SlimBrave Neo
Debloat and harden Brave Browser on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
SlimBrave Neo uses Chromium enterprise managed policies to disable telemetry, bloat, and unwanted features in Brave Browser. No browser extensions, no hacks, just clean policy enforcement that Brave respects natively.
[!IMPORTANT]
Source code only — no .exe, .msi, .dmg or installers, ever. This repository is the only official source; a download claiming to be SlimBrave Neo anywhere else is not from this project. See SECURITY.md.
[!NOTE]
A fork of SlimBrave by @ltx0101, GPL-3.0, extended to Linux and macOS. Policy keys are curated and re-audited against brave-core and Chromium source by Claude Fable/Opus; what ships is a human call. Receipts in AUDIT.md.
[!NOTE]
Linux users: consider Brave Origin first — an official Brave build with telemetry and bloat already removed, now on the Release channel (apt install brave-origin). SlimBrave Neo is the better fit if you want per-policy control, presets, or your own DoH templates — and it runs on Origin too: the Arch brave-origin-bin package and the brave-origin deb/rpm are detected, and Origin reads the same /etc/brave/policies directory, so everything Origin has not already compiled out applies there as well.
The Windows GUI, on All Options: every policy in one scroll, each with a plain-English description under its title. A sidebar splits them into categories, and the search reads the descriptions as well as the names.
Quick Start
Windows
git clone https://github.com/ChaoticSi1ence/SlimBrave-Neo.git
cd SlimBrave-Neo
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\SlimBrave.ps1
No git? One line:
iwr "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ChaoticSi1ence/SlimBrave-Neo/main/SlimBrave.ps1" -OutFile "SlimBrave.ps1"; powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\SlimBrave.ps1
This pulls the current main. If you'd rather pin an exact, unchanging version and check it against a published checksum before running, SECURITY.md covers tagged releases and SHA-256 sums.
"running scripts is disabled on this system"?
That is Windows' default execution policy (Restricted) refusing to run any
.ps1, and it is why both commands above end in
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File rather than .\SlimBrave.ps1.
The bypass applies to that one launch only — it changes no setting on your
machine, and you never need Set-ExecutionPolicy. If you hit the error, you
ran a copy of the one-liner without that part; re-run the version above.
Prefer the previous layout? v2.1.0
is the last release with the three-column window. It keeps working; it just won't
receive the newer fixes. Pinned to that tag, either way:
git clone -b v2.1.0 --depth 1 https://github.com/ChaoticSi1ence/SlimBrave-Neo.git
cd SlimBrave-Neo
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\SlimBrave.ps1
iwr "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ChaoticSi1ence/SlimBrave-Neo/v2.1.0/SlimBrave.ps1" -OutFile "SlimBrave.ps1"; powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\SlimBrave.ps1
A tag never moves, so both of those fetch the same file every time.
Requires Administrator privileges; the script re-launches itself elevated, so run it from a local folder: the elevated copy cannot see a subst drive or, usually, a mapped network drive, and started from one it closes without a message. It opens showing the policy already on the machine.
Every policy explains itself. Each row carries a plain-English description under its title — "Stops the daily usage ping that counts this install in Brave's active-user statistics, plus the search-engine usage counts it carries and the referral-code check" — rather than hiding it in a tooltip. Where the text is longer than the row, a chevron expands it in place.
Search reads the descriptions, not just the names. The box in the header matches titles, policy keys, category names and the description text, so typing passwords surfaces "Require HTTPS for Basic Auth" even though its title never says the word, and telemetry returns the whole reporting section. Several words narrow the results, plurals match singulars, punctuation is ignored on both sides, and title matches rank above prose matches.
A sidebar splits the policies into seven categories — or skip it entirely: All Options lists all 90 in one scroll with section headers, for anyone who would rather not navigate.
Presets are cards. Each shows what it does and how many policies it sets. Loading one only fills in the controls; nothing reaches the registry until you press Apply Settings, so you can change your mind first. The presets are embedded in SlimBrave.ps1 itself, so they work for the one-liner download above with no Presets/ directory on disk.
Clicking a label does nothing. Only the toggle and the dropdown respond, each within its own bounds. Opening a menu is reversible; flipping a machine-wide policy is not.
This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗
