Almost Arc

A free mod that makes Zen Browser look and feel almost like Arc: a centered URL pill, a toolbar tinted to each page, Arc's pop-out sidebar, and Arc-style Picture-in-Picture.

Download for Mac · almostarc.net · What's new

Built and tested on Zen 1.24.1b (Firefox 159), macOS 13 or later. Linux mostly works; Windows isn't supported.

Features

• Arc's toolbar. The toolbar is the top of the page card, with rounded corners and the card's shadow, and takes the color of each page's top edge once it loads.
• Centered URL pill. Sized to the address, domain bright and path dimmed. Click it for Zen's floating address bar, like Arc's command bar. The copy-link button sits beside it and shows a checkmark when you copy.
• Arc's sidebar. Frosted essentials tiles, and a compact mode where the sidebar pops out full height with the window buttons at its top.
• Auto Picture-in-Picture. A playing video pops out when you switch tabs, minimize, or switch to another app or desktop, and goes back when you return. System UI (Spotlight, Control Center, screenshots) and apps that don't cover Zen's window, such as one on another monitor, don't trigger it. App and desktop switching is macOS only.
• Arc's PiP controls. Back to Tab, Minimize (keeps the video playing), 15-second skips and a slim progress bar. Swipe with two fingers to fling the window into a corner.
• Cmd+Z for tabs. Reopens tabs you closed, including everything Zen's Clear closed, and puts moved and pinned or unpinned tabs back, within six safeguards.
• Updates from inside Zen. When a new version is out, Zen shows a bar with an Update button, then Restart Zen. If a Zen update switched the mod's scripts off, a notice gives you the command that fixes it.

Install

The installer (easiest, macOS)

1. Download Almost-Arc-for-Zen-X.Y.Z.pkg from the latest release.
2. Open it. The installer isn't signed by Apple yet, so the first time macOS says it can't verify it:
   1. Click Done (not Move to Trash).
   2. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security.
   3. Scroll down to the Security section and click Open Anyway next to the installer's name.
   4. Enter your password and click Open.
3. Click through. If Zen is open, the installer asks to quit it (your windows and tabs are saved as usual).
4. Open Zen.

If you don't have Zen, the installer downloads the official Zen from Zen's own releases first, checked to be signed by the Zen team. Every install method below does the same, except Sine.

Other ways

Quit Zen, then:

brew install shree-venkatesh/tap/almost-arc
almost-arc install

Quit Zen, then:

curl -fsSL https://almostarc.net/install.sh | bash

This downloads the latest release into ~/.almost-arc and adds the almost-arc command to /usr/local/bin (it may ask for your password). Use either this or Homebrew, not both: each one stops if Almost Arc is already installed the other way.

1. Install Sine.
2. Zen → Settings → Sine Mods → Sine settings → enable installing JS from unofficial sources.
3. Paste shree-venkatesh/Almost-Arc into the box under the marketplace and install it.
4. In the mod's settings, set the recommended options: single toolbar off, hide toolbar in compact mode off, floating address bar Always, hide www. on, and auto-PiP to taste.
5. Restart Zen.

Sine keeps the mod updated; the rest of this page's update steps don't apply.

Quit Zen, then:

git clone https://github.com/shree-venkatesh/Almost-Arc.git
cd Almost-Arc
./install.sh

The script:

• installs Zen if you don't have it (macOS), and starts it once in the background so it creates your profile;
• adds a small script loader (fx-autoconfig, included in vendor/) to the Zen app; it may ask for your password;
• adds the styles to your profile's chrome/ folder as almost-arc.css, imported from userChrome.css (your existing CSS is kept), and the scripts to chrome/JS/;
• writes the recommended settings into user.js in a marked block that's easy to remove;
• gives Zen the Almost Arc icon in the Dock and Finder (macOS). To keep Zen's icon, install with ALMOST_ARC_ICON=0 ./install.sh.

For Linux, or a non-default profile or install location:

ZEN_PROFILE=/path/to/profile ZEN_APP=/path/to/zen-install ./install.sh

After a Homebrew, Terminal or repo install, open about:support, click Clear startup cache and let Zen restart. (The installer does this for you.)

Updating and removing

	Installer, Homebrew or Terminal command	From the repo
Update Almost Arc	Click Update on the bar Zen shows, or quit Zen and run almost-arc update	git pull && ./install.sh
After a Zen update	almost-arc install, or open the installer again	./install.sh
Try the newest beta	almost-arc update --beta (a plain almost-arc update goes back)	git pull gets betas already
Remove	almost-arc uninstall (Homebrew: then brew uninstall almost-arc)	./uninstall.sh

Zen's updates replace the app, which removes the script loader and the Almost Arc icon, so the mod needs installing again. Your profile isn't touched, and Zen shows a notice when it happens.

Removing puts everything back, including Zen's own icon.

Settings

• With Sine: Zen → Settings → Sine Mods → Almost Arc.
• Otherwise: open about:config (type it in the address bar and accept the warning), then search almost-arc.

This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗