Persistent Pinned Tabs

Keeps pinned tabs truly persistent: links and SPA navigations open in a new tab, pinned tabs auto-restore if closed, and typing a new address opens next to the pinned tab.

Features

• Preserve pinned tab: Keeps the original page in a pinned tab.
• Open external links in a new tab: Left-clicks on links open next to the pinned tab.
• SPA-aware: Intercepts history.pushState/replaceState and Location.assign/replace so router navigations also open in a new tab.
• Typed address handling: If you type a new URL in a pinned tab’s address bar, the pinned tab is restored and the typed URL opens in a new tab.
• Auto-reopen pinned tabs if closed: Accidentally closing a pinned tab recreates it with the last known URL and position.
• No settings, no data collection.

How it works

• A content script detects link clicks on pinned tabs and asks the background to open the URL in a new tab.
• A small main-world script (injected via the scripting API, CSP-safe) wraps SPA navigation APIs to dispatch an event instead of navigating when the tab is pinned.
• The background tracks last-known { url, index, windowId } for pinned tabs to restore them if closed, and intercepts address-bar navigations on pinned tabs.

Install

1. Enable Developer mode in chrome://extensions/.
2. Click "Load unpacked" and select this folder.
3. Pin a tab on any site and browse as usual.

Usage

• Click links in a pinned tab → opens in a new tab.
• SPA route changes open in a new tab.
• Type a URL in the pinned tab’s address bar → typed URL opens in a new tab; pinned tab stays on the original page.
• If you close a pinned tab accidentally, it reappears.

Permissions

• tabs: read pin state and create/update tabs.
• webNavigation: detect typed address-bar navigations.
• scripting + host_permissions (<all_urls>): inject a small scriptlet to catch SPA navigations in a CSP-safe way.

Privacy

No analytics, no tracking, no network requests.

Support

If this saved you time, you can support me here:

Development

1. Clone:

   git clone https://github.com/peterrauscher/persistent-pinned-tabs.git

2. Enable Developer mode in chrome://extensions/.
3. Load the folder via "Load unpacked".
4. Make changes; then reload the extension and refresh tabs.

License

MIT