[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$f2us7hrz26hz5c":3},{"code":4,"message":5,"data":6,"timestamp":64},10000,"success",{"full_name":7,"position":8,"description":9,"language":10,"stars":11,"forks":12,"stars_gained":13,"age_days":14,"hn_threads":15,"one_liner":44,"summary_md":45,"topic":46,"github_topics":49,"license":54,"homepage":55,"updated_at":56,"history":57},"zen-browser\u002Fdesktop",7,"Welcome to a calmer internet","C++",45255,1898,62,941,[16,22,28,34,39],{"id":17,"title":18,"points":19,"comments":20,"posted_at":21},43443494,"Zen browser had a backdoor enabled by default",46,31,"2025-03-22",{"id":23,"title":24,"points":25,"comments":26,"posted_at":27},41927500,"Zen Browser: Fix Backdoor",10,0,"2024-10-23",{"id":29,"title":30,"points":31,"comments":32,"posted_at":33},41797431,"Zen Browser",5,3,"2024-10-10",{"id":35,"title":36,"points":32,"comments":37,"posted_at":38},42798151,"Zen is a privacy-focused browser that blocks trackers",1,"2025-01-22",{"id":40,"title":41,"points":42,"comments":26,"posted_at":43},42973704,"Zen Browser, Fork of Firefox Focusing on Performance",2,"2025-02-07","A Firefox-based browser for people who want tabs, workspaces and vertical layout instead of the default browser experience.","Zen Browser is a Firefox fork aimed at rethinking how you organize browsing: workspaces, vertical tabs and a calmer layout. If you're comfortable with a young, small-team project, it's worth a look; if you need a browser whose privacy and update behavior you can audit with maturity, proceed more carefully.\n\n## The problem\n\nYou want to keep work, research and personal browsing separate without running three profiles or a pile of windows. In a standard Firefox setup you end up with dozens of tabs, manual bookmark folders, and window management that doesn't match how you think about projects. Zen's vertical tab and workspace model changes that step: you assign tabs to spaces instead of letting them accumulate in one strip. The result is a single window that reflects your contexts, at the cost of learning a different navigation model.\n\n## What's different\n\nZen is built from Firefox and tracks Mozilla's releases closely: the README lists a stable build on Firefox 158.0 and a Twilight channel on Firefox 158.0 RC. That means you inherit Firefox's extension ecosystem and engine behavior rather than a new rendering stack, while Zen's own UI layer provides the workspace and tab organization. The practical benefit is a familiar base with a different shell; the trade-off is that you depend on a small team layering UI changes on top of a large upstream codebase, and those changes must be re-integrated each Firefox cycle.\n\nThere is also a documented contribution path (bug reports via GitHub Issues, feature requests via Discussions) and a public release-notes page, which matters when you need to check what changed between builds.\n\n## Who should try it\n\nGood fit: a developer or researcher who lives in a browser all day, wants Firefox compatibility and extensions, and is willing to use a vertical-tab workspace model instead of the default tab strip. Poor fit: someone who wants a long-established browser with a large security team and conservative defaults; the March 2025 Hacker News thread about a backdoor enabled by default (46 points, 31 comments) is a signal to read the project's own discussion before trusting it with sensitive accounts. A commenter in that thread (2025-03-22) argued users should file patches and pay closer attention rather than avoid the project, which reflects the small-project dynamic rather than a verified security conclusion.\n\n## Requirements and limitations\n\nYou need a desktop OS that Zen distributes builds for; installation is through the [download page](https:\u002F\u002Fzen-browser.app\u002Fdownload), and the project publishes [documentation](https:\u002F\u002Fdocs.zen-browser.app) and [release notes](https:\u002F\u002Fzen-browser.app\u002Frelease-notes\u002Flatest). Because it is a Firefox fork, extension compatibility generally follows Firefox, but the exact version pairing matters: the README ties the stable channel to a specific Firefox release, so a Firefox update you rely on may arrive in Zen later. Ongoing upkeep means watching release notes and the project's issue tracker, especially for security-related changes.\n\n## HotRepo's take\n\nHotRepo's dated record shows 45,242 stars on 2026-10-24 (+71 that day) and 45,246 on 2026-10-25 (+62), with two daily-board appearances. That sample is too short to judge persistence; it establishes age (941 days) and a snapshot only. Before adopting, check the linked security discussion and the project's response in its own tracker.",{"slug":47,"name":48},"productivity","Productivity & Utilities",[50,51,52,53],"firefox","firefox-based","firefox-browser","zen-browser","MPL-2.0","https:\u002F\u002Fzen-browser.app","2026-10-25T02:57:14Z",[58,62],{"date":59,"stars":60,"stars_gained":61},"2026-10-24",45242,71,{"date":63,"stars":11,"stars_gained":13},"2026-10-25",1792918195]