Brave Purifier

Ultra-lightweight privacy-focused Brave Browser installer and debloater

Version: 1.2

🚀 What's New in v1.2

One-liner install removed; use download + chmod + run for interactive prompts
Minimal dependencies, maximum compatibility (works on all major Linux distros)
ImportSearchEngine debloat option removed
All prompts use /dev/tty for user input (robust interactive mode)
Enhanced error handling and privacy hardening

🚀 Quick Start

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nightcodex7/BravePurifier/main/brave-purifier.sh -o brave-purifier.sh
chmod +x brave-purifier.sh
sudo ./brave-purifier.sh

Note: The one-liner curl ... | sudo bash is not supported because interactive prompts require a TTY. Always download and run the script directly for full interactive support.

📋 What It Does

Brave Purifier is an ultra-lightweight script that installs Brave Browser and applies maximum privacy hardening with zero bloat.

🔒 Privacy Enhancements

Zero Telemetry: Completely disables all data collection and reporting
Ad/Tracker Blocking: Enables aggressive content blocking by default
Fingerprinting Protection: Blocks browser fingerprinting attempts
WebRTC Protection: Prevents IP address leaks through WebRTC
Search Privacy: Reliably sets DuckDuckGo or Google as default search engine
Permission Hardening: Blocks camera, microphone, location, and sensor access
Cookie Protection: Aggressive cookie blocking and session isolation
No onboarding/welcome/telemetry prompts: Suppresses all first-run and telemetry dialogs
Default browser option: Can set Brave as your system default browser

🛠️ Debloating Features

Brave Purifier now lets you choose privacy/debloat options in simple groups:

Brave Features & Services: Rewards, Wallet, VPN, News, Talk, Sync, pings, analytics, crypto, web3, etc.
Privacy & Tracking: Telemetry, Safe Browsing, Metrics, Log Upload, Heartbeat
Autofill & Passwords: Autofill, Password Manager
Permissions: Camera, Microphone, Location, Notifications, Sensors, Popups, WebUSB, WebBluetooth, Serial, HID, FileSystem, etc.
Other UI & Suggestions: Spellcheck, Home Button

Prompted separately:

Home Screen Debloat
Search Suggestions
Web Store
Background Mode
Set Brave as Default Browser

Reset to Defaults:

At the start, you can choose to reset all Brave settings to defaults (does NOT delete bookmarks, passwords, cookies, credentials, autofill, or sync data).

Search Engine:

At the end, you can choose to set Google as the default search engine, or keep it as DuckDuckGo.

Example prompt:

Do you want to reset all Brave settings to defaults before applying debloat? (This will NOT delete bookmarks, passwords, cookies, credentials, autofill, or sync data. Only settings will be reset.) [y/N]: n
Would you like to apply ALL recommended debloat options? [Y/n]: n
You will be prompted for each group. Enter 'y' to debloat, 'n' to keep as is.

Brave Features & Services (Rewards, Wallet, VPN, News, Talk, Sync, pings, analytics, crypto, web3, etc.)
  Disables all Brave-specific services, crypto, rewards, wallet, and telemetry.
Debloat this group? [Y/n]: y

Privacy & Tracking (Telemetry, Safe Browsing, Metrics, Log Upload, Heartbeat)
  Disables all tracking, telemetry, and privacy-invasive features.
Debloat this group? [Y/n]: y

Autofill & Passwords (Autofill, Password Manager)
  Disables all autofill (addresses, credit cards, forms) and password manager features for maximum privacy.
Debloat this group? [Y/n]: n

Permissions (Camera, Microphone, Location, Notifications, Sensors, Popups, WebUSB, WebBluetooth, Serial, HID, FileSystem, etc.)
  Blocks access to sensitive device features and permissions.
Debloat this group? [Y/n]: y

Other UI & Suggestions (Spellcheck, Home Button)
  Disables UI suggestions and import features.
Debloat this group? [Y/n]: n

Home Screen Debloat
  Removes cards, date & time, top sites, news feed, and widgets from the new tab page, but keeps the favourites (pinned sites) area visible.
Debloat the home screen? [Y/n]: y

Search Suggestions (address bar autocomplete, etc.)
  Disables search suggestions in the address bar.
Debloat this option? [Y/n]: y

Web Store (extension/add-on store visibility)
  Hides the web store icon and blocks extension installs.
Debloat this option? [Y/n]: y

Background Mode (Brave running in background)
  Prevents Brave from running in the background.
Debloat this option? [Y/n]: y

Set Brave as default browser?
  Makes Brave your system default browser.
Set Brave as default? [Y/n]: y

Do you want to set Google as the default search engine? (Otherwise, DuckDuckGo) [y/N]: n

All relevant settings for each group or option will be applied automatically.

🌐 Supported Systems

Debian/Ubuntu (APT)
Linux Mint (APT, see Troubleshooting below)
Fedora/RHEL/CentOS (DNF/YUM)
Arch Linux (Pacman + AUR)
openSUSE (Zypper)
Gentoo (Portage)

📥 Installation Methods

Recommended Method

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nightcodex7/BravePurifier/main/brave-purifier.sh -o brave-purifier.sh
chmod +x brave-purifier.sh
sudo ./brave-purifier.sh

Note: The one-liner curl ... | sudo bash is not supported because interactive prompts require a TTY. Always download and run the script directly for full interactive support.

Method 2: Download and Run

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nightcodex7/BravePurifier/main/brave-purifier.sh
chmod +x brave-purifier.sh
sudo ./brave-purifier.sh

Method 3: Clone Repository

git clone https://github.com/nightcodex7/BravePurifier.git
cd BravePurifier
sudo ./brave-purifier.sh

🔧 Features

Automatic Detection: Identifies your Linux distribution and package manager
Error Handling: Robust error checking and recovery mechanisms
Minimal Dependencies: Only requires curl and gnupg
System-Wide Policies: Applies privacy settings for all users
User-Specific Settings: Creates individual privacy configurations
Telemetry Purging: Removes tracking components and crash reporters
Verification: Confirms successful installation and configuration
Update Support: Automatically updates existing installations

🛡️ Security Features

Root Required: Ensures proper system-wide installation
GPG Verification: Validates package signatures
Official Repositories: Uses only official Brave repositories
No External Dependencies: Minimal attack surface
Signal Handling: Graceful interruption handling

📖 Usage

Basic Usage

sudo ./brave-purifier.sh

Show Help

./brave-purifier.sh --help

Show Version

./brave-purifier.sh --version

🗂️ Project Structure

BravePurifier/
├── brave-purifier.sh           # Main installation script
├── README.md                   # This documentation
└── images/                     # Screenshots and banner images

🚀 Cross-Platform Support

Linux: Full support for all major distributions.
Windows: Support coming soon! Windows compatibility is a work in progress and will be available in a future release.

🚫 Uninstallation

Remove Brave Browser

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt remove --purge brave-browser

# Fedora/RHEL
sudo dnf remove brave-browser

# Arch Linux  
sudo pacman -Rns brave-browser brave-bin

# openSUSE
sudo zypper remove brave-browser

# Gentoo
sudo emerge -C www-client/brave-bin

Remove Privacy Policies

sudo rm -rf /etc/brave/

Remove User Data

rm -rf ~/.config/BraveSoftware/

⚠️ Important Notes

Privacy First: This script prioritizes privacy over convenience
Some Features Disabled: Many Brave features are disabled for maximum privacy
Customizable: Users can re-enable features through Brave settings if needed
System-Wide: Changes affect all users on the system
Restart Required: Restart Brave Browser after installation for all settings to take effect
Linux Mint Users: If you encounter errors about missing Release files (e.g., Cloudflare WARP), see the Troubleshooting section below.

🔍 What Gets Configured

System-Wide Policies

Disables all telemetry and data collection
Blocks autoplay, notifications, and location access
Sets DuckDuckGo as default search engine
Enables aggressive ad and tracker blocking
Disables WebRTC IP leaks
Removes crash reporting and error collection

User-Specific Settings

Configures minimal new tab page
Disables all Brave-specific features (Rewards, Wallet, VPN, etc.)
Sets aggressive cookie and privacy policies
Disables search suggestions and autofill
Configures secure content settings

🤝 Contributing

Fork the repository
Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/enhancement)
Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add enhancement')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/enhancement)
Open a Pull Request

📄 License

MIT License - see the script header for details.

🔗 Links

Repository: https://github.com/nightcodex7/BravePurifier
Issues: GitHub Issues
Brave Browser: https://brave.com
DuckDuckGo: https://duckduckgo.com

🛠️ Troubleshooting

Cloudflare WARP or Other Third-Party Repository Errors

If you see an error like:

E: The repository 'https://pkg.cloudflareclient.com xia Release' does not have a Release file.

This is not caused by Brave Purifier. It means you have a broken or outdated third-party repository (often Cloudflare WARP) in your system sources. This can prevent apt update and any script using APT from working.

How to fix:

Open /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ and look for files mentioning cloudflare or other third-party sources.
Run sudo apt update again to verify the error is gone.

For more help, see:

Made for privacy-conscious users who want maximum protection with minimal effort.

Created by nightcodex7

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 32 Commits
wiki		wiki
README.md		README.md
brave-purifier.sh		brave-purifier.sh

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