Shiira Browser

Shiira is an Electron-based desktop browser inspired by the classic Shiira browser for Mac OS X. It combines a dark custom interface with practical browser features such as tab management, bookmarks, history, ad blocking, session restore, password storage, and an assistant sidebar.

The project is a modern homage rather than a port. It does not depend on original Shiira source code; the design direction is based on public descriptions of the original browser and its interface ideas.

Highlights

• Dark custom browser chrome with the Shiira Night theme
• Tabbed browsing with drag support, audio mute indicators, and lazy session restore
• Full-window Tab Expose view for switching between open tabs
• Drawer-style panels for bookmarks, history, cache controls, and RSS
• Bookmarks bar, favorites launcher, and Chrome bookmark import
• Search from the home view with Google, DuckDuckGo, Brave, and Wikipedia
• Native ad blocking with network and cosmetic filtering
• Password manager with secure storage and CSV import
• Cache, cookie, and site storage cleanup tools
• Optional clear-on-exit cache behavior
• Built-in update checks

Shiira-Inspired Features

Feature	Current status
Tabbed windows	Implemented
Bookmark management	Implemented
Side drawer for bookmarks and history	Implemented as Shiira palettes
Bookmarks toolbar	Implemented
Search field with selectable search engine	Implemented
Cache control panel	Implemented in the Cache palette
Remove cookies and cache at termination	Implemented as a Cache palette toggle
Window appearance switching	Implemented as themes
Favicons	Implemented
Searchable history	Implemented
Safari bookmark sharing	Not implemented; Chrome import is available
Toolbar customization and toolbar icon switching	Not implemented
Favicon list and per-bookmark favicon toggle	Not implemented
Help document	Not implemented
Multiple source windows and HTTP header source view	Not implemented
Wheel-button tab operations	Not implemented
Auto-tab for bookmark folders	Not implemented
Back/forward list on toolbar buttons	Not implemented

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+T	New tab
Ctrl+W	Close tab
Ctrl+Shift+T	Reopen closed tab
Ctrl+Tab	Next tab
Ctrl+Shift+Tab	Previous tab
Ctrl+L	Focus URL bar
Ctrl+R / F5	Reload
Ctrl+Shift+R	Hard reload
Alt+Left	Back
Alt+Right	Forward
Ctrl+H	History
Ctrl+Shift+B	Toggle bookmarks bar
Ctrl+Shift+E	Tab Expose
Ctrl+Shift+I	Developer tools
Escape	Close popups and panels

Development

Install dependencies:

npm install

Run the app in development mode:

npm run dev

Build

Create a production build:

npm run build

Platform-specific builds are also available:

npm run build:win
npm run build:mac
npm run build:linux

Build artifacts are written to dist/.

Project Structure

src/main/                 Main Electron process and services
src/preload/              Secure IPC bridge
src/renderer/             Browser UI
src/renderer/modules/     Browser feature modules
assets/                   App artwork, UI icons, and site logos
filter-lists/             Ad-blocking rules
build/                    Build hooks and installer assets
installer/                Installer UI

License

Shiira Browser is licensed under GPL-3.0-only.

The original Shiira project was released under BSD-3-Clause. This project is an independent Electron implementation and homage, with no original Shiira source code included.

For copyright attributions, project background, and dependency licensing details, see credits.md.