AdguardBrowserExtension

AdGuard browser extension

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Quick Overview

AdguardBrowserExtension is an open-source browser extension for ad blocking and privacy protection. It offers advanced features like custom filtering rules, stealth mode, and protection against tracking. The extension is available for various browsers and is maintained by the AdGuard team.

Pros

Powerful ad blocking capabilities with customizable filter lists
Enhanced privacy protection features, including anti-tracking and stealth mode
Regular updates and active development by a dedicated team
Open-source, allowing for community contributions and transparency

Cons

May interfere with some website functionalities due to aggressive blocking
Requires some technical knowledge to fully utilize custom filtering rules
Can potentially slow down browsing speed on older devices or with many filters enabled
Some advanced features may be overwhelming for casual users

Code Examples

As this is a browser extension and not a code library, there are no specific code examples to provide. However, users can create custom filtering rules. Here's an example of a basic filtering rule:

example.com##.ad-banner

This rule would hide elements with the class "ad-banner" on example.com.

Getting Started

To get started with AdguardBrowserExtension:

Visit the project's GitHub repository: https://github.com/AdguardTeam/AdguardBrowserExtension
Download the extension for your browser from the official website or browser store
Install the extension in your browser
Configure the extension settings according to your preferences
Optionally, create custom filtering rules or enable additional protection features

For developers interested in contributing:

Fork the repository
Clone your fork: git clone https://github.com/your-username/AdguardBrowserExtension.git
Install dependencies: npm install
Make your changes and submit a pull request

Competitor Comparisons

uBlock

53,018

uBlock Origin - An efficient blocker for Chromium and Firefox. Fast and lean.

Pros of uBlock

Lighter on system resources, offering better performance
More customizable with advanced features for power users
Larger community-driven filter lists and frequent updates

Cons of uBlock

Less user-friendly interface for beginners
Fewer built-in features compared to AdGuard's comprehensive suite
Limited official support channels

Code Comparison

uBlock (manifest.json):

{
  "manifest_version": 2,
  "name": "uBlock Origin",
  "version": "1.44.4",
  "description": "Finally, an efficient blocker. Easy on CPU and memory."
}

AdGuard Browser Extension (manifest.json):

{
  "manifest_version": 2,
  "name": "__MSG_name__",
  "short_name": "__MSG_short_name__",
  "version": "4.1.55",
  "description": "__MSG_description__"
}

The code comparison shows that uBlock uses a simpler manifest structure with hardcoded values, while AdGuard utilizes localization placeholders for multi-language support. This reflects uBlock's focus on efficiency and AdGuard's emphasis on user-friendly features and broader accessibility.

privacybadger

3,374

Privacy Badger is a browser extension that automatically learns to block invisible trackers.

Pros of Privacy Badger

Automatically learns to block trackers without relying on predefined lists
Focuses on protecting user privacy rather than just blocking ads
Open-source and maintained by a non-profit organization (EFF)

Cons of Privacy Badger

May not block as many ads as AdguardBrowserExtension
Less customizable and fewer features compared to AdguardBrowserExtension
Potentially higher false-positive rate due to its learning algorithm

Code Comparison

Privacy Badger (JavaScript):

function updateOrigin(tabId, frameId, origin, action) {
  if (!origin) {
    return;
  }
  if (action == constants.NO_ACTION) {
    return;
  }
  badger.storage.touchDNTRecheckTime(origin, Date.now());
  badger.storage.setupHeuristicAction(origin, action);
}

AdguardBrowserExtension (TypeScript):

export const updateContentBlockerInfo = (
    tabId: number,
    frameId: number,
    documentUrl: string,
    filteringInfo: ContentBlockerInfo,
): void => {
    const tab = tabsApi.get(tabId);
    if (!tab) {
        return;
    }
    tab.updateContentBlockerInfo(frameId, documentUrl, filteringInfo);
};

Both extensions use similar approaches to update blocking information for specific origins or frames, but AdguardBrowserExtension uses TypeScript for improved type safety and maintainability.

adblock-rust

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Brave's Rust-based adblock engine

Pros of adblock-rust

Written in Rust, offering better performance and memory safety
Designed as a library, allowing easier integration into various projects
More actively maintained with frequent updates

Cons of adblock-rust

Less feature-rich compared to AdguardBrowserExtension
Primarily focused on ad-blocking, while AdguardBrowserExtension offers additional privacy features
Steeper learning curve for developers not familiar with Rust

Code Comparison

AdguardBrowserExtension (JavaScript):

export function isThirdParty(requestUrl, documentUrl) {
    const requestHost = getHost(requestUrl);
    const documentHost = getHost(documentUrl);
    return !isFirstParty(requestHost, documentHost);
}

adblock-rust (Rust):

pub fn is_third_party(request_url: &str, document_url: &str) -> bool {
    let request_host = get_host(request_url);
    let document_host = get_host(document_url);
    !is_first_party(&request_host, &document_host)
}

The code comparison shows similar functionality implemented in different languages. AdguardBrowserExtension uses JavaScript, while adblock-rust utilizes Rust's strong typing and ownership model. The Rust implementation may offer better performance and memory safety, but the JavaScript version might be more accessible to web developers.

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README

AdGuard Browser Extension

Ad blocker with advanced privacy protection features

AdGuard is a fast and lightweight ad blocking browser extension
that effectively blocks all types of ads and trackers.

AdGuard.com | Reddit | Twitter | Telegram

AdGuard Browser Extension

AdGuard is a fast and lightweight ad blocking browser extension that effectively blocks all types of ads and trackers on all web pages. We focus on advanced privacy protection features to not just block known trackers, but prevent web sites from building your shadow profile. Unlike its standalone counterparts (AG for Windows, Mac), the browser extension is completely free and open source. You can learn more about the difference here.

AdGuard does not collect any information about you, and does not participate in any acceptable ads program. The only source of income we have is selling premium versions of our software, and we intend to keep it that way.

Installation
Contribution
Development
Permissions required
Auto-publish builds
Minimum supported browser versions

Installation

Chrome and Chromium-based browsers

You can get the latest available AdGuard Extension version from the Chrome Web Store.

Firefox

You can get the latest version of AdGuard Extension from the Mozilla Add-ons website.

Opera

Opera is basically a Chromium browser, but it maintains its own add-ons store. You can get AdGuard Extension from there.

Microsoft Edge

The latest stable version of AdGuard browser extension is available in Microsoft Store.

Contribution

We are blessed to have a community that does not only love AdGuard, but also gives back. A lot of people volunteer in various ways to make other users' experience with AdGuard better, and you can join them!

We, on our part, can only be happy to reward the most active members of the community. So, what can you do?

Translating AdGuard

If you want to help with AdGuard translations, please learn more about translating our products here: https://adguard.com/kb/miscellaneous/contribute/translate/program/

Testing AdGuard

You can get a beta version of AdGuard Browser Extension for any browser. All necessary information on this topic can be found on a dedicated page on our website.

Reporting issues

GitHub can be used to report a bug or to submit a feature request. To do so, go to this page and click the New issue button.

[!NOTE] For the filter-related issues (missed ads, false positives etc.) use the dedicated repository.

Other options

Here is a dedicated page for those who are willing to contribute.

Development

Requirements

Ensure that the following software is installed on your computer:

Node.js: v22 (you can install multiple versions using nvm)
pnpm: v10
Git

How to build

Tests and dev build

Install local dependencies by running:

pnpm install

Running unit tests:

pnpm test

Running integration tests:

pnpm test:integration <MODE>
# MODE can be 'dev', 'beta', 'release', same as build targets.

Running integration tests with enabling debug mode (page will be stopped after tests execution) for one of them:

pnpm test:integration <MODE> [-d <TEST_ID>]
# MODE can be 'dev', 'beta', 'release', same as build targets.
# TEST_ID can be extracted from https://testcases.agrd.dev/data.json

Run the following command to build the dev version:

pnpm dev

This will create a build directory with unpacked extensions for all browsers:

build/dev/chrome
build/dev/edge
build/dev/firefox-amo
build/dev/firefox-standalone
build/dev/opera

To make a dev build for a specific browser, run:

pnpm dev <browser>

Where <browser> is one of the following: chrome, chrome-mv3, edge, opera, firefox, firefox-standalone, like this:

pnpm dev chrome

To run dev build in watch mode, run:

pnpm dev --watch

Or for a specific browser:

pnpm dev <browser> --watch

Linking with the developer build of tsurlfilter/tswebextension

Since version v4.0, AdGuard browser extension uses an open source library tsurlfilter that implements the filtering engine.

While developing the browser extension it may be required to test the changes to tsurlfilter. Here's what you need to do to link your local dev build to the local dev build of tsurlfilter.

Clone and build tsurlfilter libraries.
You have two options to link the packages:
- Option 1: Link the packages globally:
  1. Go to the tsurlfilter/packages/tsurlfilter or tsurlfilter/packages/tswebextension directory.
  2. Run the following command:
```
pnpm link --global
```
    This command will create a symlink to the package in the global node_modules directory.
  3. Once you have the packages linked globally, you can link them to the browser extension. Just run the following command in the root directory of the browser extension:
```
pnpm link @adguard/tsurlfilter
```
- Option 2: Link the packages by path:
  1. Just run the following command in the root directory of the browser extension:
```
pnpm link <path-to-tsurlfilter/packages/tsurlfilter>
```
If you want to unlink the packages, just run pnpm unlink @adguard/tsurlfilter or pnpm unlink @adguard/tswebextension in the root directory of the browser extension regardless of the linking option you chose.

[!WARNING] pnpm will modify the lock file when linking packages. See https://github.com/pnpm/pnpm/issues/4219.

[!NOTE] If you want to list linked packages, run pnpm list --depth 0 in the root directory of the browser extension which will show you all dependencies. Linked packages have a version like link:../path/to/package.
Build the browser extension in the watch mode:
```
pnpm dev <browser> --watch --no-cache
```
--no-cache flag is required to rebuild the extension on changes in the linked packages.

Building the beta and release versions

Before building the release version, you should manually download the necessary resources that will be included into the build: filters and public suffix list.

pnpm resources

[!TIP] Run pnpm resources:mv3 to download resources for MV3 version.

This command also checks if there are dangerous rules in the filters. See dangerous rules

pnpm beta
pnpm release

You will need to put certificate.pem file to the ./private directory. This build will create unpacked extensions and then pack them (crx for Chrome).

Special building instructions for Firefox reviewers

To ensure that the extension is built in the same way, use the docker image:

docker run --rm -it \
    -v $(pwd):/workspace \
    -w /workspace \
    adguard/extension-builder:22.14--0.2--0

Inside the docker container, install the dependencies:
```
pnpm install
```
To build the BETA version, run:
```
pnpm beta firefox-standalone
```
Navigate to the build directory:
```
cd ./build/beta
```
Compare the generated firefox.zip file with the uploaded one.

If you need to build the RELEASE version:

Run:
```
pnpm release firefox
```
Navigate to the build directory:
```
cd ./build/release
```
Compare the generated firefox.zip file with the uploaded one.

Analyzing bundle size

If you want to analyze the bundle size, run build with the ANALYZE environment:

pnpm cross-env ANALYZE=true pnpm <build command>

So, for example, if you want to analyze the beta build for Chrome, run:

pnpm cross-env ANALYZE=true pnpm beta chrome

Or if you want to analyze all beta builds, run:

pnpm cross-env ANALYZE=true pnpm beta

Analyzer will generate reports to the ./build/analyze-reports directory in the following format:

build/analyze-reports
âââ <browser-name>-<build-type>.html

Debug MV3 declarative rules

If you want to debug MV3 declarative rules and check exactly which rules has been applied for some requests, you can build extension in dev mode as described in the upper How to build section, but for specified branch, in which we develop MV3 version.

Then install extension via developer mode, make requests and see applied declarative rules in the filtering log.

How to build MV3 extension

Switch to the v5.0 branch:
```
git checkout v5.0
```
Run the following command in the terminal:
```
pnpm dev chrome-mv3
```
The built extension will be located in the directory:
```
./build/dev/chrome-mv3
```

How to install unpacked in the browser

Turn on developer mode:
Click Load unpacked:
Select the extension directory and click Select:

Thatâs it!

How to debug rules

Find and modify the rule you need in the ./Extension/filters/chromium-mv3 directory in the .txt files.
Convert the rules from txt to declarative form:
```
pnpm convert-declarative
```
Build the extension again:
```
pnpm dev chrome-mv3
```
Reload the extension in the browser:
If you see an â mark - it means that assumed rule (which we calculated with our tsurlfilter engine, which performed applying rules in MV2) and actually applied rule (from which we converted to DNR rule) are not the same. And this can be a problem of conversion.
Otherwise, if assumed and applied rules are the same - only applied rule (in text and declarative ways) will be shown.

Linter

Despite our code may not currently comply with new style configuration, please, setup eslint in your editor to follow up with it .eslintrc

Update localizations

To download and append localizations run:

pnpm locales download

To upload new phrases to crowdin you need the file with phrases ./Extension/_locales/en/messages.json. Then run:

pnpm locales upload

To remove old messages from locale messages run:

pnpm locales renew

To validate translations run:

pnpm locales validate

To show locales info run:

pnpm locales info

Permissions required

tabs - this permission is required in order to get the URL of the options page tab
webRequest - this permission is necessary to apply complicated rules (cosmetic for instance), detecting and removing tracking cookies, counting blocked resources.
cookies - this permissions is required to delete cookies from requests or changing their lifetime.
contextMenus - this permission is required in order to create a context menu
scripting - this permission is required in order to inject assistant script only in the required pages
storage - this permission is required in order to save user settings, user rules and custom filters
declarativeNetRequest - this permission is required in order to block, redirect and modify URL requests
declarativeNetRequestFeedback - this permission is required in order to create a log of the blocked, redirected or modified URL requests
unlimitedStorage - this permission is required in order to save large filters
webNavigation - this permission is required in order to catch the moment for injecting scriptlets

Auto-publish builds

Due to the transition from MV2 to MV3, we cannot update our filters remotely. To keep the filters as fresh as possible, we have configured automated tasks in our CI plans. These tasks will build a new version of the extension with only the updated @adguard/dnr-rulesets package, which contains new static rulesets.

These automated tasks will run all necessary checks: unit tests, translation checks, and linter. After that, they will update resources, including filters and local script rules, create a build, and run integration tests to ensure the update is safe.

Finally, the new version of the extension will be published to the Chrome Web Store.

Minimum supported browser versions

Browser	Version
Chromium-based browsers MV2	â 106
Chromium-based browsers MV3	â 121
Firefox	â 78
Firefox Mobile	â 113
Opera	â 67
Edge Chromium	â 80
Edge Legacy	â

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