Browser Tab Doctor

Tracks open tabs, when they were last used, and suggests stale tabs to close.

Browser Tab Doctor tracks your open tabs, finds ones you haven’t used in days, and helps you close them safely — all locally, with no account or data leaving your browser. It is a tab hygiene tool for people who live in too many tabs. It watches the browser it’s installed in, remembers when tabs were last used, and shows which ones are safe to close — so you can clean up without guessing. What it does • Knows your open tabs — Inventories normal windows and keeps counts up to date as you open, close, and switch tabs. • Tracks “last used” — Records when a tab was first seen and last activated (with best-effort carry-forward after restarts). • Finds stale tabs — Flags tabs idle longer than your threshold (default 7 days, configurable). • Surfaces “way too old” / unknown last-used — When the browser can’t give a reliable last-used time, those tabs are still listed so you can act on them — without inventing fake dates like “1969.” • Gives you a clear in-browser report — Sortable table with title, URL, first opened, last used, idle time, plus Close and Jump to tab. • Bulk cleanup, under your control — Select tabs with checkboxes, then Close selected, Close others, or Close all listed. Multi-tab closes ask for confirmation so you don’t wipe a session by accident. • Filter by category — View All, Stale only, or Unknown last-used without leaving the report. • Gentle nudge, not spam — Toolbar badge shows how many stale tabs you have (or stays empty when you’re clear). No remote notifications. • Works when you want it — Open the popup or full report anytime for live health; optional daily snapshot on a schedule you control. • Stays private — No account, no servers, no analytics. Tab data and settings live only in this browser’s extension storage. Permissions are minimal: tabs, storage, alarms. Why install it • You open tabs faster than you close them — Browser Tab Doctor turns “I should clean this up someday” into a short, actionable list. • You don’t want a random extension reading your life — Everything stays local. No cloud sync of tab history, no “helpful” telemetry. • You want control, not a black box — Threshold and preferences are yours; bulk closes are explicit and confirmed when more than one tab is involved. • You use more than one browser — Install it where you work (Chrome, Edge, and other Chromium browsers; Firefox package available separately). Each install only sees that browser — which is how extensions work, and how privacy stays clean. Who it’s for Power users, researchers, engineers, and anyone whose tab bar is a second todo list. If you’ve ever restored a session and thought “half of these are fossils,” this is for you. Notes • Covers normal windows in the browser profile where it’s installed (incognito/private only if you enable that in browser settings). • Closing tabs is permanent for that tab — use bulk actions carefully; confirmations exist for multi-close on purpose. • Safari packaging is not in the first release. Browser Tab Doctor — fewer mystery tabs, more intentional browsing.