The Bubble

About

The Bubble

The Bubble is a Chrome extension that automatically closes inactive tabs and saves them into a Bubble Repository so your tab bar stays clean. Restore any tab anytime — with optional AI summaries (BYO key).

What it does
1. Auto-bubbles inactive tabs (configurable threshold)
2. Saves tabs into a searchable repository (popup)
3. Restore / delete / restore-all / clear-all
4. Deduplication for repeated URLs (keeps the list clean)
5. Badge counter shows newly bubbled tabs and clears once you open the popup
6. Metadata-first summaries (title + meta description) by default → If AI is enabled and a key is provided, it shows AI-generated one-liner summaries instead

How it works (high-level)
1. Tracks tab activity using activation + window focus events
2. Runs a periodic check (Chrome alarms)
3. If a tab crosses the inactivity threshold:
a. Saves tab metadata (title, URL, favicon, timestamps)
b. Captures meta description via content script (for fallback summary)
c. Optionally generates AI summary (if enabled + key provided)
d. Closes the tab
4. Popup shows the Bubble Repository, supports search + actions.

Configuration
Open the extension Options page to set:
a. Enable/disable auto-bubbling and Pin the extension.
b. Inactivity threshold (minutes)
c. Dedup window (hours)
d. AI summaries ON/OFF (default OFF)
e. Provider (OpenAI / Anthropic) + API key (optional)

Note: API keys are stored locally in chrome.storage.local. Don’t publish your personal keys publicly.

Permissions (why we need them)
tabs — read tab info, close inactive tabs, restore tabs
alarms — periodic inactivity checks
storage — save settings + bubbled repository locally
host_permissions (http/https) — read meta description from pages (metadata-only fallback)