🍫 Darkelf Cocoa Browser

A native macOS browser built with PyObjC and WebKit, designed for private, streamlined browsing.

Current release: v7.1.7 · Platform: macOS · Engine: Apple WebKit

Website · Releases · Source code

About Darkelf Cocoa

Darkelf Cocoa is a macOS-native browser built using Python, PyObjC, AppKit, and Apple's WebKit framework. Its interface combines familiar browser navigation with built-in privacy controls, an ephemeral browsing approach, and customizable appearance.

Darkelf Cocoa is a separate implementation from Darkelf Shadow CE. It uses the system WebKit engine rather than QtWebEngine.

Highlights

🛡️ Privacy-first browsing

• Ephemeral browsing design that avoids maintaining a conventional persistent browsing-history database.
• Built-in tracker and advertising content-rule defenses.
• Site-aware protection policies, including trusted, protected, and standard handling where supported.
• First-party/tab isolation architecture.
• Privacy monitoring and a MiniAI status interface.
• Session cleanup controls.

Privacy defenses reduce exposure; they do not guarantee anonymity, block every tracker, or eliminate every possible macOS forensic artifact.

🔒 Browser Lock — v7.1.7

An optional Browser Lock adds a local access check to the browser:

• Authenticate at startup when Browser Lock is enabled.
• Re-lock after approximately 10 minutes of browser inactivity.
• Re-lock when the browser window is minimized to the Dock.
• Unlock using the macOS authentication dialog, which can offer Touch ID or the Mac account password, depending on the device and its configuration.
• Manage Browser Lock in Privacy & Security.

Darkelf Cocoa delegates authentication to macOS LocalAuthentication. It does not collect or store fingerprint data or your Mac password. Browser Lock is an application-level access feature, not disk or memory encryption.

🎨 Native macOS interface

• AppKit-based navigation, tabs, menus, and keyboard shortcuts.
• Accent-color presets and background themes.
• Accent-aware application/Dock icon and in-app Darkelf shield branding.
• Native macOS appearance and window controls.
• Integrated Find in Page, bookmarks, and download UI.

⌨️ Address bar and shortcuts

• Right-click editing controls: Cut, Copy, Paste, Paste and Go, and Select All.
• ⇧⌘V — Paste and Go: navigate to a copied address or search the copied text using the existing address-bar behavior.
• ⌘L — Focus address bar.
• ⌘T — New tab; ⌘W — Close tab.
• ⌘R — Reload; ⌘F — Find in page.
• Built-in Keyboard Shortcuts reference in the browser menu.

What's new in v7.1.7

• Added opt-in Browser Lock with native macOS owner authentication.
• Added startup, inactivity, and Dock-minimization lock triggers.
• Added a dedicated Browser Lock information view in Privacy & Security.
• Improved accent-color consistency across Darkelf shield branding and the native interface.
• Added Paste and Go to the address-bar context menu and shortcut reference (⇧⌘V).
• Continued interface and stability refinements.

See the v7.1.7 release notes for the release overview.

Get Darkelf Cocoa

Download the macOS build from GitHub Releases.

A Python package is also available on PyPI. For a source/package installation, use an appropriate supported macOS Python environment and consult the repository's installation instructions and dependencies.

python3.11 -m pip install darkelf-cocoa

The packaged macOS application and Python-launched development environment may display different application names in native system authentication prompts.

Architecture

Darkelf Cocoa uses PyObjC + AppKit for the native interface and WKWebView/WebKit for page rendering. Browser components are separated across modules for UI, tabs, policies, content rules, first-party isolation, monitoring, branding, and themes.

It relies on the WebKit functionality provided by macOS; support for particular media formats, DRM systems, and websites may vary with the operating system and WebKit implementation.

Security and limitations

Darkelf Cocoa is a privacy-oriented browser, not a promise of complete anonymity or forensic resistance. Browser Lock protects access through the running app but does not replace macOS FileVault, a secure account password, or device-level security controls. Some websites may require compatibility adjustments, and blocking behavior can vary by site.

License

Licensed under LGPL-3.0-or-later. See the repository's license and third-party notices for the applicable terms.

Darkelf Labs · darkelfbrowser.com