Palefox

A developer-focused alternative to Zen Browser on upstream Firefox

Palefox is in beta. It's stable enough for daily use and recommended to install from the latest release on main. Features are actively evolving — expect rough edges.

Quick Install

Please see security considerations before installing

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tompassarelli/palefox/main/install.sh -o /tmp/palefox-install.sh && bash /tmp/palefox-install.sh

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tompassarelli/palefox/main/install.ps1 | iex

LibreWolf: add --librewolf to either command.

The installer pulls from the latest tagged release, not HEAD.

See the full installation guide for manual install, flags, and details.

Features

• Compact mode — sidebar autohides off-screen, revealed on left-edge hover with spring animation (pfx.sidebar.compact in about:config)
• Collapse layout — sidebar shrinks to icons-only strip, toolbox returns to horizontal bar
• Custom sidebar button — left-click: toggle compact mode, right-click: layout options
• Urlbar breakout — expands to 600px when focused in sidebar
• Theme-respecting — uses Firefox's native CSS variables, works with any theme
• Powered by fx-autoconfig for chrome JS

Docs

• Full installation guide
• Nix / Home Manager
• Features & options
• Customization
• Compact mode audit (Zen Browser comparison)
• Contributing

Security

• Extensions are privileged software — install only ones you trust
• Review install scripts before piping them into your shell
• The JS loader runs chrome-privileged code — review scripts in chrome/JS/ before use
• Palefox is a UI customization, not a security tool — use it with normal caution

Acknowledgments

Palefox draws inspiration from:

• Zen Browser — compact mode state machine and sidebar design
• GWfox — CSS theming techniques
• FF-ULTIMA — feature and layout ideas
• parfait — findbar and accessibility