@leocg if you enter a URL like "http://127.0.0.1:8188/" in another browser then hit enter, it goes to that web address.

As it should.

I suspect the issue is that there is some buggy invalid URL detection code going on with OperaGX and hence its sending it to the search engine instead of loading the URL.

If i spin up a local server say http://127.0.0.1:8188

and i paste that into my URL and hit enter, it automatically sends that to a search engine, instead of actually loading up the URL. This is pretty ridiculous as a properly formatted HTTP address should get that HTTP request, instead of sending it to a search engine.

I understand there is a menu option to choose to go the URL i entered, but that's just not standard behavior for when a user enters a URL in the address bar. The standard behavior for entering a URL address in the URL Address bar is to go to that URL in the address bar.