A browser built by one person who got tired of all the noise.
twiiter.mp4
I'm tired.
Tired of Chrome eating my RAM like it's a buffet. Tired of every browser shoving AI features, crypto wallets, and "productivity tools" I never asked for down my throat. Tired of Arc dying. Tired of Brave making me feel like I joined a crypto cult just to block ads. Tired of Firefox losing market share while pretending everything is fine.
I just want a browser that:
- Opens fast and doesn't slow down my machine
- Blocks ads and trackers without me installing anything
- Looks beautiful — like someone actually cared about the UI
- Respects my privacy without making me feel paranoid
- Gets out of my way and lets me browse the damn internet
So I'm building one. By myself. With my own hands.
Astra (अस्त्र) means divine weapon in Sanskrit. It's the thunderbolt you didn't see coming.
It's not a Chromium fork with 35 million lines of C++ that I'll never be able to maintain. It's not a product committee's fever dream with 47 features no one uses. It's a lean, opinionated browser shell built on Electron — where I control the UX, and Chromium handles the rendering.
- 🛡️ Built-in ad & tracker blocking — No extensions needed. Works from the first launch.
- ⚡ Aggressive tab hibernation — Inactive tabs get put to sleep. Your RAM is yours.
- 🎨 Arc-inspired vertical sidebar — Spaces, three-tier tabs, command palette.
- 🔒 Privacy by default — HTTPS-only, third-party cookie blocking, no telemetry. Ever.
- 🪶 ~5,000 lines of code — That's it. That's the whole browser UI. Everything else is Chromium.
People like me.
Developers, designers, students, writers — anyone who lives in their browser 8+ hours a day and is tired of feeling like the product. People who want something fast, private, and beautiful without the corporate baggage.
If you use 50 Chrome extensions and want full Chrome Web Store compatibility — this isn't for you (yet). Go use Brave or Edge.
But if you want a browser that starts fast, stays fast, blocks the garbage, and looks like someone actually gave a shit about the experience? Stick around.
I'm a solo developer. One person. No VC funding. No team. No roadmap committee.
This means:
- Astra will ship when it's ready, not when investors want a demo
- Features will be added slowly and deliberately — no bloat
- Bugs will exist. I'll fix them. Be patient.
- If I burn out, I'll take a break. The code is open source. It'll survive.
I'm not building this to compete with Chrome. I'm building this because I want a browser I actually enjoy using. If you end up enjoying it too, that's a win.
🚧 Early Development — Not ready for daily use yet.
Building in public. Follow along if you want to watch a browser get built from scratch by one stubborn developer.
- Electron (Chromium for rendering, Node.js for system access)
- TypeScript + Vite (fast builds, type safety)
- Vanilla CSS (no frameworks — full control)
- Ghostery ad blocker engine (battle-tested, lightweight)
- SQLite (local data, no cloud, no sync, no servers)
MIT — Do whatever you want with it.
Built with blood, sweat, and too much coffee by @ashutoshx7