Breeze

Breeze is a native macOS browser for Apple Silicon Macs. It is built on Swift and includes Nav, a built-in Cloud AI assistant, native ad and tracker blocking, split screen browsing, encrypted local data, and zero tracking.

The current shipped app is macOS only. Windows support was removed in v2.10.1.

What ships today

• Nav, built in - powered by Breeze Cloud, we dont collect data or chats.
• Native ad and tracker blocking - Ghostery's adblocker engine with EasyList and tracking filters runs in the network layer of every tab.
• Zero telemetry - Breeze does not collect browsing history, usage profiles, or analytics.
• Encrypted local data - history and saved passwords stay on device and are protected through the system keychain.
• Sidebar-first browsing - Arc-style vertical tabs, pinned sites, tab groups, and a calmer browser layout.
• Split screen - two pages side by side with a draggable divider.
• Sleeping tabs - idle tabs can sleep to reduce memory usage.
• Reminders and notifications - reminders are stored locally, re-armed on launch, and shown through Breeze's overlay notification system.
• Auto-updates - packaged builds check GitHub Releases and update through electron-updater.

Requirements

• Apple Silicon Mac
• macOS 11 or newer
• Node 20+ for local development

Run locally

npm install
npm start

For CDP debugging:

npx electron . --remote-debugging-port=9222

Build locally

npm run dist

The app builds with electron-builder. Current macOS targets are arm64 .dmg and .zip.

Release checklist

1. Bump version in package.json.
2. Add a new user-facing entry to ui/updates.html in the RELEASES array.
3. Commit and push.
4. Publish the macOS build:

export GH_TOKEN=$(gh auth token)
npx electron-builder --mac --publish always

5. If the release is created as a draft, publish it so auto-update can see it:

gh release edit vX.Y.Z --repo Froydinger/breezebrowser-live --draft=false --latest

Installed copies update on launch, on the updater timer, or from Breeze → Check for Updates….

Verify a release

gh release view vX.Y.Z --repo Froydinger/breezebrowser-live --json isDraft,assets \
  --jq '{draft:.isDraft, files:[.assets[].name]}'

A working release should show draft:false and include latest-mac.yml, the macOS update zip, and the .dmg.

First launch note

Current builds are self-signed with the local Breeze Signing certificate, not notarized with an Apple Developer ID. Users may need to right-click the app and choose Open the first time.

Do not replace or regenerate the signing certificate casually. Existing auto-updates depend on future releases being signed with the same certificate.

Important implementation notes

• main.js owns the main process, tabs, sessions, permissions, AI, updater, and app menu.
• preload.js is the browser chrome bridge.
• page-preload.js is injected into web pages.
• internal-preload.js supports internal file:// pages.
• overlay-preload.js supports the notification overlay.
• ui/ contains the browser chrome, settings, password UI, updates page, and overlay UI.
• AI web search is agentic. The model calls tools and the browser opens a real search tab.
• Page reading happens only when the model asks for it.
• Image generation has been removed.
• Web Push does not work in Electron because Chromium ships without Google's GCM/FCM keys. Local notifications and Breeze reminders do work.

Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Toggle sidebar	⌘S / Ctrl+S
New tab	⌘T
Close tab	⌘W
Focus address bar	⌘L
Back / Forward	⌘[ / ⌘]
Reload / Hard reload	⌘R / ⇧⌘R
Next / Previous tab	Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab
Jump to tab	⌘1 to ⌘9
Toggle dark mode	⇧⌘D
Zoom	⌘+ / ⌘- / ⌘0
DevTools for current page	⌥⌘I