BarcDownload 0.0.6

Arc · forgotten, not deleted

Too lazy to learn a new browser. So I built one.

Barc is a free, open-source Arc browser alternative for macOS, built on WebKit, the engine macOS already ships. Made by one guy, for one guy. Zero telemetry, because the only user is me and I already know what I clicked.

Download for macOSRead the source

v0.0.6 · macOS 14+ · Apple Silicon & Intel · ad-hoc signed, not notarized (Apple doesn't know me either)

🔒 barc://newtab0
how to learn a new browser
  • Zen — “just get used to it”
  • Orion — “just get used to it”
  • Vivaldi — “just get used to it” (+ 400 settings)
0 bytes telemetry⚙️ WebKit engine👤 Users: 1 (me)🪶 9.6 MB app
scroll, respectfully

No telemetry, No built-in AI, No account, No subscription, No onboarding quiz, No “AI-powered tab summaries”, No new habits required

WebKit inside, Arc import, Sleeping profiles, AES-256-GCM vault, Apache-2.0, Made for 1 user, Passkeys: eventually

R.I.P.

ARC

2022 – ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Beloved sidebar. Loyal Spaces.
Cause of death: nobody shipped the next version.

Respects paid: 0 · stored nowhere

In loving memory

Arc didn’t crash.
It was just forgotten.

No dramatic shutdown. No farewell tour. Its makers moved on to a shiny new browser, the updates got quieter, and the sidebar we all loved slowly became a museum piece.

Browsers don’t die when you close them. They die when nobody ships the next version.
The serious bit

Barc keeps what made Arc good: the vertical sidebar, Spaces, profiles, favourites, nested folders and archives. It imports them straight from~/Library/Application Support/Arc, along with history, bookmarks, passwords, cookies and local storage. Arc itself stays untouched.

Origin story

A perfectly efficient plan.

Six easy steps to avoid learning anything new, at enormous personal cost.

  1. 01
    denial

    Arc goes quiet.

    I keep using it anyway. Loyalty, muscle memory and approximately 300 pinned tabs.

  2. 02
    bargainingtrue story

    I try the alternatives.

    My disk still has folders called arc-to-zen, arc2zen, orion-scripts and vivaldi-scripts. I wrote migration tools for several browsers instead of just… using one of them.

  3. 03
    math

    I estimate the cost of switching.

    Learning a new browser: roughly two weeks of retraining my hands and grumbling.

  4. 04
    optimism

    I estimate the cost of building one.

    Also roughly two weeks. It was not two weeks.

  5. 05
    engineeringtrue story

    I fork a real browser.

    Kylmora: an open-source, native macOS browser on WebKit, licensed Apache-2.0. Then I bend it until it feels like Arc again. Full Git history and attribution kept.

  6. 06
    acceptance

    Barc 0.0.6 ships.

    Version zero-point-zero-six, because confidence is earned. It is my daily browser. I have learned nothing new, which was the point.

Numbers, with straight faces

Lazy in spirit.
Optimised in practice.

I refused to learn a new browser, so I had to make this one fast, light and quiet. The jokes are optional. These numbers aren’t.

Rendering engine

WebKit.

The engine macOS already ships and keeps tuned for Apple hardware. No private copy of Chromium riding along in the app bundle, no second engine to keep updated. Barc is a native Swift app on top of the system’s web view.

Apple spent years optimising it. I spent zero. Teamwork.

  • EngineWebKit (system)
  • LanguageSwift 6
  • PlatformmacOS 14+
  • ArchitecturesApple Silicon · Intel
  • Password vaultAES-256-GCM, local
  • LicenseApache-2.0

0 bytes

of telemetry sent, ever

I’m the only user. I know what I clicked. I was there.

9.6 MB

app bundle (local build)

Smaller than most landing-page hero videos.

1 min

until inactive profiles start hibernating pages

Tabs nap more than I do. Drafts, calls and downloads stay awake.

2 GB

default background-tab memory limit

Heaviest tabs sleep first. Like at a party.

~19 MB

saved per web process with generic element hiding off

Measured, not vibes.

0

built-in AI assistants

You already have your own GPT subscriptions :D

106,554

lines of Swift in the codebase

448

Swift source files

215

test files, incl. real web views

30

minute memory soak test (opt-in)

What it actually does

Everything I used in Arc.
Nothing I didn’t.

Import your whole Arc life

Spaces, nested folders, favourites, archives, full history, bookmarks, saved passwords, cookies, local storage, addresses and search shortcuts. Repeat imports don’t duplicate anything.

Even the 400 tabs you swore you’d read.

Sleeping profiles

Pages in profiles you aren’t looking at hibernate after one minute. Only the page you return to reloads.

Drafts, calls, uploads and picture-in-picture are never put to bed.

Spaces with real profiles

Each Arc profile keeps its own website identity. Spaces sharing a profile share Favorites and logins. Switching needs no restart.

Work-you and couch-you never meet.

Memory that cleans up after itself

Background tabs over 2 GB sleep heaviest-first. Memory-pressure cleanup, allocator relief and leak fixes all ship in 0.0.6.

My tabs have better boundaries than I do.

A vault that stays home

Website passwords are encrypted with AES-256-GCM in a local file. One Keychain item guards the key. Import from Arc or Apple Passwords.

It doesn’t sync to anyone’s cloud. Not even mine.

Moves in without moving anything

Barc keeps its own settings, data folder, URL schemes and Keychain items, so it runs alongside your other browsers. Importing copies data and never changes the source.

Plays nicely with others. Unlike me before coffee.

Telemetry & monitoring

Our entire analytics stack is a mirror.

Other browsers have event pipelines, dashboards and a data team. I have a bathroom mirror. Every morning I check it. User looks tired, but engaged. Retention: 100%.

  • No usage analytics, no crash-report uploads, no “anonymous usage data” used anonymously.
  • Update checks are off by default and don’t contact anyone.
  • Bug reports open an editable GitHub draft. Nothing leaves your Mac until you press submit.
  • Passwords live in a local AES-256-GCM vault protected by one macOS Keychain item. No cloud sync.
  • This website has no analytics either. I checked the mirror.
DAU
1
MAU
1
Retention
100%
Events
0
Third parties
0
Status
tired, but engaged

✋ drag across the glass to wipe off the fog

Release notes, but honest

It’s version 0.0.6.
Let’s manage expectations.

  • not yet

    Passkeys

    They don’t work in this private build yet. I’ll get to them eventually. I hope.

  • heads-up

    Not notarized

    Builds are ad-hoc signed. macOS will give it a suspicious look on first launch; Apple’s support page explains how to open it anyway.

  • by design

    No auto-updates

    No release feed is configured, so nothing phones home. New versions appear on GitHub, like it’s 2009.

  • stays in Arc

    Some Arc data

    Extensions, IndexedDB, payment cards, passkeys and back/forward stacks can’t come across. Some sites will ask you to sign in again.

  • n = 1

    Support team

    It’s me. Response times depend on mood, weather and whether the coffee worked.

The decision matrix I definitely made before starting

CriteriaLearn a new browserBuild your own browser
Time required~2 weeksUnclear. Ongoing.
Muscle memory keptSomeAll of it
TelemetryDepends who you ask0 bytes
New habits learnedManyNone (success)
Feeling of controlLowSuspiciously high
Recommended by expertsYesAbsolutely not

FAQ

Questions nobody asked, answered.

Mostly asked by me, in the mirror.

What is Barc?

Barc is a free, open-source web browser for macOS 14 and later that recreates the Arc browser experience: vertical sidebar, Spaces, profiles and favourites. It runs on Apple’s WebKit engine, collects no telemetry, has no built-in AI, and imports your Arc data directly.

Is this a joke?

The website is about 40% joke. The browser is not. It’s real, it’s open source, and it’s the browser I use every day.

How do I switch from Arc to Barc?

Install Barc, open Settings → Import → Import from Arc…, choose ~/Library/Application Support/Arc and pick the profiles and data to bring over. Spaces, folders, favourites, history, bookmarks, passwords, cookies and local storage come across. Arc itself is left untouched, and some sites may ask you to sign in again.

Should I use it?

If you miss Arc and don’t mind a 0.0.x build made by one person, go for it. If you need passkeys today, not yet. Honest answers are also a feature.

Is Barc free?

Yes. Barc is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. There is no account, no subscription and nothing to upgrade to.

What do I need to run Barc?

macOS 14 or later on an Apple Silicon or Intel Mac. Download the .dmg or .pkg from GitHub. Version 0.0.6 is ad-hoc signed and not notarized, so macOS asks you to confirm the first launch.

Why WebKit and not Chromium?

macOS already ships WebKit, Apple keeps tuning it for Apple hardware, and it means one less copy of a browser engine on your Mac. Barc is a native Swift app built on the system web view.

Does it track me?

No. There are no analytics, no crash uploads and no update pings. Bug reports open a GitHub draft that you choose whether to submit. The only monitoring is me looking in a mirror.

Is Barc affiliated with Arc or The Browser Company?

No. Barc is an independent fork of Kylmora, an open-source WebKit browser, made to feel like Arc. Arc is a trademark of its owner. I’m just a fan with a compiler.

Can I contribute or fork it?

Yes. Barc is Apache-2.0 with upstream attribution kept. Open an issue, send a pull request, or fork it and build a browser for exactly one person: you.

Barc app icon

Stop learning.
Start Barcing.

Free, open source and built for exactly one user. There’s room for two.

Download Barc 0.0.6Star it on GitHub

macOS 14 or later · Apple Silicon & Intel · .dmg or .pkg · ad-hoc signed, not notarized