Documentation

Windows Installation

1. Grab the latest .exe from our GitHub Releases page.

2. Run the installer. You may see a "Windows Protected your PC" popup: this is because we haven't purchased a code-signing certificate yet. Click More Info and then Run Anyway.

3. Leef installs and launches automatically. No bundled extras, just the browser.

macOS Installation

1. Download the latest Universal .dmg from our GitHub Releases page.

2. Double-click the downloaded .dmg file to mount it.

3. Drag the Leef icon into your Applications folder.

4. Since we do not sign our builds with an Apple Developer certificate yet, you will need to right-click the app in your Applications folder and select Open on the first launch to bypass the system Gatekeeper check.

First-Time Configuration

Toggle the Leef News feed and configure your privacy settings. The setup takes seconds.

Blocking Tiers

• None: No active blocking.
• Basic: Lightweight domain filtering, processed entirely offline.
• Comprehensive: Full engine protection using external filter lists. Blocks trackers, ads, and known malware domains.

Standard-Compliant Verification (v0.5.1+)

Leef verifies GPC compliance using the official GPC standard. Instead of monitoring unreliable page scripts, Leef checks for the presence of the /.well-known/gpc.json file at the site's origin, ensuring your privacy signal is honored without fingerprinting risks.

GPC Unsupported Blocklist (v0.6.1+)

Starting with Leef v0.6.1, the browser ships with a continuously updated, built-in blocklist of domains identified as GPC non-compliant. When you visit a website on this blocklist (such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, or TikTok), Leef will display a red No GPC Support warning badge in the address bar's Globe Menu.

Without GPC compliance, websites may sell/share your browsing habits, track you across the web, build ad-targeting profiles, or ignore your explicit opt-out requests.

Manual Verification & Site Verification States

When you click the Globe Menu in the address bar, Leef shows the site's verification state:

• Self-Verified: The site hosts its own official /.well-known/gpc.json file indicating active compliance.
• Manually Verified: The site has been audited by the Leef team and marked compliant in the browser database. In this state, the Globe Menu explicitly details why the site was verified.

Verification Reason Criteria (1–5):

If manually verified, the menu will show one or more of these reasons:

• 1: Privacy Policy explicitly states it respects GPC as a legal opt-out request.
• 2: Stated publicly, or in private correspondence with the Leef team or journalists, that they respect the GPC signal.
• 3: Technically audited by the Leef team and confirmed to comply.
• 4: Utilizes a known privacy-respecting framework that honors GPC globally.
• 5: Part of a verified network of privacy-first domains.

Safety Caveats (1–6):

Leef applies safety caveats to warn users about potential data protection limitations. These are only displayed if a site has specific known behaviors that could partially breach GPC principles (they are not shown for fully compliant sites):

• Caveat 1 (Internal Data Use): Even though GPC signals are respected, the site may still use data internally for analytics, retention, or internal research.
• Caveat 2 (Unverified Enforcement): The site has technical compliance in place, but there is no hard evidence that they strictly comply with privacy requests.
• Caveat 3 (Partial Embed Ignore): The main site is compliant, but some elements or third-party sub-services embedded on the site may ignore GPC.
• Caveat 4 (Non-Audited Desktop Client): The site is compliant, but the company's desktop applications/launchers are not audited.
• Caveat 5 (Third-Party Investor Influence): The site is owned by an outside investor (e.g. Tencent, Amazon, Google) which may not follow the same privacy rules.
• Caveat 6 (Legal Gray Area): The site uses legal gray areas to process your data (e.g., AI chatbots using chat history despite GPC headers).

The Globe Menu

The Globe Icon provides a clear summary of the current site:

• Ad-block stats: Real-time count of blocked trackers on the current page.
• WHOIS Lookup: See who owns the domain without leaving the browser.
• Security Details: Certificate info and connection strength.

Managing Tiles

Add, edit, and pin your favorite sites. Hover over a tile to see edit and delete options. No sponsored content, ever.

Leef Limiter

When enabled, Efficiency Mode hibernates background tabs after a period of inactivity and limits CPU usage. Great for keeping things snappy when you've got a dozen tabs open.

Slop Filtering

Leef automatically filters out AI-generated summary boxes from search results, saving bandwidth and giving you direct access to the links you searched for.

Private Headlines

Headlines are fetched directly on your machine. Leef doesn't track what you read or build a profile from your clicks. Dismiss any headline with the "I don't care" button.

Slop Scanner

Analyzes highlighted text for common markers of AI-generated content. Simply select a passage, right-click, and select "Detect AI Text" for a heuristic gut-check. It's not perfect (nothing is), but it helps identify potential slop in real-time.

How to trigger

Hold the Shift key while launching Leef. A specialized menu will appear allowing you to reset your configuration or clear app data without losing your bookmarks.

Manual Reset

On Windows, navigate to: %APPDATA%/Leef and delete the folder. This will remove all your settings, history, and bookmarks, so make sure you've saved anything you need first.

Hardware Acceleration

If you experience visual glitches, black screens, or screen flickering, try toggling Hardware Acceleration in Settings > Performance. Some graphics cards have compatibility issues with Chromium's GPU process.

High Memory / CPU Usage

Chromium can be resource-intensive. If Leef is using too much RAM, check the internal Task Manager (Press Shift + Esc) to see which tab is the culprit. We also recommend enabling Efficiency Mode to hibernate inactive tabs.

"Leef is already running"

If the browser won't open because it thinks it's already running, open your system Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), find any leef.exe processes, and click End Task. This usually happens if the browser didn't close cleanly.

Page Crashes ("Aw, Snap!")

If a specific tab keeps crashing, it's often a conflict with the site's JavaScript. Try clearing the cache for that site via the Globe Icon > Clear Site Cookies. If it persists, try disabling Hardware Acceleration.

Network Errors (ERR_...)

Common errors like ERR_CONNECTION_RESET or ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED are usually related to your local network or DNS. Try restarting your router, or check if DNS over HTTPS in Settings > Advanced is causing conflicts with your ISP.

Certificate Errors

If you see "Your connection is not private," check your system's date and time settings. Chromium-based browsers are very strict about time synchronization for SSL certificates.

Media Playback (DRM)

Leef supports Widevine DRM for services like Netflix and Spotify. If these sites won't play, ensure your internet connection is stable and that you aren't using an aggressive VPN that blocks DRM verification servers. DRM is enabled by default and cannot be disabled.

Extensions Support

Leef does not support external browser extensions at this time. We are currently exploring ways to implement extension support in future updates while fully maintaining our strict privacy standards.

Public Issues (GitHub)

For general bugs, feature requests, or UI issues, please use our GitHub repository. This allows other users to see if their issue is already being addressed.

Private Support (Email)

If you have a sensitive issue or prefer to communicate privately, we are very happy to help. Send us an email and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Serious or Private Issues

If you've found a security vulnerability or a serious bug that requires privacy, please use our private reporting form. This goes directly to the core team.