Hours, not just days
Sort oldest-used first. Filter from 30 minutes to 90 days, with precise last-used times and quick counts.
Tab ShelfCHROME EXTENSION · LOCAL ONLY · NOW AVAILABLE
Keep the thought.
Close the tab.
A shelf for the tabs you might need later. Find hours-old rabbit holes, save useful links, and make room for what you’re doing now.
Available on the Chrome Web Store for Chrome 121+. No account required. The sample dashboard uses fictional tabs and cannot access your browser tabs.
A reason to review
Spot duplicate URLs and tabs unused for several hours. Each suggestion explains its rule. You decide what goes.
Save it or let it go
Save & close keeps a searchable URL copy. Just close is for disposable tabs. Nothing closes automatically.
Get started in Chrome
- Open Tab Shelf on the Chrome Web Store and click Add to Chrome.
- Pin Tab Shelf in Chrome’s extensions menu, then click its icon.
- Review unused tabs, select the links you want to keep, and choose Save & close. Find them again under Your shelf.
Already using the manual preview? Export a backup from that installation, then import it into the store version before removing the preview.
Made for everyday tab overload
I built Tab Shelf while trying to make my existing laptop more comfortable to use. The goal was simple: stop keeping every useful link loaded just because I might want it again.
The extension uses Chrome’s tab metadata and local storage, without page injections, accounts, analytics, or a server. Active, pinned, audio-playing, loading and Chrome-protected tabs are excluded from closing.
Saved links preserve URLs, not unsaved text or page state. Last-used dates are clues rather than a measure of reading time. Closing sleeping tabs may reduce clutter without freeing much additional memory.
View the source ↗Built by Solomon Alemu
Questions or feedback? Connect with me on LinkedIn or report an issue on GitHub. Please avoid including private browsing URLs in public issue reports.