Vodou is a web browser built by Mist Technologies. Under the hood it's a Python application built with PyQt6 on top of Qt WebEngine — the same Chromium rendering engine that powers Chrome and Edge — so pages look and behave the way you'd expect, while everything around the page (tabs, the address bar, settings, the password manager) is Vodou's own design.

What makes Vodou different

  • Privacy by default. Cookies and browsing history live in memory only and disappear when you close the window — see Why Vodou doesn't have a History page and How Vodou handles your browsing data.
  • A built-in password manager. An encrypted vault, not a separate app or extension — see Setting up the password vault.
  • Built-in protection against trackers, phishing look-alike domains, and known malicious sites, all checked on your own device.
  • Open source. Vodou's code is public on GitHub under the MIT License, so anyone can see exactly what it does.
  • Optional local AI features that run entirely against your own local Ollama installation — nothing is sent to a cloud AI service.

What Vodou is not

Vodou is a genuine, working browser, but it's a personal/educational project, not a large commercial browser with a dedicated security team. Its password vault uses sound, standard cryptography, but hasn't been professionally audited — see Frequently asked questions.

Vodou can register itself as your operating system's default browser — see Setting Vodou as your default browser. Once set, a link opened from another app opens that exact page in Vodou, the same as any other browser.