Safari

Coming soon

The Safari version is not released yet. It is not in the Mac App Store, and there is no signed download. If you need it now, you can build it from source.

Safari works differently from Chrome and Firefox, and until the release you build and set it up yourself.

Requirements

• macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later, with Safari 17 or later.
• The Bookmarks But Better daemon. Safari does not let extensions read its bookmarks. That means there is no Browser bookmarks source in Safari, and the extension never reads Safari’s own bookmarks. Your bookmarks live in a Vault served by the daemon on your Mac instead. See Install the daemon.

Build it from source

Until the Safari version is released, you can build it yourself on your Mac. This needs Xcode, Bun, and a copy of the source code.

1. From the project folder, run:

   bun install && bash safari/build.sh

   This builds the app that carries the extension. It does not need an Apple Developer account.

2. Open the built app once. It is in safari/build/Products/Release/.

3. In Safari, open Settings → Advanced and turn on Show features for web developers.

4. In the menu bar, choose Develop → Allow Unsigned Extensions.

5. Open Safari Settings → Extensions and turn on Bookmarks But Better Extension.

Caution

Safari turns Allow Unsigned Extensions off every time it quits. If the extension disappears after you restart Safari, allow unsigned extensions again.

GitHub releases also include a zip of the Safari extension files. That zip is not an app you can install; it still has to be built into one with the steps above.

First run

1. Install the daemon, and choose where your Vault should live:

   npx bookmarks-but-better@latest

2. Open the dashboard (see the next section). The setup wizard opens on Connect your vault. Because Safari has only one kind of source, it skips the question about where your bookmarks come from.

3. Click Connect. Safari asks for permission to reach 127.0.0.1. Allow it. The extension asks for this permission only when you connect, not when you install it.

The wizard suggests keeping your Vault in a synced folder such as iCloud Drive, so you see the same bookmarks on each of your Macs. A synced folder is not a backup, though. See Back up your vault.

Opening the dashboard

Safari does not let extensions replace the new-tab page, so new tabs stay Safari’s own. To open the dashboard:

1. Click the Bookmarks But Better icon in the toolbar. If it is not there, choose View → Customize Toolbar and drag it in.
2. In the popup, click Open the dashboard.

The dashboard opens in a tab. If no Vault is connected yet, it shows No bookmark source yet. with a Connect a daemon button.

Saving pages

On any page, click the toolbar icon and then Save bookmark. The popup shows which Vault the bookmark goes to.

Searching

Safari has no address-bar keyword, so bb does not work there. To search, open the dashboard and start typing.

Bringing your Safari bookmarks

The extension never reads Safari’s bookmarks, so moving them into a Vault is an explicit step. Safari’s File → Export Browsing Data to File saves your browsing data as a .zip file. The dashboard’s Settings → Data & Migration → Import needs an HTML bookmarks file, not the .zip itself. See Import and export.

Differences from Chrome and Firefox

Feature	Safari	Chrome and Firefox
Browser bookmarks as a source	No	Yes
Vaults served by the daemon	Yes	Yes
Dashboard replaces the new tab	No	Yes
Toolbar popup (save, open the dashboard)	Yes	Yes
Address-bar search with bb	No	Yes