Tab Management
Glide provides powerful APIs for managing browser tabs programmatically. This guide covers common tab management workflows and patterns.
Tab Visibility
Native Tab Bar
Control the visibility of Firefox’s built-in tab bar:
// Hide native tabs
glide.o.native_tabs = "hide";
// Auto-hide tabs (show on hover)
glide.o.native_tabs = "autohide";
// Always show tabs (default)
glide.o.native_tabs = "show";
The autohide option does not currently work on macOS.
Custom Styling
Hide the tab bar completely with CSS:
glide.styles.add(css`
#TabsToolbar {
visibility: collapse !important;
}
`);
glide.o.native_tabs = "autohide";
glide.styles.add(css`
:root {
--uc-tab-collapsed-width: 2px;
}
`);
Tab Querying
Get Active Tab
Retrieve the currently focused tab:
const tab = await glide.tabs.active();
console.log(tab.url);
console.log(tab.id);
const tabs = await browser.tabs.query({ active: true, currentWindow: true });
const tab = tabs[0];
Find Specific Tabs
Find the first tab matching a query:
const tab = await glide.tabs.get_first({
url: "*://github.com/*"
});
if (tab?.id) {
await browser.tabs.update(tab.id, { active: true });
}
const tabs = await glide.tabs.query({
title: "Example Domain"
});
console.log(`Found ${tabs.length} tabs`);
Tab Operations
Creating Tabs
Create a new tab:
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "<leader>t", async () => {
await browser.tabs.create({
url: "https://example.com",
active: true
});
});
await browser.tabs.create({
url: "https://example.com",
active: false
});
Switching Tabs
Switch to a specific tab:
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "gt", async () => {
const tab = await glide.tabs.get_first({ url: "*://example.com/*" });
if (tab?.id) {
await browser.tabs.update(tab.id, { active: true });
}
}, { description: "[g]o to example.com tab" });
// Next tab
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "gt", "tab_next");
// Previous tab
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "gT", "tab_prev");
Closing Tabs
Close current tab:
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "d", "tab_close");
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "<leader>d", async () => {
const tabs = await glide.tabs.query({ url: "*://example.com/*" });
const ids = tabs.map(t => t.id).filter(Boolean);
if (ids.length > 0) {
await browser.tabs.remove(ids);
}
});
Unloading Tabs
Unload tabs to free memory without closing them:
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "<leader>u", async () => {
const tabs = await glide.tabs.query({
active: false,
currentWindow: true
});
// Get tab IDs (excluding current tab)
const ids = tabs.map(t => t.id).filter(Boolean);
if (ids.length > 0) {
await glide.tabs.unload(...ids);
}
});
You cannot unload the currently active tab. Attempting to do so will throw an error.
Tab Organization
Grouping by Domain
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "<leader>g", async () => {
const tabs = await glide.tabs.query({ currentWindow: true });
const groups = new Map<string, typeof tabs>();
for (const tab of tabs) {
if (!tab.url) continue;
const domain = new URL(tab.url).hostname;
if (!groups.has(domain)) {
groups.set(domain, []);
}
groups.get(domain)!.push(tab);
}
console.log(`Found ${groups.size} unique domains`);
});
Pin/Unpin Tabs
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "<leader>p", async () => {
const tab = await glide.tabs.active();
await browser.tabs.update(tab.id, { pinned: !tab.pinned });
});
New Tab Configuration
Custom New Tab Page
Set the URL loaded when creating new tabs:
// Set to a local file
glide.o.newtab_url = "file:///path/to/page.html";
// Set to a website
glide.o.newtab_url = "https://example.com";
// Default Firefox new tab
glide.o.newtab_url = "about:newtab";
Homepage Configuration
Set browser homepage:
glide.prefs.set("browser.startup.homepage", "https://example.com");
Advanced Patterns
Tab Context Tracking
Track and restore tab state:
declare global {
interface GlideGlobals {
tab_history?: Map<number, string[]>;
}
}
glide.g.tab_history = new Map();
glide.autocmds.create("UrlEnter", /./, ({ tab_id, url }) => {
if (!glide.g.tab_history!.has(tab_id)) {
glide.g.tab_history!.set(tab_id, []);
}
glide.g.tab_history!.get(tab_id)!.push(url);
});
Duplicate Tab Detection
Prevent duplicate tabs:
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "<leader>n", async () => {
const url = "https://example.com";
const existing = await glide.tabs.get_first({ url });
if (existing?.id) {
await browser.tabs.update(existing.id, { active: true });
} else {
await browser.tabs.create({ url, active: true });
}
});
Smart Tab Reloading
Reload tabs matching a pattern:
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "<leader>r", async () => {
const tabs = await glide.tabs.query({
url: "*://localhost:*/*"
});
for (const tab of tabs) {
if (tab.id) {
await browser.tabs.reload(tab.id);
}
}
});
Window Management
Multi-Window Operations
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "<leader>w", async () => {
const windows = await browser.windows.getAll();
const currentWindow = windows.find(w => w.focused);
console.log(`Total windows: ${windows.length}`);
console.log(`Current window ID: ${currentWindow?.id}`);
});
Move Tab to New Window
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "<leader>m", async () => {
const tab = await glide.tabs.active();
await browser.windows.create({ tabId: tab.id });
});
Split Views (Experimental)
Split views are experimental in Firefox. There will be bugs.
Creating Split Views
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "<leader>s", async () => {
const tabs = await glide.tabs.query({
currentWindow: true,
pinned: false
});
if (tabs.length >= 2) {
const splitView = glide.unstable.split_views.create(
[tabs[0], tabs[1]]
);
console.log(`Created split view: ${splitView.id}`);
}
});
Checking Split Status
const tab = await glide.tabs.active();
const hasSplit = glide.unstable.split_views.has_split_view(tab);
Separating Split Views
glide.keymaps.set("normal", "<leader>S", async () => {
const tab = await glide.tabs.active();
glide.unstable.split_views.separate(tab);
});
Use glide.tabs.unload() to free memory from inactive tabs without closing them. This is especially useful for tab hoarders.
Batch tab operations when possible to reduce overhead:const ids = tabs.map(t => t.id).filter(Boolean);
await browser.tabs.remove(ids); // Better than individual removes
See Also