A glassmorphism-styled Chrome new tab extension — beautiful, customizable, and built for power users.
GM-Tab replaces your Chrome new tab page with a modern, glassmorphism-inspired dashboard. Unlike minimalist alternatives, GM-Tab embraces a rich, layered aesthetic — frosted glass panels, vivid backgrounds, and a fully customizable layout — without sacrificing usability.
Inspired by and built upon minimal_newtab by ujain1999, GM-Tab extends the original concept with a more expressive design language, video background support, a full sidebar system with embedded custom applications, and deep personalization options.
- Glassmorphism UI — frosted glass cards and panels with blur effects throughout
- Dark / Light / System theme — follows your OS preference or override manually
- Auto-hide controls — UI elements fade out and reappear on hover for a distraction-free look
- Custom image — upload any local image as your background
- Custom video background — upload a local video that loops seamlessly; adjustable opacity
- Unsplash integration — fetch a new high-quality photo automatically (requires a free Unsplash API key); configurable update frequency (15 min → weekly) and manual refresh button
- Decorative pixel art overlay — choose from built-in patterns (Flowers, Hearts, Stars, Kitty, Leaves) or paste your own custom SVG; control opacity, density, and color per theme
- Live clock with full date display
- Real-time weather via geolocation or a manually specified city
- Temperature in °C or °F
- Display bookmarks from any folder in your Chrome bookmarks
- Expand / collapse nested folders
- Icon-only compact mode
- Glassmorphism search bar centered on the page
- Supports Google and other configurable search engines
- Acts as a URL bar — just type an address and go
- Quick-access icons for Chrome internals: Bookmarks, Downloads, History, Extensions, Passwords, Settings
- Show/hide each icon individually and drag to reorder
- Toggle a collapsible sidebar on the left or right edge of the screen
- Choose which widgets appear and drag them to reorder
- Keep expanded mode for persistent access
- Optional customize button pinned inside the sidebar
| Widget | Description |
|---|---|
| Calendar | Monthly calendar view |
| To-do | Simple task checklist |
| Custom apps | Add any website by URL — rendered in an iframe panel directly inside the sidebar |
- Custom CSS editor — write your own CSS directly in the settings panel; changes apply on save
- Settings backup — export your full configuration as a JSON file and restore it later (supports drag & drop import)
- Restore Defaults — one-click reset if anything breaks
GM-Tab is not yet published on the Chrome Web Store. Load it as an unpacked extension.
- Clone or download this repository:
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/gmtab.git
- Open Chrome and navigate to
chrome://extensions. - Enable Developer mode (toggle in the top-right corner).
- Click Load unpacked and select the
gmtabfolder. - Open a new tab — GM-Tab is now active.
Click the Customize button (bottom-right of the new tab) or go to chrome://extensions → GM-Tab → Extension options to open the full settings panel.
| Section | What you can configure |
|---|---|
| General | Clock, weather (location, unit), bookmarks (folder, expand, icon-only) |
| Shortcuts | Top-right shortcut visibility and order |
| Appearance | Theme, background (image / video / Unsplash), pixel art, custom CSS, auto-hide |
| Sidebar | Enable, position, widget list and order, expand behavior |
| Backup | Export / import settings JSON |
- Create a free account at unsplash.com/developers.
- Create a new application and copy your Access Key.
- Paste it into Settings → Appearance → Unsplash API Key.
- Choose your desired update frequency and optionally enable the manual refresh button.
- Original concept and codebase: minimal_newtab by ujain1999
- Background photos: Unsplash
- Font: Inter via Google Fonts
This project is released under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.
The original minimal_newtab project is also MIT-licensed. GM-Tab is a derivative work developed in compliance with that license.