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Your First Session

This tutorial guides you through your first browsing session with Astronomo. By the end, you'll be comfortable navigating Geminispace from the terminal.

Time: 10 minutes

Prerequisites

Step 1: Launch Astronomo

Open your terminal and run:

astronomo

You'll see the Astronomo interface with:

  • A header bar at the top
  • Navigation buttons (◀ ▶) and an address bar
  • A content area (empty on first launch)
  • A footer showing available commands

Step 2: Visit Your First Page

Let's visit the official Gemini Protocol homepage.

  1. Click in the address bar (or it should already be focused)
  2. Type: geminiprotocol.net
  3. Press Enter

Tip

You don't need to type gemini:// - Astronomo adds it automatically.

The page loads and you'll see formatted Gemtext content with:

  • Headings in different sizes
  • Links highlighted and navigable
  • Plain text paragraphs

The page has several links. Let's explore them:

Using Keyboard

  1. Press Right to select the first link
  2. Keep pressing Right to move through links
  3. Press Left to go back
  4. When a link is selected, press Enter to follow it

Using Mouse

Simply click any link to follow it.

Step 4: Go Back and Forward

After following a few links, use history navigation:

Action Keyboard Mouse
Go back Backspace Click ◀ button
Go forward Shift+Backspace Click ▶ button

Try navigating back through the pages you've visited.

Step 5: Scroll the Page

For longer pages, scroll with:

  • Up / Down - Scroll by line
  • Page Up / Page Down - Scroll by page
  • Home / End - Jump to top/bottom
  • Mouse scroll wheel

Step 6: Add a Bookmark

Found a page you like? Save it:

  1. Press Ctrl+D
  2. A dialog appears with the page title
  3. Edit the title if you want
  4. Optionally select a folder
  5. Press Enter to save

Step 7: View Your Bookmarks

Press Ctrl+B to open the bookmarks sidebar:

  • Your saved bookmarks appear in a list
  • Click a bookmark to navigate
  • Press Ctrl+B again to close the sidebar

Step 8: Explore More

Here are some interesting Gemini capsules to visit:

gemini://geminiprotocol.net/docs/
gemini://geminiquickst.art/
gemini://geminispace.info/

Type any of these in the address bar to visit.

Step 9: Quit

When you're done, press Ctrl+Q to exit Astronomo.

What You Learned

You now know how to:

  • Launch Astronomo
  • Navigate to URLs
  • Follow links with keyboard and mouse
  • Navigate browser history
  • Scroll pages
  • Add and view bookmarks
  • Quit the application

Next Steps