Mac Ninja Helper

Lets Mac Ninja unload idle Chrome tabs to free up memory, and close tabs AI agents opened and abandoned.

Mac Ninja Helper is the free Chrome companion to Mac Ninja, a menu bar app for macOS that keeps your Mac fast. With the helper installed, Mac Ninja can unload Chrome tabs you haven't used in a while. It uses Chrome's own tab unloading: unloaded tabs stay in your tab bar with their title and icon, and reload the moment you click them. It also cleans up after AI agents. Agents like Claude in Chrome open tabs in their own tab group while they work and often leave them behind. When an agent's whole session has sat untouched for a while (8 hours by default), the helper closes the tabs that agent opened (if Chrome syncs your tab groups, they close on your other devices too), and the agent simply opens a new tab if it needs one again. You can switch this off or change the time in Mac Ninja's settings. • Only closes tabs it saw an agent open since Chrome last started: tabs that joined the agent's group within seconds of opening. Tabs that were already open, tabs opened from links and tabs you move into a group later stay open • Never touches the tab you're viewing, pinned tabs, or tabs playing sound • Keeps tabs that played sound in the last half hour loaded, and unloads nothing while Chrome is using your microphone (macOS 14.2 or later), so calls aren't cut off • Sites you protect in Mac Ninja, and common call and meeting sites, are never unloaded or closed • Only works while Mac Ninja is running with Ninja Mode on; otherwise it does nothing Privacy: the helper looks at your tabs (their state, addresses and group names) only inside Chrome, to decide which tabs to unload or close. It sends nothing off your Mac: it only talks to the Mac Ninja app on your own Mac (127.0.0.1), to read its settings and report how many tabs are open, unloaded or closed. Requires Mac Ninja for macOS (a paid app with a free trial).