HeSync — End-to-End Encrypted Bookmark Sync for Helium Browser

HeSync is a privacy-focused sync extension for the Helium Browser.

It stores your sync data in your own private GitHub repository and protects it with end-to-end encryption using AES-GCM. Data is encrypted before upload and only decrypted locally with your recovery key.

Features

• End-to-end encrypted sync
• Private GitHub-backed storage
• Local decryption with a generated recovery key
• Bookmark sync
• Browser history sync
• Auto sync at startup
• Auto sync every 5 minutes

Note

History sync is still experimental and may still have a few bugs.

How It Works

1. Start a new sync chain or join an existing one.
2. Save your recovery key.
3. Add your GitHub token.
4. HeSync encrypts your sync payloads and uploads them to your GitHub repo.
5. Other Helium installs can sync by using the same recovery key.

Your GitHub repo stores encrypted payloads. The recovery key is required to decrypt them locally.

Installation

Option 1: Install from GitHub Releases

1. Download the latest release from the Github releases page on the right.
2. Extract the zip somewhere on your machine.
3. Open your Chromium extensions page (web link chrome://extensions).
4. Enable Developer mode.
5. Click Load unpacked.
6. Select the extracted HeSync folder.

Option 2: Install from Source

1. Clone or download this repository.
2. Open your Chromium extensions page (web link chrome://extensions).
3. Enable Developer mode.
4. Click Load unpacked.
5. Select this project folder.

Setup

After loading the extension:

1. Open HeSync from the toolbar popup or settings page.
2. Choose Setup New Sync Chain or Join Existing Sync Chain.
3. Save the recovery key somewhere safe.
4. Add your GitHub token.
5. Finish setup and let HeSync perform the first sync.

Important

If you lose your recovery key, you lose access to the encrypted sync data stored in the repo.

GitHub Token Permissions

Create a GitHub personal access token and grant these repository permissions:

• Contents: Read and write
• Administration: Read and write if you want HeSync to create the private repo automatically
• Metadata: Read-only

If you create the sync repo yourself first, Administration is not required.

Privacy focused

• Sync payloads are encrypted before they leave the browser
• GitHub stores encrypted data, not plain bookmark or history data
• Decryption happens locally using your recovery key
• Your GitHub token is stored locally in extension storage on your device