A cross-platform Rust tool that generates comprehensive Brave browser debloat scripts for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Each script handles both system policies and user preferences in a single executable file. Supports both normal and nightly versions of Brave browser.

• Unified Scripts: Single executable files that handle both system policies and user preferences
• Cross-platform support: Windows (Registry + PowerShell), macOS (plist + shell), Linux (JSON policies + shell)
• Brave version support: Both normal and nightly versions
• Comprehensive debloating: Disables telemetry, ads, rewards, VPN, wallet, and other privacy-invasive features
• Extension management: Force-installs essential privacy extensions
• User preferences: Customizes dashboard, search engine, and experimental features
• Smart detection: Auto-detects Flatpak installations on Linux

# Build the tool
cargo build --release

# Generate unified Windows script for normal Brave
./target/release/brave-debloater --platform windows --version normal

# Generate unified macOS script for Brave Nightly
./target/release/brave-debloater --platform mac-os --version nightly

# Generate unified Linux script for normal Brave
./target/release/brave-debloater --platform linux --version normal

# Use custom config and extensions files with custom output directory
./target/release/brave-debloater --platform windows --config my-config.json --extensions my-extensions.json --output my-output

# Use the author's personal balanced config
./target/release/brave-debloater --platform linux --config configs/balanced.json

# Use minimal debloating
./target/release/brave-debloater --platform windows --config configs/minimal.json

# Use custom preferences config for dashboard and search customization
./target/release/brave-debloater --platform linux --preferences-config my-preferences.json

# Default behavior uses privacy-focused config
./target/release/brave-debloater --platform linux

• --platform: Target platform (windows, mac-os, linux)
• --version: Brave version (normal, nightly)
• --config: Configuration file path (default: configs/privacy-focused.json)
• --extensions: Extensions configuration file path (default: extensions.json)
• --output: Output directory (default: output)
• --preferences-config: Preferences configuration file (default: preferences.json)

1. Right-click the generated .bat file and select "Run as Administrator"
2. The script will automatically apply registry policies and modify user preferences

1. Make the script executable: chmod +x output/brave_debloat_macos.sh
2. Run with sudo for complete configuration: sudo ./output/brave_debloat_macos.sh
3. Or run without sudo to apply only user preferences

1. Make the script executable: chmod +x output/brave_debloat_linux.sh
2. Run with sudo for complete configuration: sudo ./output/brave_debloat_linux.sh
3. Or run without sudo to apply only user preferences

The tool uses two types of configuration files:

Choose from three pre-configured privacy levels:

🔒 Privacy-Focused (Default) - configs/privacy-focused.json

• Maximum privacy settings
• Disables ALL Brave features, IPFS, Tor, telemetry
• Most restrictive permissions

⚖️ Balanced - configs/balanced.json

• Author's personal setup - battle-tested configuration
• Disables all Brave bloat while keeping essential functionality
• Uses Chrome's exact default permission settings
• Enables guest mode, sign-in, and sync for usability

🎯 Minimal - configs/minimal.json

• Only removes core Brave bloatware
• Keeps standard browser functionality

Contains privacy-focused extensions to force-install:

• uBlock Origin: Ad blocker and privacy protection
• SponsorBlock: Skip YouTube sponsor segments
• Privacy Badger: Block trackers and protect privacy

Contains user preferences for dashboard and search customization:

• Search engines: Configure default search engine (Brave, DuckDuckGo, SearXNG, etc.)
• Dashboard settings: Customize new tab page (show clock, hide widgets, etc.)
• Experimental features: Enable advanced ad-blocking and other experimental features

See configs/README.md for detailed comparison of variants.

The tool generates unified scripts that handle both system policies and user preferences:

For Normal Brave:

• brave_debloat.bat (Windows - Registry + PowerShell)
• brave_debloat_macos.sh (macOS - plist + shell + jq)
• brave_debloat_linux.sh (Linux - JSON policies + shell + jq)

For Brave Nightly:

• brave_nightly_debloat.bat (Windows)
• brave_nightly_debloat_macos.sh (macOS)
• brave_nightly_debloat_linux.sh (Linux)

Each script performs the following actions:

1. System Policies: Applies organization-level policies (requires admin/sudo)
2. User Preferences: Modifies user's Preferences and Local State files directly
3. Dashboard Customization: Removes widgets, customizes new tab page
4. Search Engine: Configures default search provider
5. Experimental Features: Enables advanced ad-blocking and other features
6. Safety Features: Backs up existing files, checks for running processes

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.