TabView

A Chrome extension that lets you see all your tabs as visual previews in a single grid — close them, reorder them, or jump to any tab instantly.

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Features

• Visual tab previews — Captures screenshots of all tabs in the background (no disruptive tab switching)
• Close tabs — Hit the X on any card to close it with a smooth animation
• Drag & drop reorder — Drag cards to rearrange your actual Chrome tab order
• Click to switch — Click any preview or title to jump straight to that tab
• Live updates — Grid stays in sync as you open, close, or move tabs
• Auto-capture — Previews start capturing automatically when you open TabView

Install (Developer Mode)

TabView isn't on the Chrome Web Store — install it manually in about 30 seconds:

1. Download this repo:

   • Click the green Code button above → Download ZIP
   • Or clone it: git clone https://github.com/cfranci/TabView.git

2. Open Chrome's extension page:

   • Go to chrome://extensions in your address bar

3. Enable Developer Mode:

   • Toggle the Developer mode switch in the top-right corner

4. Load the extension:

   • Click Load unpacked
   • Select the TabView folder you downloaded/cloned

5. Pin it (optional but recommended):

   • Click the puzzle piece icon in Chrome's toolbar
   • Pin TabView so it's always one click away

Usage

Click the TabView icon in your toolbar. A new tab opens with a grid of all your tabs. Previews capture automatically — you'll see a brief "debugging" indicator on tabs as they're screenshotted (this is normal and harmless).

• Click a preview → switches to that tab
• Click the ✕ → closes that tab
• Drag a card → reorders the tab in Chrome
• "Refresh Previews" → re-captures all screenshots

Permissions

• tabs — Read tab titles, URLs, and favicons
• activeTab — Access the current tab
• debugger — Capture tab screenshots without switching tabs (uses Chrome DevTools Protocol)

License

MIT