TabKan

Tracking since May 31, 2026.

Changelog

• Jun 20, 2026
  description

  Your tabs, finally under control. TabKan turns Chrome's native tab groups into a calm, visual Kanban board — so your browser stops feeling like a junk drawer and starts working like a workspace.

  Your tabs, finally under control.
  
  TabKan is a tab manager that turns Chrome's native tab groups into a visual Kanban board — drag tabs between columns, add notes, tags and to-dos, and save whole sessions, so your browser stops feeling like a junk drawer and starts working like a workspace. Open it as a full-page dashboard or a side panel. No account, no servers, 100% local.
  
  If you live with 40 tabs open across a dozen half-finished trains of thought, you know the cost: the endless squint across tiny favicons, the "where did that go?" hunt, the dread of closing anything in case you need it later. TabKan gives that chaos a shape you can see and move around — and because it drives Chrome's real tab groups, organizing the board organizes your actual browser, both ways.
  
  
  WHAT TABKAN DOES
  
  • See everything at a glance. Every Chrome tab group becomes a column; every tab becomes a card on a clean, full-page board. Columns carry their tab group's real color, so the board mirrors your browser at a glance — no more scanning a cramped tab strip.
  
  • Organize by dragging. Drag tabs between groups to re-sort your browser instantly. Drag a tab onto the "+ New Group" column to spin up a brand-new group on the spot. Ungrouped tabs get their own column too, so nothing slips through the cracks.
  
  • Close tabs in one click — safely. Each card has a one-click close button with an Undo prompt, so tidying up never costs you a tab you actually needed.
  
  • Keep the context, not just the link. Attach notes, tags, and to-do lists to any tab. The metadata is keyed to the URL, so it survives closing and reopening the tab — your thinking isn't lost when the tab is.
  
  • Find it in a second. Instant search and tag filters sweep across titles, URLs, notes, and to-dos to surface the one tab you need out of the hundred you have, with a live result count and removable filter chips.
  
  • Never lose a workspace. Save a whole arrangement — groups, tabs, and bookmarks — as a named session, then restore or export it later. After a browser restart, TabKan can recover your last workspace without duplicating tabs.
  
  • Stay on top of loose ends. A task roll-up gathers every to-do across all your tabs into one list, so half-finished work doesn't quietly disappear.
  
  • Manage bookmarks alongside tabs. Your bookmarks live in the sidebar; drag one straight from Chrome's bookmarks bar onto a group to open it as a tab.
  
  • Work in light or dark. A built-in light/dark theme matches your setup and applies across the dashboard, side panel, and popup.
  
  • One board per window. Open a separate dashboard in each browser window — each shows that window's own tabs and groups — and let TabKan ask which window to jump to when a page is open in more than one.
  
  • Two ways to work. Use the full-page dashboard as a command center, or the lightweight side panel to manage tabs right beside whatever you're reading.
  
  
  WHAT'S NEW (v5.5)
  
  TabKan is actively developed. Recent releases added:
  • One-click tab close with Undo (replacing the old drag-to-a-bin gesture)
  • Drag a tab onto "+ New Group" to create a group — no stray blank tabs
  • Ungrouped tabs shown as their own board column
  • Per-window dashboards + an "open in which window?" prompt for Go-to-tab
  • Drag bookmarks in from the bookmarks bar; loose bookmarks now always shown
  • Smarter workspace recovery after a restart (no duplicated tabs)
  • Full light/dark theme across every surface
  
  Full release notes: https://github.com/smokinghandbag/tabkan/releases
  
  
  PERFECT FOR
  
  • Researchers and writers juggling dozens of sources per project
  • Developers keeping docs, issues, and dashboards grouped by task
  • Students organizing tabs by class, assignment, or exam
  • Anyone who treats their browser as a workspace and wants it tidy
  
  
  HOW IT WORKS
  
  TabKan is a Manifest V3 extension built entirely on Chrome's own tab-group, bookmark, and side-panel APIs. Click the toolbar icon to open the Dashboard or the Side Menu, or right-click any page for quick access. There's nothing to learn — if you've used a Kanban board, you already know how to use TabKan.
  
  
  PRIVATE BY DESIGN
  
  No accounts. No sign-up. No servers. No analytics, no tracking, nothing leaves your browser. Your notes, tags, to-dos, and saved sessions live in Chrome's local storage on your own machine. The only network request TabKan makes is to fetch the little favicons for your tabs.
  
  TabKan is open source (MIT). You can read every line:
  https://github.com/smokinghandbag/tabkan
  
  ____
  
  PERMISSIONS, IN PLAIN ENGLISH
  
  TabKan asks only for what it needs to work:
  • tabs / tabGroups — read and arrange your tabs and groups
  • bookmarks — show and manage bookmarks on the board
  • storage — save your notes, tags, to-dos, and sessions locally
  • sidePanel — power the side-panel view
  • contextMenus — add the right-click shortcut
  • access to google.com — fetch favicons for your tabs
  
  Stop fighting your tab strip. Give your browser a board.

Permissions & access

Permissions

tabsstoragetabGroupscontextMenusbookmarkssidePanel

Host access

https://www.google.com/*

Screenshots