tabctl

Manage browser tabs from the command line. Works with Firefox and Chrome simultaneously.

$ tabctl list --format table
ID              Title                                   URL                                               Active  Age
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
firefox:2       Why LLMs Can't Really Build Software …  https://zed.dev/blog/why-llms-cant-build-softwa…  yes     2d 3h
chrome:41       Cognition | Don't Build Multi-Agents    https://cognition.ai/blog/dont-build-multi-agen…  no      5d 1h

$ tabctl status
{
  "browsers": ["firefox", "chrome"]
}

Architecture

                                ┌──────────────┐  stdin/stdout   ┌───────────┐
                         ┌────▶│ Native Host  │◀────────────────│  Firefox  │
┌───────────┐            │     │  (node.js)   │────────────────▶│ Extension │
│           │  Unix      │     └──────────────┘  length-prefix  └───────────┘
│  tabctl   │  sockets   │      /tmp/tabctl      JSON msgs
│           │────────────┤       -firefox.sock
└───────────┘            │
                         │     ┌──────────────┐  stdin/stdout   ┌───────────┐
                         └────▶│ Native Host  │◀────────────────│  Chrome   │
                               │  (node.js)   │────────────────▶│ Extension │
                               └──────────────┘  length-prefix  └───────────┘
                                /tmp/tabctl       JSON msgs
                                 -chrome.sock

Each browser launches its own native host process via browser.runtime.connectNative(). Each host listens on a separate Unix socket. The CLI queries all sockets and aggregates results.

No HTTP servers, no ports, no CORS, no TLS.

Setup

npm install
tabctl install                      # register native host with Firefox
tabctl install <chrome-extension-id> # also register with Chrome

The install step detects your node path and generates the shell wrappers automatically, so it works across macOS and Linux regardless of how node is installed (homebrew, nvm, etc.).

Then load the extension:

• Firefox: about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox → Load Temporary Add-on → select extension/manifest.json
• Chrome: chrome://extensions → Developer mode → Load unpacked → select extension/

The extension console should show Connected to native host.

Commands

Tab IDs are prefixed with the browser name (e.g. firefox:123, chrome:456).

tabctl status                       # show connected browsers
tabctl list [--format table|json]   # list all tabs (both browsers)
tabctl list --browser firefox       # filter by browser
tabctl close <id>                   # close a tab
tabctl close --domain <domain>      # close all tabs from a domain
tabctl close --older-than <dur>     # close tabs older than 7d, 24h, 30m
tabctl close --duplicates           # close duplicate URLs
tabctl activate <id>                # focus a tab
tabctl open <url>                   # open a new tab
tabctl move <id> -w <window-id>     # move tab to another window
tabctl windows                      # list windows
tabctl domains [--sort count|name]  # group tabs by domain

How it works

• src/native-host.js — The native messaging host. Reads/writes length-prefixed JSON on stdin/stdout (browser protocol). Listens on /tmp/tabctl-<browser>.sock for CLI connections. One instance per browser.
• src/client.js — Discovers all browser sockets, sends commands, aggregates results. Routes tab-specific commands to the correct browser based on the ID prefix.
• src/cli.js — CLI interface built with Commander. Batch operations (close by domain, close duplicates, domain aggregation) run client-side.
• extension/background.js — Calls connectNative("tabctl"), handles tab commands, tracks tab metadata (creation time, activation count, navigation count).
• install.js — Detects the current node path, generates per-browser shell wrappers, and writes native host manifests to browser-specific directories.

Requirements

• Node.js
• Firefox and/or Chrome
• macOS or Linux