⛓ Theseus

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General

Changes apply immediately and are saved for next time.

Make Theseus the default browser

Register Theseus for http and https links. Windows still asks you to confirm the switch in Settings › Default apps; the button opens that page.

Theseus Shield ›

Click to open its own settings. Blocks third-party trackers and ads on every site.

Startup

Restore the tabs from your last session when Theseus starts.

Updates

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Theseus ID

Your Silent Mode account, kept in your Theseus Vault.

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Appearance

Choose a theme for the browser. System follows your operating system's light/dark setting.

Developer tools

Where the Chromium DevTools panel appears when you press F12 or Ctrl+Shift+I. You can always drag it out to a separate window from inside the panel.

Bottom panel — docked under the tab, like Chrome's default. Best for wide screens. Right sidebar — DevTools takes the right side. If an add-on sidebar is open, it hides while DevTools is up. Two sidebars — DevTools opens on the right, and the add-on sidebar stays where it is. The two share the right area.

Registries

How Theseus picks between the BCNR / BCDN and ICANN / IANA, when a name exists in both.

Collision policy

A name only exists in both registries when its TLD isn't BCNR-unique (e.g. .de). BCNR-unique TLDs (that only exist on BCNR) never conflict.

BCDN first — BCDN wins conflicts; falls back to ICANN for anything BCDN doesn't have. ICANN first — ICANN wins conflicts; BCDN fills gaps for non-ICANN TLDs. Ask each time — an "Open with…" prompt on conflict, remembered per name or per TLD.

Remembered choices

"Always use …" picks you made from the switcher or the prompt. Reset them to be asked again.

Flagged names

A blocklist is a public, on-chain list of names reported as dangerous: phishing, impersonation, malware, financial scams. A flagged name is still registered; this decides what Theseus does before opening one.

Warn me — a warning page first; you can continue, and Theseus remembers that per name. Never open — flagged names are not opened at all. Ignore the lists — no warnings.

About

Theseus Navigator is free software

Licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0. Ships components under their own licenses: third-party notices. The names and marks are reserved: trademarks.

Language

Your language. Websites that have it serve you in it; pages that don't can be translated in place.

Your language

Sent to every site in the Accept-Language header; the translate chip's target. Also switchable from the globe icon in the address bar.

Page translation

When the page's declared language is different from yours, Theseus can translate its visible text in place. The source stays untouched — click the chip again to revert.

Translator engine

Where the translation runs. Both read the chip the same way; the difference is who sees the page's text. Details at bergamot.x.

LibreTranslate — hosted — Silent Mode's server does the translation; the page's text is POSTed to silentmode.st/libre (or any peer you add). Fast and ready today. Bergamot — on-device — WebAssembly engine on your computer; nothing leaves the device. Needs a one-time per-language model download. Coming in a later release — picking it today still routes through LibreTranslate with a one-time notice.

Translate automatically

When the page's declared language is different from yours (and both are supported by the translator), Theseus translates it in place as soon as it loads. Turn this off to leave pages in their original language — the globe chip's menu still offers a one-click translation.

Translation peers

Ordered list of LibreTranslate-compatible endpoints. The first one that answers wins; a dead or rate-limited peer is skipped and the next is tried. Keep Silent Mode's own instances at the top; add your own self-hosted LibreTranslate for privacy or unlimited use. On-device Bergamot (WASM) is coming in a later release.

API key (optional)

Shared across all peers in the list. Some LibreTranslate instances need a key for the paid tier or to raise the rate limit; leave blank for peers that don't.

System ›

Names & Certificates

Decide which name systems Theseus can resolve, and which certificate roots it will trust. BNS (.x, .bch, .sia, …) is always on; everything else is off by default.

Name resolvers

Ethereum Name Service (ENS)

.eth → content hash from the ENS registry on Ethereum, served via an IPFS/IPNS gateway.

Advanced

Ethereum RPC URL IPFS gateway

Namecoin

.bit → record from the Namecoin blockchain; translate or alias redirects are followed. Needs an RPC URL — Namecoin has no public free endpoint; set yours in Advanced.

Advanced

Namecoin JSON-RPC URL

Handshake (HNS)

User-registered TLDs on the Handshake chain, served through the public hns.to web gateway. The gateway proxies the request to Handshake's own resolver and serves the on-chain content. Handshake auctioned many 3-letter and ICANN-style TLDs on-chain, so the default collision policy keeps ICANN TLDs in clearnet.

Advanced

Handshake gateway Collision policy

Solana Name Service (SNS)

.sol → URL or IPFS record on the Solana name registry, read through Bonfida's public SDK proxy. The proxy sits behind Cloudflare; if your network is blocked, paste an alternative in Advanced.

Advanced

SNS proxy URL IPFS gateway (for ipfs records)

Unstoppable Domains

.crypto, .nft, .wallet, .bitcoin, .blockchain, .dao, .888, .polygon, .unstoppable, and more. Follows browser.redirect_url first, then IPFS records.
⚠ .x also exists on Unstoppable — BNS wins on .x, so a Sirius registration always takes precedence (this adapter skips .x entirely).

Advanced

Resolver endpoint IPFS gateway (for ipfs records)

Certificate trust (TLS)

Built-in Mozilla CA bundle

The standard trust anchors that ship with Theseus.

Russian National CA

Lets Theseus open Russian government sites (gosuslugi.ru, nalog.gov.ru, …) that use the Russian national cert chain. Does not bypass network-level blocks — use Tor for that.
⚠ Trust is scoped to the TLDs below only. The CA cannot sign for other sites while this scope is in place. Mozilla and Chrome do not trust this CA by default. Not wired yet — coming in 0.3.99.

Advanced

Scope — this CA is trusted only for hosts under these TLDs (comma-separated)

Preferences file

Reset to defaults

Clears every switch above and restores the defaults (BNS on, everything else off). Does not affect site history.

Your choices are stored in %APPDATA%\Theseus\extra-resolvers.json. They land in the file now and will come alive as each resolver is wired — the plan is 0.3.96 ENS, 0.3.97 Namecoin + Handshake, 0.3.98 SNS + Unstoppable, 0.3.99 Russian CA.

System

The Silent Mode components that live alongside Theseus and the name systems the browser can resolve.

About plug-ins on theseus.x ↗

Ariadne's Thread

System-wide BCDN resolver.

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Aegis

Built-in multi-chain wallet.

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Names & Certificates

Which name systems Theseus can resolve, and which certificate roots it trusts.

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Ariadne's Thread

A local daemon that resolves BCDN names for every browser on this machine, not just Theseus. Theseus has its own built-in resolver either way; this plug-in is for Chrome, Edge, Firefox and the rest.

Open Ariadne's Thread settings

Install, update, uninstall; collision policy, sources and the live status report.

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Aegis

Multi-chain wallet (BCH, BTC, TRX, ETH, SOL, SC, DGB) that ships with Theseus and updates over-the-air.

Open the Aegis wallet

Opens Aegis in the sidebar panel beside the page.

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Aegis plug-in settings

Version, updates and Apply update now.

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Plug-ins › Ariadne's Thread

Ariadne's Thread

A local daemon that resolves BCDN names for every browser on this machine (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc.), not just Theseus. Turning it off means non-Theseus browsers stop resolving .bch / .x / other BCNR TLDs; Theseus keeps working either way, since it has its own built-in resolver.

Status

System-wide resolver

checking…

Ariadne's Thread isn't installed on this machine. Click Install above to run the bundled installer, or grab it manually from silentmode.st/tools.

Collision policy

When a name exists on both BCNR and ICANN, which one wins? Applies machine-wide — every browser sees the same answer. Change is picked up within 5 seconds; no daemon restart, no UAC.

BCNR first — use BCNR when the name is on chain; forward to ICANN on miss. Default. ICANN first — forward to ICANN; use BCNR only when ICANN returns NXDOMAIN.

Sources

Each index source can be toggled independently to isolate a path or measure without it. Changes hot-reload every 5 s via C:\ProgramData\Ariadne\policy.json — no restart. State column shows the last attempt result for each.

SourceEnabledState

Status report

Full snapshot of what the daemon currently sees — daemon version, permitted TLDs, index size, last fetch per source. Paste into a support conversation.

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Remove

Uninstall the resolver from this machine. Theseus itself keeps working — its built-in resolver isn't affected.

Uninstall Ariadne's Thread

Removes the two scheduled tasks and deletes C:\ProgramData\Ariadne\. Prompts for admin.

Plug-ins › Aegis

Aegis

Multi-chain wallet (BCH, BTC, TRX, ETH, SOL, SC, DGB) that ships in the box. Bundled with Theseus, but updates are delivered over-the-air: new signed versions land without a Theseus release. Runs entirely inside this browser — never system-wide.

Status

Aegis wallet

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Aegis lives in the Extensions folder alongside every other add-on; to remove it, use Extensions.

Search

Pick what your address bar and the toolbar dropdown search with.

Default search engine

Used when you type into the address bar.

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Additional search engines

These appear in the toolbar dropdown. Drag to reorder. Toggle off to move an engine back to the catalog.

Add from catalog

Discover more engines

Or add a custom URL

AI engines

Which AI launchers show up in the sidebar's Pick-AI dropdown, and which one opens when you click the sparkle button.

Default AI engine

Opens when you click the sparkle button in the sidebar strip.

▾

Enabled AI engines

These appear in the sidebar strip's Pick-AI dropdown. Drag to reorder. Toggle off to move an engine back to the catalog.

Add from catalog

Discover more AI engines

Or add a custom URL

Passwords

Local password vault. Set once, unlocked with a master password. Encrypted at rest; nothing leaves your machine.

Master password

Used to unlock the vault every session. This is separate from your Ariadne wallet passphrase — memorize it, we can't recover it.

Seed for deterministic passwords

The "Generate" button in an entry derives a password from this seed. Same seed on another device → same passwords for the same site + username.

Use my Ariadne wallet mnemonic — unified identity, one seed to back up Generate a new independent seed — isolated from any BCH funds

The mnemonic is used only to derive the password-purpose subtree (m/1381'/0'). It is not stored — only the derived subtree key is persisted, encrypted with your master password.

Your vault is locked

Unlock it with your master password to view or add entries.

Your passwords

Reveal, copy, or edit any entry. The vault re-locks when Theseus quits.

Quick-unlock PIN

A PIN of 6 to 8 digits that unlocks the vault instead of the master password, here, in Aegis and in extensions such as Pithos. Five wrong PINs lock it for 15 minutes; the master password always works.

Add an entry

Generate deterministically — derived from your seed; same across devices Paste an existing password — for legacy accounts you already set elsewhere

On a site with a saved login, Theseus offers it under the sign-in form, and a key appears in the address bar while the vault is unlocked.

Signing in

Offer to save passwords

After you sign in or sign up on a site, Theseus asks whether to keep the login in your vault. You can also ask it to check your PIN or password before it fills that login.

Offer saved logins on sign-in forms

When you click into a sign-in form, saved logins for that site appear under it. While the vault is locked, Theseus offers to unlock it.

Never saved

Theseus ID

Your Silent Mode account, kept in your Theseus Vault. Sign in once and Silent Mode projects know you. A project gets a signature from your ID, never a key, and it can't see your wallets unless you link one.

Set up the Theseus Vault first

Your Theseus ID is made from your vault, so the same recovery phrase gives you the same ID on every device.

Your vault is locked

Unlock it to see the projects you sign in to.

How projects see you

A different ID for each project — recommended. Projects can't tell your IDs belong to the same person. One ID for every project — projects can recognise you as the same person.

This applies to projects you haven't signed in to yet. A project you already use keeps its ID unless you change it below.

Your One ID

After the first time, Hephaestus, Sirius, Pithos and other Silent Mode projects sign you in without asking while your vault is unlocked. Other sites always ask, unless you tick "Always sign me in" for them.

Signed-in projects

Recovery

If you lose this device

This 64-character key restores your Theseus IDs. Keep it somewhere safe and private: anyone with it can sign in as you. It is a secret key, not a recovery phrase.

Performance

Keep Theseus light on resources. Trackers, ads and cookie pop-ups are under Privacy.

Throttle inactive tabs

Background and inactive tabs use far less CPU. Recommended.

Stop tabs in the background

A tab you switch away from stops running — scripts, timers, audio and video — until you come back to it. Right-click a tab and choose “Keep running in background” for music, calls or anything that should keep going.

Startup

Start extensions when first used

Extensions such as Notepad, Screenshot, Translate and the document editors start the first time you open them, instead of every time Theseus starts. Their buttons and menu items are there either way. Shield and Cookie Pop-ups always start right away.

Start the wallet at launch

Aegis is ready the moment a site asks for it, at the cost of a slower start.

Start Pithos at launch

Pithos boots its control server for the Sia S3 gateway right away. Off: it wakes on first panel open or when you visit a pithos.sia page.

Connect Hermes relays at launch

Open your Nostr relays shortly after launch so Hermes messages arrive before you open the panel. Off: relays connect the first time you open Messages.

Preload common menus

After the first page loads, get address suggestions, the link preview and site info ready in the background so they open instantly. Off saves memory; each opens a moment slower the first time.

Lightweight start

Set all of the above to the lightest choice.

Privacy

What Theseus keeps from sites: trackers, ads, cookie pop-ups, your device and your whereabouts.

Theseus is on guard

Shield…

Cookie pop-ups…

Tor…

Theseus

Tracking protection

Shield — block trackers and ads

Requests to known tracking and advertising hosts never leave Theseus.

Cookie pop-ups

Consent banners are answered for you before they get in the way.

Manage exceptions

Sites where Shield is allowed through or cookie pop-ups are left alone.

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Tell sites not to sell or share my data

Sends the Global Privacy Control signal with every request. Sites in California, Colorado, Connecticut and other places with a privacy law must honour it.

Shield and Cookie Pop-ups also sit in the toolbar's extension row if you want them there: right-click the row and choose "Show hidden".

Device access

WebRTC IP policy

Controls which IP addresses WebRTC may reveal — the same thing the "WebRTC Network Limiter" extension does, built in. Public interface only hides your local IP; Disable non-proxied UDP is strongest. Tor forces the strongest automatically.

Block camera

Deny camera by default — also hides its name from fingerprinting.

Block microphone

Deny microphone by default — also hides its name from fingerprinting.

Hide media devices

Blank the labels and IDs of all cameras, microphones and speakers from enumerateDevices() — closes a WebRTC fingerprinting leak, like Firefox.

Block screen capture

Refuse getDisplayMedia() outright, so no site or extension can even ask. Off by default because screen capture always opens a picker first — nothing is shared until you choose a screen or window and confirm.

Anti-fingerprinting

For each: Show (real), Hide (neutral value), Spoof (a decoy), or Manual (set your own).

Timezone

What sites read via JavaScript (Intl / Date).

Location

Hide denies geolocation entirely; Manual reports the coordinates of a country you pick, so a page's navigator.geolocation answers with a plausible position instead of your real one.

These reduce tracking and hide your IP, but a custom browser can still be fingerprinted. For maximum anonymity, use the Tor Browser.

Network

Tor onion routing

Off

VPN

Route everything through a Silent Mode exit, or your own. Managed in its panel.

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DNS over HTTPS

Encrypts name lookups so your network cannot see or alter which sites you are about to visit. Silent Mode names never use DNS; this covers the rest of the web.

Provider

Browsing data

By default Theseus keeps nothing across sessions — everything toggled on here is wiped when you quit. Untoggle a bucket to keep it (e.g. cookies to stay signed in on trusted sites).

Clear cookies on quit

Drops session + persistent cookies. You'll sign in again next launch.

Clear HTTP cache on quit

Drops cached images / scripts / stylesheets. Sites re-download; small disk win.

Clear site storage on quit

Drops localStorage, IndexedDB, service workers, and the cache API. Web-app state resets.

Keep my apps and vault sites signed in

When cookies or site storage are cleared on quit, these keep theirs, so you stay signed in: the web apps in the sidebar (WhatsApp, Telegram…), the apps you installed from Settings › Apps, and every site with a login saved in Settings › Passwords. Everything else is still cleared. If a site signs you out anyway, Theseus offers your saved login on its sign-in form.

Clear history on quit

Drops back/forward history and address-bar history. With "Open previous windows and tabs" on, the tabs themselves still reopen.

These switches never touch the password vault: logins saved in Settings › Passwords stay in its encrypted vault.

Privacy › Exceptions

Exceptions

Sites you asked Shield or Cookie Pop-ups to leave alone. Remove one to protect it again.

Shield allowed through

Cookie pop-ups left alone

Sidebar

The strip on the left edge: web apps that open in a panel beside the page, and extension panels. Drag a panel's right edge to resize it (double-click the edge to reset). The bar over an open panel maximizes it over the page, restores it, or closes it.

Show the strip

A thin vertical column on the left side of every page.

How panels open

Choose how the sidebar panel sits with the page.

Over the page

Panel floats; click page to close.

Push the page aside

Page narrows; panel stays open.

Reset panel widths

Blanks every saved width so each app opens at its default.

AI engine in the sidebar

Sparkle button opens your default AI; Search picks it.

Theseus native apps

System apps bundled with Theseus. They open from the sidebar strip.

Third-party apps

Sites that open in the panel. Switch one off to take it off the strip; it stays here, still signed in, for switching back on. A site you installed as an app can be added from Apps.

Extension panels

Extensions that open from the strip. Switch one off to take it off the strip; the extension keeps working. The native apps above live under their own card.

When the panel steps aside

The open panel hides (and keeps its place) when:

You open a new tab

The right side panel opens

You click the page

Panels that open over the page. A panel that pushes the page aside stays open.

Apps

Sites you installed as apps. Each opens in its own window with its own taskbar button and shortcuts, and runs on the same Theseus underneath: same names, same protections, same sign-ins.

No apps installed yet. When a site can be installed, an install chip appears at the right end of the address bar.

Extensions

Small modules that add capabilities to Theseus. Extensions live as folders under %APPDATA%\Theseus\extensions\. Drop a folder in, restart, it's live. Bundled reference extensions (like the Notepad) are copied there on first run — you can edit or remove them without losing anything the browser needs.

Extensions ↗

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Installed

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To install a new extension, browse the catalogue at theseus.x/extensions and use the Install button there. Theseus checks each publisher's signature against the name's current owner on chain before installing — the relay can't substitute code under a trusted name. Extensions run with full app access — treat installing one like installing an unsigned executable, and only load extensions whose source you trust.

General

Appearance

Developer tools

Registries

About

Language

Page translation

Names & Certificates

Name resolvers

Certificate trust (TLS)

Preferences file

System

Ariadne's Thread

Aegis

‹Ariadne's Thread

Status

Collision policy

Sources

Status report

Remove

‹Aegis

Status

Search

AI engines

Passwords

Quick-unlock PIN

Add an entry

Signing in

Theseus ID

How projects see you

Signed-in projects

Recovery

Performance

Startup

Privacy

Tracking protection

Device access

Anti-fingerprinting

Network

Browsing data

‹Exceptions

Shield allowed through

Cookie pop-ups left alone

Sidebar

Theseus native apps

Third-party apps

Extension panels

When the panel steps aside

Apps

Extensions

Installed

Ariadne's Thread

Aegis

Exceptions