diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e77706f91d5..03a676036c5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 - Dev: Qt Creator now auto-configures Conan when loading the project and skips vcpkg. (#5305)
 - Dev: The MSVC CRT is now bundled with Chatterino as it depends on having a recent version installed. (#5447)
 - Dev: Refactor/unsingletonize `UserDataController`. (#5459)
+- Dev: Cleanup `BrowserExtension`. (#5465)
 
 ## 2.5.1
 
diff --git a/src/BrowserExtension.cpp b/src/BrowserExtension.cpp
index 3ac8dc2dded..8511cbcb078 100644
--- a/src/BrowserExtension.cpp
+++ b/src/BrowserExtension.cpp
@@ -2,13 +2,6 @@
 
 #include "singletons/NativeMessaging.hpp"
 
-#include <QJsonDocument>
-#include <QJsonObject>
-#include <QStringList>
-#include <QTimer>
-
-#include <chrono>
-#include <fstream>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <memory>
 #include <thread>
@@ -16,69 +9,88 @@
 #ifdef Q_OS_WIN
 #    include <fcntl.h>
 #    include <io.h>
-#    include <stdio.h>
-#endif
 
-namespace chatterino {
+#    include <cstdio>
+
+#endif
 
 namespace {
-    void initFileMode()
-    {
+
+using namespace chatterino;
+
+void initFileMode()
+{
 #ifdef Q_OS_WIN
-        _setmode(_fileno(stdin), _O_BINARY);
-        _setmode(_fileno(stdout), _O_BINARY);
+    _setmode(_fileno(stdin), _O_BINARY);
+    _setmode(_fileno(stdout), _O_BINARY);
 #endif
-    }
-
-    void runLoop()
-    {
-        auto received_message = std::make_shared<std::atomic_bool>(true);
+}
 
-        auto thread = std::thread([=]() {
-            while (true)
-            {
-                using namespace std::chrono_literals;
-                if (!received_message->exchange(false))
-                {
-                    _Exit(1);
-                }
-                std::this_thread::sleep_for(5s);
-            }
-        });
+// TODO(Qt6): Use QUtf8String
+void sendToBrowser(QLatin1String str)
+{
+    auto len = static_cast<uint32_t>(str.size());
+    std::cout.write(reinterpret_cast<const char *>(&len), sizeof(len));
+    std::cout.write(str.data(), str.size());
+    std::cout.flush();
+}
 
-        while (true)
-        {
-            char size_c[4];
-            std::cin.read(size_c, 4);
+QByteArray receiveFromBrowser()
+{
+    uint32_t size = 0;
+    std::cin.read(reinterpret_cast<char *>(&size), sizeof(size));
 
-            if (std::cin.eof())
-            {
-                break;
-            }
+    if (std::cin.eof())
+    {
+        return {};
+    }
 
-            auto size = *reinterpret_cast<uint32_t *>(size_c);
+    QByteArray buffer{static_cast<QByteArray::size_type>(size),
+                      Qt::Uninitialized};
+    std::cin.read(buffer.data(), size);
 
-            std::unique_ptr<char[]> buffer(new char[size + 1]);
-            std::cin.read(buffer.get(), size);
-            *(buffer.get() + size) = '\0';
+    return buffer;
+}
 
-            auto data = QByteArray::fromRawData(buffer.get(),
-                                                static_cast<int32_t>(size));
-            auto doc = QJsonDocument();
+void runLoop()
+{
+    auto receivedMessage = std::make_shared<std::atomic_bool>(true);
 
-            if (doc.object().value("type") == "nm_pong")
+    auto thread = std::thread([=]() {
+        while (true)
+        {
+            using namespace std::chrono_literals;
+            if (!receivedMessage->exchange(false))
             {
-                received_message->store(true);
+                sendToBrowser(QLatin1String{
+                    R"({"type":"status","status":"exiting-host","reason":"no message was received in 10s"})"});
+                _Exit(1);
             }
+            std::this_thread::sleep_for(10s);
+        }
+    });
 
-            received_message->store(true);
-
-            nm::client::sendMessage(data);
+    while (true)
+    {
+        auto buffer = receiveFromBrowser();
+        if (buffer.isNull())
+        {
+            break;
         }
-        _Exit(0);
+
+        receivedMessage->store(true);
+
+        nm::client::sendMessage(buffer);
     }
+
+    sendToBrowser(QLatin1String{
+        R"({"type":"status","status":"exiting-host","reason":"received EOF"})"});
+    _Exit(0);
+}
 }  // namespace
 
+namespace chatterino {
+
 void runBrowserExtensionHost()
 {
     initFileMode();