Toolbox

Browser problems usually exist in layers:

What it controls: Cookies, IndexedDB, LocalStorage, Cache Storage, Service Workers.

When to use: Login loops, corrupted sessions, QR login failures, weird persistence.

Key concept: Modern sites store identity in many places simultaneously.

What it controls: Background scripts installed by sites.

When to use: Ghost notifications, stale sites, login persistence after clearing cookies.

Pro move: Unregister workers before retrying authentication.

When to use: Cross-site login failures and session resets.

Important: Google and Meta ecosystems often require cross-site cookies.

What it controls: Internal hostname → IP caching.

When to use: Site works elsewhere but not on this machine.

What it records: Every request made by Brave.

When to use: Redirect loops, blocked APIs, authentication problems.

What it reveals: DNS prediction and speculative preloading systems.

Interesting concept: Browsers may contact domains before you fully visit them.

What it shows: Hardware acceleration, Vulkan/WebGL/WebGPU support.

When to use: Video lag, black screens, rendering glitches.

What it shows: Audio/video sessions, codecs, buffering state.

When to use: YouTube issues, audio problems, streaming instability.

What it controls: Tab sleeping and memory management.

When to use: Laptop overheating or Brave consuming too much RAM.

What it shows: CPU and memory usage per process.

What it reveals: Permissions, background scripts, extension behavior.

When to use: Site only breaks when extension is enabled.

Controls: Camera, mic, notifications, popups, clipboard.

What it is: Hidden Chromium experimental features.

Warning: Flags can destabilize the browser.

What it reveals: Requests, redirects, APIs, cookies, headers.

Pro move: Filter by Fetch/XHR to isolate APIs.

What it reveals: IndexedDB, LocalStorage, Service Workers, Cache Storage.

Browser Process: Main controller for tabs, permissions, storage.

Renderer Process: Runs website JavaScript and rendering.

GPU Process: Handles accelerated graphics rendering.

Extension Processes: Separate isolated environments.