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Self-hosted web browser bookmarks syncing

Written by Solène, on 02 November 2024.
Tags: #security #network

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Table of contents

1. Introduction §

This blog post is about Floccus, a self-hosting web browser bookmarks and tabs syncing software.

What is cool with Floccus is that it works on major web browsers (Chromium, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Brave, Vivaldi and Microsoft Edge), allowing sharing bookmarks/tabs without depending on the web browser integrated feature, but it also supports multiple backends and also allow the sync file to be encrypted.

Floccus official project website

The project is actively developed and maintained.

Floccus GitHub repository

If you want to share a bookmark folder with other people (relatives, a team at work), do not forget to make a dedicated account on the backend as the credentials will be shared.

2. Features §

  • can sync bookmarks or tabs
  • sync over WebDAV, Nextcloud, git, linkwarden and Google Drive
  • (optional) encrypted file on the shared storage with WebDAV and Google Drive backends
  • (optional) security to not sync if more than 50% of the bookmarks changed
  • can sync a single bookmark directory
  • sync one-way or two-ways
  • non HTTP URLs can be saved when using WebDAV or Google Drive backends (ftp:, javascript, data:, chrome:)
  • getting rid of Floccus is easy, it has an export feature, but you can also export your bookmarks

3. Setup §

There is not much to setup, but the process looks like this:

  1. install the web browser extension (it is published on Chrome, Mozilla and Edge stores)
  2. click on the Floccus icon and click on "Add a profile"
  3. choose the backend
  4. type credentials for the backend
  5. configure the sync options you want
  6. enjoy!

After you are done, repeat the process on another web browser if you want to enable sync, otherwise Floccus will "only" serve as a bookmark backup solution.

4. Conclusion §

It is the first bookmark sync solution I am happy with, it just works, supports end-to-end encryption, and does not force you to use the same web browser across all your devices.

Before this, I tried integrated web browser sync solutions, but self-hosting them was not always possible (or a terrible experience). I gave a try to "bookmark managers" (linkding, buku, shiori), but whether in command line or with a web UI, I did not really like it as I found it rather impractical for daily use. I just wanted to have my bookmarks stored in the browser, and be able to easily search/open them. Floccus does the job.