Arc to Zen

Migrate all Arc workspaces data into Zen.

Download

Download the latest desktop app from GitHub Releases.

Pick the archive for your OS:

• macOS Apple Silicon: macos-arm64
• macOS Intel: macos-x64
• Windows: windows-x64
• Linux: linux-x64

Migrates

• 🧭 Arc spaces to Zen workspaces
• 📌 pinned tabs and Essentials
• 🕘 temporary open tabs
• 🗂️ nested pinned folders
• 👁️ pinned-folder open/closed state
• 🎨 workspace icons and colors/themes
• 🌐 cached favicons

GUI

1. Close Arc and Zen.
2. Open the downloaded app.
3. Choose the Arc data folder and target Zen profile.
4. Choose what to migrate.
5. Use Options to skip the synthetic Orphaned workspace, create backups, and let the app close Zen automatically.
6. Optionally enable Clear out Zen profile before migration to rebuild Zen from Arc.
7. Start the migration and wait for the progress log to finish.
8. Open Zen.

macOS Unsigned App

The macOS build is not signed yet, so Gatekeeper may block it the first time.

1. Unzip the macOS download.
2. Try to open Arc to Zen.app once.
3. When macOS blocks it, open System Settings.
4. Go to Privacy & Security.
5. Scroll to Security and click Open Anyway next to Arc to Zen.app.
6. Confirm with Open Anyway and enter your password or use Touch ID if asked.
7. Open Arc to Zen.app again.

CLI

Install Python dependencies:

python3 -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .

Run the full migration:

python cli.py

Clean rebuild mode:

python cli.py --nuke

--nuke clears existing Zen tabs, folders, pins, groups, closed-tab state, and regular bookmarks before importing Arc data. Backups are created unless --no-backups is used.

Useful switches:

• --arc-profile PATH
• --zen-profile PATH
• --include-orphaned creates a separate workspace for unmatched Essentials
• --no-backups
• --no-favicons
• --no-folder-states
• --no-workspace-icons
• --no-workspace-themes
• --nuke-only

Profiles

The GUI auto-detects common Arc and Zen profile locations. You can also browse to them manually.

Common roots:

• Arc macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Arc
• Arc Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\TheBrowserCompany.Arc_*\LocalCache\Local\Arc
• Zen macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/zen
• Zen Windows: %APPDATA%\zen
• Zen Linux: ~/.zen or the Zen Flatpak profile directory

Zen profile resolution uses explicit selection first, then ZEN_PROFILE_PATH, ZEN_PROFILE_NAME, Zen defaults from installs.ini / profiles.ini, and finally the first profile containing zen-sessions.jsonlz4.

Arc desktop Linux is not auto-detected because Arc desktop is currently known for macOS and Windows only.

Build

Build a native package for the current OS:

pip install -e ".[build]"
python scripts/build_desktop.py --version dev

Release builds are created by GitHub Actions when a v* tag is pushed.