answer helpful please mark it as correct.
    – ETL
    Commented Jun 30, 2023 at 18:57

1 Answer 1

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Short answer: No.

Firefox has never had had a command-line switch like you're describing, and you're far from the first person to wish it did. In previous versions (up to FF 85), the about:config preference browser.ssb.enabled achieved this fairly well, but it was removed. (Read: Mozilla drops support for PWAs)

The closest option as far as CMD switches are concerned is --kiosk to run in Kiosk mode, which is full-screen, cannot be minimized, and disables a lot of basic functionality, including the ability to right-click. No frame is visible at all, unlike Chrome's -app switch which leaves a frame and visible title bar, among other things.

Similar questions have been posed on Superuser, where this is one possible answer (however, it involves executing some Javascript, and I could not get it to work from Firefox's browser console, although interestingly it did work from Chrome's).

Currently, this is the most commonly recommended workaround:

  1. Create a new profile via about:Profiles (let's name the profile "pwa")
  2. Create a userChrome.css file in that profile folder (instructions)
  3. Add CSS to remove whatever toolbar items you want. Reddit's r/FirefoxCSS is a good resource for this. This gist is a good start for Chromeless CSS.
  4. Create shortcuts to your "app" targeting "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -P pwa --new-instance <url> (where "-P" is the -ProfileManager argument and "pwa" is the name of your custom, chromeless profile.)

There are several downsides to this approach, including that it requires a fair amount of setup, future Firefox updates may break it, and the biggest problem for most: This new profile will not have any of the same cookies, history, bookmarks, extensions, or other settings as your primary profile, and links opened from your pwa profile will not open in your primary profile (edit: this last point may actually be possible by installing something like the Open With extension in your pwa profile, then setting it to target your Firefox main profile. It would be a slow and resource-heavy way just to open tabs, though).

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