Alive TABs

Color your editor tabs and mark files or agent sessions with colored flags in Devin Desktop, Windsurf, VS Code, Cursor, and VSCodium.

Alive TABs Full Fill & Tooltip

Features

Per-Tab Coloring on All Tabs (No Root Patch Required) — Every marked tab (files, Claude Code webview tabs, Devin/Cascade agent tabs, and untitled editors) keeps its own color simultaneously across both active and inactive tabs AND in the Explorer tree, without modifying .vscode/settings.json or needing sudo.
Three Tab Color Styles (alivetabs.tabStyle):
- tinted (default) — Neon-pill translucent tint + glowing border matching the Alive TABs icon.
- full — Solid vibrant background fill with automatic high-contrast text.
- border — Minimalist colored top/bottom accent bar + colored filename.
Colored Flags & Custom Tags — Tag tabs with 🔴 🟠 🟡 🟢 🔵 🟣 🚩 ⭐ 📌 🔥 ⚡ 🧪 or any custom emoji/short text (e.g. WIP, TODO, BUG). Flags appear on the tab label (prefix or suffix) and as a badge in the Explorer sidebar.
One-Click Presets — Set Flag & Color Preset applies a matching flag + tab color in one step (Urgent / Bug, In Progress, Needs Review, Done, Reference, Core, Flagged, Starred, Pinned).
Rename & Delete Aware — Moving or renaming a file or parent folder automatically migrates its flag and tab color.
Status Bar Indicator & Overview Panel — Shows the active tab's mark and total marked tab count in the status bar; click to open the interactive Overview panel.

Screenshots

1. Right-Click `Alive TABs` Submenu

Right-click any editor tab (including Claude Code and Agent tabs) or Explorer file to access all Alive TABs actions from a single nested menu:

Alive TABs Context Menu

2. Curated Color Palette & Custom Hex Colors

Choose from 12 vibrant palette colors or enter any 3- or 6-digit #hex color:

Alive TABs Color Picker

3. Switch Between 3 Tab Color Styles (`Tinted`, `Full Fill`, `Border & Label`)

Switch styles on the fly with Alive TABs: Switch Tab Style:

Alive TABs Style Switcher

4. Interactive Overview Panel (`Show Flagged Files`)

Manage all flagged and colored tabs across your workspace in one place, with inline Flag, Color, and Clear buttons:

Alive TABs Overview Panel

Commands

Command	What it does
`Alive TABs: Set Flag & Color Preset`	Apply a coordinated flag + tab color preset in one click
`Alive TABs: Set Flag`	Add, change, or remove a flag emoji / custom tag on a tab
`Alive TABs: Set Tab Color`	Assign a palette or custom `#hex` color to a tab
`Alive TABs: Switch Tab Style`	Switch between `tinted`, `full`, and `border` tab styles
`Alive TABs: Show Flagged Files`	Open the interactive Alive TABs overview panel
`Alive TABs: Clear Flag & Color`	Remove both flag and color from a tab
`Alive TABs: Clear All Flags & Colors`	Reset all marks in the workspace
`Alive TABs: Enable/Disable Deep Mode`	Optional workbench.html runtime patch fallback

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`alivetabs.tabStyle`	`"tinted"`	Visual style for colored tabs: `"tinted"`, `"full"`, or `"border"`.
`alivetabs.flagPosition`	`"suffix"`	Place the flag after (`"suffix"`) or before (`"prefix"`) the tab name.
`alivetabs.showStatusBarItem`	`true`	Show the Alive TABs indicator in the status bar.
`alivetabs.useCustomLabels`	`false`	Also sync flag patterns to `workbench.editor.customLabels.patterns` in `.vscode/settings.json`.
`alivetabs.colorActiveTab`	`false`	Also sync `tab.activeBackground` to `workbench.colorCustomizations` in `.vscode/settings.json`.
`alivetabs.rules`	`[]`	Auto-apply flags/colors to files matching globs — e.g. `[{ "pattern": "*/.test.*", "flag": "🧪" }]`. Patterns with `/` match the workspace-relative path, without `/` match the basename. Stored marks take precedence.
`alivetabs.presets`	`[]`	Extra entries in the Set Flag & Color Preset picker — e.g. `[{ "name": "Design", "flag": "🎨", "color": "#0ea5e9" }]`.

Installation

From Marketplace (Devin Desktop / Windsurf / Cursor / VSCodium)

Search for Alive TABs (or WebieAPP.alivetabs) in the Extensions sidebar (Ctrl+Shift+X), or visit Open VSX — WebieAPP.alivetabs.

# Install directly by extension ID
/usr/share/devin-desktop/bin/devin-desktop --install-extension WebieAPP.alivetabs

From VSIX (GitHub Releases)

Download the latest alivetabs-0.3.0.vsix from Releases (or the repository root).
In Devin Desktop / Windsurf / VS Code / Cursor: open Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X) → ⋯ menu → Install from VSIX… and select alivetabs-0.3.0.vsix.

Or install from the terminal:

# Devin Desktop
/usr/share/devin-desktop/bin/devin-desktop --install-extension alivetabs-0.3.0.vsix --extensions-dir ~/.devin/extensions --force

# VS Code / Windsurf / Cursor
code --install-extension alivetabs-0.3.0.vsix

Publishing

Releases are published to the Open VSX Registry and GitHub Releases (VSIX attached); the VS Code Marketplace listing is updated manually by the maintainer.

Show Some Support

If Alive TABs helps your workflow, show some support:

⭐ Star this repo on GitHub
💛 Check out the author — himanverma.github.io/github-resume
🐛 Found a bug or have an idea? Open an issue

Alive TABs

WebieAPP

Alive TABs

Features

Screenshots

1. Right-Click Alive TABs Submenu

2. Curated Color Palette & Custom Hex Colors

3. Switch Between 3 Tab Color Styles (Tinted, Full Fill, Border & Label)

4. Interactive Overview Panel (Show Flagged Files)

Commands

Settings

Installation

From Marketplace (Devin Desktop / Windsurf / Cursor / VSCodium)

From VSIX (GitHub Releases)

Publishing

Show Some Support

1. Right-Click `Alive TABs` Submenu

3. Switch Between 3 Tab Color Styles (`Tinted`, `Full Fill`, `Border & Label`)

4. Interactive Overview Panel (`Show Flagged Files`)