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Francois Marier edited this page May 2, 2024 · 1 revision

Copy clean link

The goal of the copy clean link feature is to remove anything that's not needed in the query string of a URL (typically attribution clutter like utm_source=facebook). This is achieved by removing the parameters present in a manually-curated list.

While the goal is different from the privacy feature which removes query string trackers automatically when Shields is enabled (link to wiki), a cleaned URL will also be debounced and have its user trackers removed and so it will be at least as clean as what you would get as a result of visiting the URL in Brave.

Implementation

Implemented on desktop via right-click menu on the URL bar, Share, right-click on link. It is also enabled by default for Ctrl+C except on macOS due to focus problems on that platform. Support for the keyboard shortcut can be toggled via brave://flags/#brave-copy-clean-link-by-default.

On macOS, it's also in the application menu.

On iOS, it is available via a long-press on links and the share option. The same is true on Android.

Issue trackers

Engineering issues: https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/issues?q=is%3Aissue+label%3Acopy-clean-link+

List issues: https://github.com/brave/adblock-lists/issues?q=is%3Aissue+label%3A%22Clean+URLS%22

Writing new filters

Anybody can suggest new additions to the list by submitting a PR.

Basic requirements

  • Include an example URL in the PR and/or commit message.
  • The original and cleaned URLs must lead to the same page.
  • Cannot break the page.
  • Cannot change the page functionality (e.g. causing the page to be potentially shown in a different language by removing a language parameter).
  • Only HTTP/HTTPS URLs can be targeted.

Tips

  • Avoid the global scope (*://*/*) for parameters that are too generic (i.e. likely to be used for different purposes on different sites).
  • Avoid changing the last element of JSON arrays to make git blame easier. Add to the beginning instead.
  • Keep the test entries last in the file.
  • Look for the parameters in the Adguard list to see whether any of them are commented-out in that list due to breakage.
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