Barc v0.0.6

Barc 0.0.6

Barc is a personal fork of Kylmora, built for my own taste. My goal is to reduce the browser's footprint while maintaining the original Arc feel.

Changes

• Fixed a Performance window leak. Its statistics grid created new labels every two seconds, and AppKit kept a record of every removed cell: about 84 MB after 10.7 hours in the installed browser. Grids, bars, legends and scope chips now update in place, the window releases its controller when closed, and sampling pauses while the window is hidden or minimised.
• New Settings → General → Background tab memory limit: Off, 1 GB, 2 GB or 4 GB, default 2 GB. Over the limit, the heaviest background tabs sleep first after a two-minute grace period. Shared processes are counted once.
• A background tab whose own process uses 500 MB or more sleeps after three minutes instead of the normal delay.
• Drafts, calls, transfers, Keep Awake pages, visible panes and complete split groups keep their existing protections under both new rules.
• Memory pressure also clears WebKit's in-memory resource cache, at most once a minute. Cookies and website storage are untouched.
• Barc returns freed allocator memory to macOS under memory pressure and when it moves to the background.
• The auxiliary URL cache uses 4 MB of memory instead of 64 MB (128 MB in RAM-only mode). Cache mode names now describe what each mode does.
• New Settings → Advanced Blocking → Hide generic page elements, on by default. Turning it off saves about 18–19 MB per web process; site-specific hiding and network blocking stay on.
• Form autofill starts inside embedded frames only when a field there is first focused. The autoplay guard listens for playback instead of watching every page change. Boosts and Link Hints do no work when unused.
• The tab overview releases its cards and thumbnails when dismissed.

Verification

The full suite ran 2,513 tests in 403 suites. Two saved-login suggestion tests failed under full-suite load; they fail identically on 0.0.5 and pass in isolation. An idle-page retention case failed in two of three full runs and passed in the third and in every isolated and under-load rerun.

Measurement records: content blocking memory and web process release. Merging duplicate filter-list rules and blanking pages before sleep were measured and not adopted.

WebKit controls process reuse and cache reclamation. Savings depend on the websites you keep open. Passkeys remain unavailable in this private build.

Download and install

• Barc-0.0.6-universal.dmg: open the disk image and drag Barc to Applications.
• Barc-0.0.6-universal.pkg: a standard installer that places Barc in Applications.
• SHA256SUMS.txt: SHA-256 checksums for both downloads.

Both installers support Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, with macOS 14 or later. Translation requires macOS 15; extensions require macOS 15.4.

Signing

This release is ad-hoc signed and not notarized by Apple. The installer package is unsigned. macOS may prevent first launch; read Apple's guidance before deciding whether to open it. No security settings are changed by the installer.

Included

• Arc-style sidebar, address/search launcher, Spaces, Favorites and split views.
• Arc import for supported tabs, folders, history, bookmarks, passwords and website data. Some sites require signing in again.
• Separate website identities for personal and work profiles.

Browser profiles, browsing history, saved passwords, cookies and local migration captures are not bundled. Automatic updates are not configured yet; download updates from this release page.

The source is licensed under Apache License 2.0. Original Kylmora notices and third-party licenses are included in the app. This is an independent fork, with no affiliation with Kylmora, Arc or The Browser Company.