# Teaching Alfred about the Helium Browser

- Author: @gurupanguji
- Date: 2026-05-22
- URL: https://gurupanguji.com/blog/2026/05/22/helium-browser-alfred-workflows/
- Categories: essay

---


I use a custom Alfred workflow called `quote-capture` to clip text and source URLs from web pages. Safari and Google Chrome work fine because the workflow uses Alfred's built-in automation task, `tabs-current`.

Since I switched to [Helium](https://helium.computer), the URL capture broke. I rely on the front browser current tab for a ton of other workflows as well. In this case, the selected quote was captured fine (via standard clipboard copy), but the source line stayed blank. 

## The "hidden" whitelist

Under the hood, Alfred's `tabs-current` automation task determines the frontmost browser by calling `get-frontmost-browser` and matches it against two hardcoded lists:
- WebKit variants: `Safari`, `Webkit`, `Orion`
- Chromium variants: `Google Chrome`, `Chromium`, `Opera`, `Vivaldi`, `Brave Browser`, `Microsoft Edge`, `Arc`

Because `Helium` is not in either list, Alfred's helper task throws an "unsupported browser" error. The JXA wrapper catches the exception and returns an empty object.

1. It's 2026 and I am flummoxed that `Arc` is still part of that list while `Firefox`, `Zen` and `Helium` are missing. 

### Designing a Resilient Fallback

Alfred folks are quite clear that they are not maintaining that list with any urgency. So, I updated `quote_capture.sh` to intercept the query when Helium is active.

The JXA script now checks the frontmost application process. If it is `Helium`, we query the browser directly instead of relying on Alfred's helper:

```javascript
function getHeliumTab() {
  try {
    const app = Application("Helium")
    if (app.running() && app.windows.length > 0) {
      // 1. Try Chromium-style JXA dictionary
      const activeTab = app.windows[0].activeTab
      const url = activeTab.url()
      const title = activeTab.name() || activeTab.title() || ""
      if (url) return { title, url }
    }
  } catch (e) {}
}
```

## Pure Portability

By intercepting the frontmost application check and implementing a layered JXA, the workflow handles Helium while maintaining support for default whitelisted browsers. 

More importantly, can easily extend this if a new browser hits the system. 

The same thing can also be achieved via a workflow component as follows:

- add a conditional block after the "Current Front Browser Tab"
- detect an empty string and then run an osacript with the following command

```applescript
on run argv
    tell application "Helium"
        set currentURL to URL of active tab of front window
        return currentURL
    end tell
end run
```
- and pass the output to the `Open URL` action

For a brief moment there I was wondering if I had to move back to Chrome / Safari and this solves the pain point.