Brave Debloater for Linux

A privacy-focused, interactive debloating and configuration tool for the Brave Browser on Linux.

It disables promotional bloat, telemetry, crypto services, and unwanted UI clutter using native Chromium Enterprise Policies, persistent launch flags, and profile preferences.

---

✨ Features

• Disable Promotional & Bloat Features: Removes Brave Rewards, BAT, Brave Wallet (Web3), Brave VPN, Brave News feed, and Brave Talk.
• Disable Built-in AI: Completely turns off Brave Leo AI chat and disables local AI model downloading.
• Privacy Hardened:
  • Disables Brave P3A (Privacy-Preserving Product Analytics) telemetry.
  • Disables daily active usage stats pings.
  • Disables Web Discovery Project data collection.
  • Blocks Google Privacy Sandbox (Topics API, Ad Measurement).
  • Enforces automatic De-AMP, Bounce Tracking protection, Query Parameter Stripping, and Global Privacy Control.
• True Blank New Tab Page: Opens directly to an instant, zero-clutter about:blank page (customizable to clean wallpapers).
• Dark Mode Default: Enforces dark mode across the browser UI, with optional full forced dark mode for all websites.
• Suppresses Choice Screen: Eliminates the recurring Chromium "Choose your search engine" prompt via launch flags.
• Single-Backup Guarantee: Creates a single golden backup (Preferences.bak) on first run, protects it from being overwritten, and cleans up any duplicate backups.

---

🚀 Quick Start

1. Interactive Setup Wizard (Recommended)

Run the guided setup wizard to choose your preferred options (search engine, new tab style, dark mode depth, password manager, etc.):

./brave-debloater.sh

2. Quick Install (Recommended Defaults)

Instantly applies all recommended defaults (True Blank Page, Dark Mode, silenced choice screen, debloat policies):

./brave-debloater.sh quick-install

3. Check Current Status & Backup

Inspect active policies, launch flags, and profile settings:

./brave-debloater.sh status

4. Restore Profile from Backup

Revert your profile preferences from the single backup (.bak):

./brave-debloater.sh restore

5. Full Uninstall

Revert all policies, remove launch flags, and restore profile preferences:

./brave-debloater.sh uninstall

---

🛠️ Files & Locations

• CLI Script: brave-debloater.sh (or brave-debloater-linux-install.sh)
• Policy JSON: brave-debloater-policies.json
• System Policy Destination: /etc/brave/policies/managed/brave-debloater-policies.json
• Launch Flags File: ~/.config/brave-flags.conf
• Profile Preferences: ~/.config/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser/*/Preferences
• Single Backup: ~/.config/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser/*/Preferences.bak

---

📋 Requirements

• Linux OS
• Bash shell
• Python 3
• Administrative privileges (sudo required for installing enterprise policies)