Vela

A native macOS browser built on WebKit. No bundled engine, no telemetry, and extensions from all three ecosystems.

macOS 26+Apple SiliconIn development

Platform: macOS 26 or later
Architecture: Apple Silicon
Engine: System WebKit
Telemetry: None

Engine

The browser your Mac already has

There is no Chromium in the app bundle. Vela is a fraction of the size of a forked browser, inherits Apple's security updates the day they ship, and gets the platform's power behaviour for free.

TabTabTabTab

Interface preview · tabs and page

Blocking

On by default, not a setting you have to find

Ad and tracker blocking through WebKit's own content rule lists, plus tracking parameters stripped out of URLs before they are opened. No account, no sync service, no analytics — reading list, history, bookmarks and downloads stay on the Mac.

Ads blockedTrackers blockedParams strippedTelemetry: none

Interface preview · the blocking summary

Extensions

Safari, Chrome and Firefox, all three

Extensions load through WKWebExtension with the full tab lifecycle wired up — the part most WebKit hosts skip, and the reason extensions elsewhere show a toolbar icon but never actually run. When one fails, Vela reads WebKit's error list and tells you which API it died on.

Interface preview · installed extensions

Using Vela

From first open to finished.

A practical walkthrough of the core workflow.

Import from your current browserBookmarks, history and passwords come across on first launch.

Add the extensions you rely onFrom any of the three stores; Vela reports anything WebKit cannot run.

Turn on focus modeEverything but the page goes away until you ask for it back.

Under the hood

Using the system engine is the feature

A forked browser has to ship, patch and power its own rendering engine. Vela does not — which is why it is small, why it stays current with Apple's security fixes, and why it behaves on battery the way Safari does.

Questions about Vela?

Feature requests and bug reports are genuinely welcome — most of what these apps do came from someone pointing out that the alternative was annoying.

hello@northing.dev