binary-cookies-parser 🍪

A modern, TypeScript-native parser for macOS binary cookies files (.binarycookies). Parse Safari and macOS app cookies with full type safety and zero dependencies.

Features

• Zero Dependencies - Pure TypeScript implementation
• Dual Package - ESM and CommonJS support
• Fast - Built with Bun, works with Node.js
• macOS Native - Handles Safari and native app cookies
• Simple API - One function to parse cookies

Installation

# npm
npm install binary-cookies-parser

# bun
bun add binary-cookies-parser

# yarn
yarn add binary-cookies-parser

# pnpm
pnpm add binary-cookies-parser

Usage

Basic Parsing

import { parseBinaryCookies } from 'binary-cookies-parser';
import { homedir } from 'node:os';
import { join } from 'node:path';

// Parse Safari cookies
const safariCookies = await parseBinaryCookies(
  join(homedir(), 'Library/Cookies/Cookies.binarycookies')
);

// Each cookie has:
// - name: string
// - value: string
// - url: string (domain)
// - path: string
// - flags: number (0=none, 1=secure, 4=httpOnly, 5=both)
// - expiration: Date
// - creation: Date

Filtering Cookies

// Filter by domain
const googleCookies = cookies.filter(c => c.url.includes('google.com'));

// Filter by secure flag
const secureCookies = cookies.filter(c => c.flags & 1);

// Filter by expiration
const validCookies = cookies.filter(c => c.expiration > new Date());

Converting to Playwright Format

const playwrightCookies = cookies.map(c => ({
  name: c.name,
  value: c.value,
  domain: c.url,
  path: c.path,
  expires: Math.floor(c.expiration.getTime() / 1000),
  httpOnly: !!(c.flags & 4),
  secure: !!(c.flags & 1),
  sameSite: 'Lax' as const
}));

// Use with Playwright
await context.addCookies(playwrightCookies);

Using the Class API

import { BinaryCookiesParser } from 'binary-cookies-parser';

const parser = new BinaryCookiesParser();
const cookies = await parser.parse('/path/to/Cookies.binarycookies');

API Reference

parseBinaryCookies(cookiePath: string): Promise<BinaryCookie[]>

Parses a binary cookies file and returns an array of cookies.

Parameters:

• cookiePath - Absolute path to the .binarycookies file

Returns:

• Promise<BinaryCookie[]> - Array of parsed cookies

Throws:

• Error if file doesn't exist
• Error if file format is invalid

BinaryCookie Interface

interface BinaryCookie {
  name: string;        // Cookie name
  value: string;       // Cookie value
  url: string;         // Domain (e.g., ".apple.com")
  path: string;        // Path (e.g., "/")
  flags: number;       // Flags (0=none, 1=secure, 4=httpOnly, 5=both)
  expiration: Date;    // Expiration date
  creation: Date;      // Creation date
}

Cookie Flags

Flag	Meaning
0	No flags
1	Secure cookie
4	HttpOnly cookie
5	Secure + HttpOnly

Common Use Cases

Extract Safari Cookies for Automation

import { parseBinaryCookies } from 'binary-cookies-parser';
import { homedir } from 'node:os';
import { join } from 'node:path';

const cookies = await parseBinaryCookies(
  join(homedir(), 'Library/Cookies/Cookies.binarycookies')
);

// Use with Puppeteer, Playwright, etc.

Parse macOS App Cookies

import { parseBinaryCookies } from 'binary-cookies-parser';
import { homedir } from 'node:os';
import { join } from 'node:path';

// Example: Amazon Prime Video app
const primeCookies = await parseBinaryCookies(
  join(
    homedir(),
    'Library/Containers/com.amazon.aiv.AIVApp/Data/Library/Cookies/Cookies.binarycookies'
  )
);

Cookie Migration

// Export cookies from Safari
const cookies = await parseBinaryCookies('/path/to/safari/cookies');

// Convert to JSON for backup
await Bun.write('cookies-backup.json', JSON.stringify(cookies, null, 2));

// Filter and import to another browser
const importCookies = cookies.filter(c =>
  c.url.includes('important-domain.com')
);

Platform Support

• macOS - ✅ Full support (Safari, native apps)
• Linux - ❌ Not applicable (no .binarycookies files)
• Windows - ❌ Not applicable (no .binarycookies files)

This library is specifically for parsing macOS binary cookies files. For cross-platform cookie management, consider using browser automation tools.

Examples

See the examples/ directory for complete working examples:

• basic-usage.ts - Parse Safari cookies and convert to Playwright format

Run examples:

bun run examples/basic-usage.ts

Development

# Install dependencies
bun install

# Run tests
bun test

# Build for npm
bun run build

# Generate types
bun run types

Technical Details

Binary Format

The .binarycookies format is a proprietary Apple format used by Safari and macOS applications. This parser implements the complete specification:

• File header validation (cook magic bytes)
• Multi-page cookie storage
• Mac epoch time conversion (978307200 offset)
• Cookie flag parsing
• Null-terminated string extraction

Performance

• Zero external dependencies
• Single-pass parsing
• Efficient buffer operations
• Minimal memory allocations

Credits

Inspired by the original node-binary-cookies by Jonathan Lipps, but completely rewritten in modern TypeScript with:

• Full type safety
• Async/await API
• Zero dependencies
• Dual ESM/CJS support
• Bun optimization

License

MIT © 2025 MKS2508

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Links

• npm package
• GitHub repository
• Issue tracker