TabCtl

Command-line browser tab control with seamless desktop integration.

TabCtl enables powerful command-line control of browser tabs across Firefox and Chrome-based browsers. Built for developers and power users who prefer keyboard-driven workflows. Currently, for Linux only.

TabCtl in action

Features

Universal Browser Support - Works with Firefox, Chrome, Zen, and Brave browsers
D-Bus Architecture - Secure local communication without network dependencies
Desktop Integration - Automatic window focus and workspace switching
Rofi Integration - Lightning-fast fuzzy search across all open tabs
Privacy Focused - No data collection, all operations remain local

Quick Start

Installation

Arch Linux (AUR)

# Install from AUR
yay -S tabctl
# or
paru -S tabctl

From Source

# Clone and build. Both binaries land in build/
git clone https://github.com/slastra/tabctl
cd tabctl
make build

Setup

# Install native messaging host
./build/tabctl install

Installation process

Browser Extensions

Install the extension for your browser:

Firefox based: Install from Mozilla Add-ons
Chrome based: Install from Chrome Web Store
Brave: Use the Chrome Web Store link above

Or install manually from source:

Firefox/Zen: extensions/firefox/
Chrome/Brave: Load unpacked from extensions/chrome/

Basic Usage

# List all open tabs
tabctl list

# Activate a specific tab
tabctl activate firefox.1.234

# Close multiple tabs
tabctl close firefox.1.234 firefox.1.235

# Open URLs in new tabs
tabctl open https://github.com

# Find tabs by title or URL
tabctl list | grep -i github

# JSON output for scripting
tabctl list --format json

# Check the extension and command-line tool are on matching versions
tabctl status

Rofi Integration

TabCtl includes powerful Rofi integration for visual tab management:

# X11 with wmctrl
scripts/rofi-tabctl-wmctrl.sh

# Wayland with Hyprland (favicons)
scripts/rofi-tabctl-hyprland.sh

AUR installs ship both scripts in /usr/share/tabctl/scripts/.

The Rofi integration provides instant fuzzy search across all tabs with automatic desktop/workspace switching when activating tabs. In the Hyprland script, Enter switches to the highlighted tab and Ctrl+w closes it (reopening the menu so you can clear several at once).

Documentation

Architecture Overview - Technical design and implementation details
Privacy Policy - Our commitment to your privacy
GitHub Repository - Source code and issue tracking

Contributing

TabCtl is open source software released under the MIT License. Contributions are welcome! Please see our GitHub repository for development guidelines and issue tracking.

Support

Issues: GitHub Issues
Discussions: GitHub Discussions
Latest Release: GitHub Releases

Acknowledgments

TabCtl was inspired by BroTab, rewritten in Go with a D-Bus architecture and a Manifest v3 Chrome extension.