Browser Tabs Launcher for DMS

A DankMaterialShell launcher plugin that lists every open browser tab and lets you jump to one from the launcher. Tabs are sourced via tabctl.

Features

• Lists open tabs across every browser tabctl is connected to
• Groups tabs by browser profile (firefox, firefox2, …) until you type a query
• Filters by title, URL, or profile as you type; multiple profiles also appear as launcher categories
• Activates the selected tab (focuses both tab and browser window)
• Per-browser icons (Brave, Brave Origin, Chrome, Chromium, Firefox, LibreWolf, Zen, Helium, Vivaldi, Opera) derived from the tabctl tab ID prefix
• Context menu: copy URL, close tab, refresh tab list
• Always-active mode (skip trigger keyword)
• Background refresh so tab changes are picked up without re-running tabctl list on every keystroke

Installing tabctl

The plugin shells out to the tabctl CLI, which talks to a browser extension via a native-messaging host and D-Bus. All three pieces must be installed for tabs to show up.

1. Install the tabctl CLI (pick one):

   yay -S tabctl              # Arch Linux (AUR)
   paru -S tabctl             # alternative AUR helper
   

   Or from source:

   git clone https://github.com/slastra/tabctl.git
   cd tabctl
   make build
   

2. Install the native-messaging host manifests:

   tabctl install             # AUR / on PATH
   ./build/tabctl install     # from a source checkout
   

3. Install the browser extension in every browser you want indexed:
   • Firefox / Zen: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tabctl1/
   • Chrome / Chromium / Brave / Brave Origin / Helium: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/tabctl/baomblllgemcgbignhpbipgiofmjdhpn
4. Restart each browser and verify with:

   tabctl status   # should report OK for each connected browser
   tabctl list     # should print TSV of open tabs
   

If tabctl status reports no browsers, the extension is missing/disabled or the native-messaging manifest is missing — re-run tabctl install, restart the browser, and check busctl --user list | grep -i tabctl.

Installing the plugin

Copy the plugin to your DMS plugins directory:

mkdir -p ~/.config/DankMaterialShell/plugins/tabsLauncher
cp TabsLauncher.qml TabsLauncherSettings.qml plugin.json \
  ~/.config/DankMaterialShell/plugins/tabsLauncher/

Restart DMS (dms restart) to discover the new plugin.

Usage

Type \tab in the DMS launcher followed by your search query, or leave the query empty to see every open tab.

Settings

Configure via DMS plugin settings:

Setting	Description	Default
Enable Plugin	Toggle the plugin on/off	on
tabctl Path	Path to the tabctl executable	tabctl (PATH)
Always Active	Show results without a trigger prefix	off
Trigger	Prefix to list open tabs	tab

Requirements

• DankMaterialShell >= 1.4.0
• Quickshell
• tabctl — see Installing tabctl above. The plugin auto-discovers tabctl via the user's login shell ($SHELL -lc) so installs to ~/.local/bin work without further configuration.

License

MIT