Tab Vacuum

One click — remove duplicate tabs across all Chrome windows and group what's left by website.

Drowning in 4 windows × 80 tabs, half of them duplicates of the same Stack Overflow page? Tab Vacuum is a 1-click fix.

What it does

Click the toolbar icon and instantly:

1. Removes every duplicate tab across all your Chrome windows (matched by URL)
2. Merges the survivors into one window
3. Groups the result by website (collapsed, so you only see hostnames)

That's it. ~50 lines of code. No accounts, no tracking. One optional toggle (current window only vs. all windows — defaults to all).

Install

• From Chrome Web Store: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/tab-vacuum/apdjhdjcejehjiomcolfgfgjhaedoieb
• From source (developer mode):
  1. Clone this repo: git clone https://github.com/mayhsundar/tab-vacuum.git
  2. Open chrome://extensions
  3. Enable Developer mode (top right)
  4. Click Load unpacked → select this folder
  5. Pin the Tab Vacuum icon to your toolbar

Why it's different

	Tab Vacuum	OneTab	Workona	Toby
Removes duplicates across windows	✅	❌	❌	❌
Groups remaining tabs by site	✅	❌	Manual	Manual
Works in 1 click	✅	❌	❌	❌
Free, no account	✅	✅	❌	❌
Code is auditable	✅ (50 lines)	❌	❌	❌
Sends data anywhere	❌ Never	❌	✅ Cloud sync	✅ Cloud sync

How it works (the whole source)

chrome.action.onClicked.addListener(async (tab) => {
  const { currentWindowOnly = false } = await chrome.storage.local.get("currentWindowOnly");
  const queryFilter = currentWindowOnly ? { windowId: tab.windowId } : {};

  const tabs = await chrome.tabs.query(queryFilter);
  const seen = new Map();
  const dupes = [];
  for (const t of tabs) {
    if (seen.has(t.url)) dupes.push(t.id);
    else seen.set(t.url, t.id);
  }
  if (dupes.length) await chrome.tabs.remove(dupes);

  if (!currentWindowOnly) {
    const keep = await chrome.tabs.query({});
    const moveIds = keep.filter((t) => t.windowId !== tab.windowId).map((t) => t.id);
    if (moveIds.length) await chrome.tabs.move(moveIds, { windowId: tab.windowId, index: -1 });
  }

  const all = await chrome.tabs.query({ windowId: tab.windowId });
  const byHost = new Map();
  for (const t of all) {
    let host;
    try { host = new URL(t.url).hostname; } catch { continue; }
    if (!host) continue;
    if (!byHost.has(host)) byHost.set(host, []);
    byHost.get(host).push(t.id);
  }
  for (const [host, ids] of byHost) {
    if (ids.length < 2) continue;
    const groupId = await chrome.tabs.group({ tabIds: ids, createProperties: { windowId: tab.windowId } });
    await chrome.tabGroups.update(groupId, { title: host, collapsed: true });
  }
});

Plus a 9-line options.js that reads/writes the currentWindowOnly toggle.

That's the whole extension. Nothing hidden. See manifest.json.

Privacy

Tab Vacuum reads tab URLs only when you click the icon, only on your device, and never sends anything anywhere. There's no server. Full policy: PRIVACY.md.

FAQ

Q: How do I remove duplicate tabs in Chrome? Install Tab Vacuum, click the toolbar icon. Done.

Q: Does it work across multiple Chrome windows? Yes — that's the whole point. It dedupes across all open windows, then merges survivors into the window where you clicked.

Q: Can I limit it to only the current window? Yes. Right-click the Tab Vacuum icon → Options → toggle on Current window only. By default it acts on every open window (the magic-mode behavior). With the toggle on, only the window you clicked in is touched. Setting is stored locally and never syncs.

Q: Will it close pinned tabs? Pinned tabs are kept; only duplicates of pinned tabs (in other windows) are removed.

Q: Tab Vacuum is adding entries to my bookmarks bar — why? Tab Vacuum doesn't touch bookmarks. It doesn't even request the bookmarks permission (see manifest.json). What you're seeing is Chrome's Saved Tab Groups feature (default-on since Chrome 126), which surfaces every tab group as an entry in the bookmarks bar. Disable it at chrome://settings → search "tab groups" → turn off "Show saved tab groups in bookmarks bar". Or per-group: right-click the colored group label and uncheck Save group.

Q: What happens to tabs without a URL (loading, blank)? Tabs with empty/blank URLs are treated as distinct and kept.

Q: Does it sync, save, or back up my tabs? No. It does not store anything. If you want session backup, use Chrome's built-in History or a session manager.

Q: Why so simple? Will you add features? The simplicity is the feature. Anything you add (filters, exceptions, sync) makes it slower and scarier. The 50-line version is intentional.

Q: Is it really free? Yes — free forever, no ads, no premium tier, no upsell. Code is MIT-licensed.

Q: How do I group tabs by website manually? You don't need to — Tab Vacuum does it for you, by hostname, every click.

Contributing

Issues and PRs welcome. Keep the spirit: minimal code, no dependencies, no settings UI unless absolutely necessary.

License

MIT — do whatever you want.

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If Tab Vacuum saved you from tab purgatory, a ⭐ on this repo and a review on the Chrome Web Store goes a long way.