What does your feature entail?
Add a macOS Share Extension that registers "Open in Orion" as an action in the system-wide Share Sheet (the same menu accessible via the Share icon in Finder, Safari, Mail, Notes, and other apps, or via right-click → Share). When a user shares a URL, selected text containing a URL, or a webpage from any app, "Open in Orion" would appear as one of the available destinations, and selecting it would open that link directly in Orion.
What is it for?
Currently, opening a link from another app into Orion typically requires either setting Orion as the default browser system-wide, or manually copying the URL and pasting it into Orion. Neither is ideal: making Orion the default browser is an all-or-nothing decision many users aren't ready to make, and manual copy-paste is slow and disrupts flow. A native Share Sheet extension would let users open links in Orion on demand, per-link, without changing their default browser — which is especially useful for people who use Orion as a secondary/specialized browser (e.g., for privacy-focused browsing, testing, or specific workflows) alongside another primary browser.
How will it affect existing workflows or user experience?
It's additive and non-disruptive: it introduces a new option in an existing system menu without changing any current behavior or settings. It doesn't require setting Orion as the default browser, so users retain full control over which browser handles what. It would primarily benefit power users and multi-browser users who currently rely on copy-paste as a workaround, streamlining a task that today takes several manual steps.
Concrete use cases:
Sharing from Reader — A user browsing their saved articles in Reader finds a link they want to open in a full browser instead of Reader's built-in view — for example, to interact with a page's JavaScript-heavy content, log into an account, or use Orion's extensions. They use Reader's Share menu → "Open in Orion" instead of copying the URL manually.
Sharing from GoodLinks — A user has saved a link in GoodLinks to read later. When they're ready to revisit it in a full browser (e.g., to bookmark it properly, print it, or continue research with Orion's tab/session features), they share it from GoodLinks directly to Orion via the Share Sheet, skipping the copy-paste step entirely.
How it extends the existing feature:
macOS's Share Sheet already exists as a system-wide extension point — it's just that Orion isn't currently one of the registered destinations app-to-app for opening links. This feature wouldn't be a new mechanism; it would simply be Orion adopting the standard NSExtension/Share Extension API that other browsers already use, making Orion a first-class citizen in a workflow macOS users already rely on daily. It complements (rather than duplicates) the existing "Set as Default Browser" setting: users who don't want to switch fully to Orion still get a fast, native way to send specific links to it, which could also serve as a low-commitment way to build a habit of using Orion more, ahead of any decision to make it the default.
Examples from other browsers/apps (macOS):
Notably, on macOS, major browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge) generally do not register themselves as Share Sheet destinations the way they do on iOS/iPadOS — this is actually a gap in the current ecosystem. The closest existing example is Velja, a paid, closed-source macOS utility that handles links clicked outside the browser and lets users choose where to direct them, including a share extension that can be launched from the Share button in any app to open the same link elsewhere. Velja demonstrates there's real demand for exactly this kind of Share Sheet-based link routing on macOS — but it's a paid third-party workaround rather than something browsers provide natively. Orion adding a native "Open in Orion" Share Sheet action would fill this gap directly and at no extra cost, without requiring users to install and pay for a separate utility just to route links to a specific browser.
