Turbine: a browser that keeps your data where it belongs

Why we built our own browser shell, how tracking protection works, and the trade-offs we made for speed.

Kenji WatanabeAugust 27, 20261 min read

Turbine browser window with a clean start page

Turbine is the default browser in AbstractOS. It is built on a hardened engine with an adaptive shell of our own, so it feels at home in phone, tablet and desktop modes.

Privacy defaults

Feature	Default	Notes
Third-party cookies	Blocked	Partitioned per site when allowed
Known trackers	Blocked	Lists update weekly
Telemetry	Off	Opt-in crash reports only
HTTPS-only mode	On	Prompts before loading HTTP

Turbine browser start page — Turbine in desktop mode.

Policy for administrators

Organizations can pin settings with a JSON policy file:

/etc/turbine/policies.json

{
  "HttpsOnlyMode": "force",
  "BlockThirdPartyCookies": true,
  "Homepage": "https://intranet.example.org"
}

Kenji Watanabe

Shell Engineer

Kenji works on the compositor and the adaptive shell. Previously hacked on Wayland compositors and embedded Linux.

Engineering Convergence
One codebase, every screen: how the adaptive shell works
A tour of the compositor, the form-factor service and the breakpoint system that lets AbstractOS reshape itself when you dock a phone.
KW
Kenji WatanabeSeptember 30, 20261 min read
Engineering Design Convergence
Rewriting Files for every form factor
How we rebuilt the file manager with an adaptive sidebar, instant search and light and dark themes.
KW
Kenji WatanabeJuly 22, 20261 min read

Privacy defaults

Policy for administrators

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