Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ and npm
• Chrome or Chromium-based browser
• Claude Code (optional, for MCP integration)

Clone and Install

git clone https://github.com/ugiordan/tab-manager.git
cd tab-manager
npm install

This installs all three packages (bridge, extension, MCP) via npm workspaces.

Build the Extension

npm run build -w packages/extension

This runs webpack and outputs the built extension to packages/extension/dist/.

Load in Chrome

1. Open chrome://extensions/
2. Enable Developer mode (toggle in top right)
3. Click Load unpacked
4. Select the packages/extension/dist/ directory

The extension icon should appear in your toolbar. Click it to open the popup.

Reloading after changes

After rebuilding, go to chrome://extensions/ and click the refresh icon on the Tab Lifecycle Manager card. No need to remove and re-add.

Start the Bridge Server (Optional)

The bridge server is only needed if you want MCP tool access from Claude Code. The extension works fully standalone without it.

npm run bridge:start

The server starts on http://localhost:19876. It stores data in ~/.tab-manager/.

Development Mode

# Bridge with hot reload
npm run bridge:dev

# Extension with watch mode (rebuilds on file changes)
npm run dev -w packages/extension

# Run all tests
npm test