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

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/enhancement)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add enhancement')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/enhancement)
5. 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:

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

For more help, see:

• Cloudflare WARP Linux repo issue
• Ask Ubuntu: How to fix 'does not have a Release file'

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

Created by nightcodex7