Install the daemon

The daemon is a small background program that stores your bookmarks as Markdown files in a folder on your computer, called a Vault. The extension connects to it as a bookmark source.

It is optional in Chrome and Firefox, where you can use your browser bookmarks instead. In Safari it is required.

The daemon only accepts connections from your own computer (127.0.0.1 or localhost). It has no accounts and sends no telemetry.

Supported systems

Release builds cover:

• macOS: Intel and Apple Silicon
• Linux: x86_64 and aarch64
• Windows: x86_64 and ARM64

Install with the Daemon Manager

The Daemon Manager is a command-line tool that installs and looks after the daemon. It needs Node.js 20.12 or newer. The daemon itself does not need Node.js.

npx bookmarks-but-better@latest

On a first run, it:

1. Downloads the official installer for your system from the project’s GitHub Release, and checks it against its published SHA-256 checksum. If the check fails, it refuses to run the installer.
2. Asks Where should your bookmarks live? The default is ~/Bookmarks. Type an absolute path, or one that starts with ~/. If the folder is empty or does not exist, a new Vault is created there.
3. Shows what it is about to do and asks you to confirm.
4. Installs the daemon into your user folder, with no sudo and no administrator prompt.
5. Installs and starts the background service, which also starts the daemon when you log in.
6. Shows the status.

The manager never reads or changes your bookmarks. It only installs, checks and removes the daemon, and edits the list of Vaults the daemon serves.

Run it again later

Run npx bookmarks-but-better@latest again at any time. Once the daemon is installed, the command shows the status and a menu with options to:

• fix each problem it found
• add or remove a Vault
• update or reinstall
• uninstall

You can also run a command directly:

Command	What it does
status	Shows what is installed, configured, running and connected, with the command that fixes anything wrong.
install	Installs or updates the daemon and its service. An update keeps every Vault.
uninstall	Removes the service and the daemon. Your Vaults are never touched.
vault list	Lists your Vaults.
vault add [<id> <path>]	Adds a Vault, then restarts the service so it serves it.
vault remove [<id>]	Removes a Vault from the list (its folder stays), then restarts the service.

For example:

npx bookmarks-but-better@latest status
npx bookmarks-but-better@latest vault add work ~/Work/bookmarks

Each command asks for anything you leave out. For scripts, add --yes to accept every default without being asked. With --yes, the first Vault goes in ~/Bookmarks.

Install without Node.js

The install scripts do the same first run without asking anything. Tell them where your Vault should live:

macOS and Linux

curl -fsSL https://github.com/farhadeidi/bookmarks-but-better/releases/latest/download/install.sh | bash -s -- --vault ~/Bookmarks

Pipe the script into bash, not sh. On Debian and Ubuntu, sh is a different shell, and the script does not run in it.

Windows

Run this in PowerShell:

& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm https://github.com/farhadeidi/bookmarks-but-better/releases/latest/download/install.ps1))) -Vault "$env:USERPROFILE\Bookmarks"

If you leave out --vault (or -Vault on Windows), the script only installs the daemon program, and then prints the commands that finish the setup.

The scripts are published with each GitHub Release. They also check the downloaded daemon against its SHA-256 checksum, and install into your user folder without sudo or an administrator prompt.

What goes where

macOS

What	Where
Daemon versions	~/.local/share/bookmarks-but-better
The command	~/.local/bin/bookmarks-but-better
Configuration and Vault list	~/.config/bookmarks-but-better/config.toml
Background service	~/Library/LaunchAgents/dev.but-better.bookmarks.plist

Linux

What	Where
Daemon versions	~/.local/share/bookmarks-but-better
The command	~/.local/bin/bookmarks-but-better
Configuration and Vault list	~/.config/bookmarks-but-better/config.toml
Background service	~/.config/systemd/user/bookmarks-but-better.service (a systemd user unit)

If systemctl --user is not available, the service is installed as a desktop autostart entry instead, at ~/.config/autostart/bookmarks-but-better.desktop. That starts the daemon when you log in, but nothing restarts it if it stops.

Windows

What	Where
Daemon versions	%LOCALAPPDATA%\bookmarks-but-better
The command	%LOCALAPPDATA%\bookmarks-but-better\current, added to your user Path
Configuration and Vault list	%USERPROFILE%\.config\bookmarks-but-better\config.toml
Background service	A Scheduled Task that starts when you log in

On macOS and Linux, if ~/.local/bin is not on your PATH, the installer shows a line to add to your shell profile:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Your Vaults stay wherever you chose to put them.

Update

npx bookmarks-but-better@latest install

This updates the daemon, restarts the service, and keeps every Vault and the port you use.

Choose a release

By default:

• npx bookmarks-but-better@latest installs the daemon release that version of the manager was published for, so the two always match.
• The install scripts install the latest stable release.

To pick a release yourself:

What you want	Daemon Manager	macOS and Linux script	Windows script
One exact release	install --version v4.3.0	bash -s -- --version v4.3.0	-Version v4.3.0
The latest prerelease	install --version <its tag>	bash -s -- --beta	-Beta

With curl … | bash, put the options after -s --:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/farhadeidi/bookmarks-but-better/releases/latest/download/install.sh | bash -s -- --version v4.3.0 --vault ~/Bookmarks

Next step

Connect the extension to the running daemon.