TabExpert

Turn chaotic tabs into a clean, vertical workflow with custom groups and rule-powered organization.

TabExpert is a companion tab manager for VS Code that keeps the native tab strip intact while giving you a powerful sidebar for focused tab navigation.

Why TabExpert

• Reduce tab clutter with a dedicated vertical tab workspace.
• Build custom named groups that match how you actually work.
• Auto-organize with rule groups, then fine-tune manually.
• Keep context with preview labels, dirty/git badges, and active-tab sync.

Get productive in 30 seconds

1. Open the TabExpert Activity Bar container.
2. Click Enable Vertical Mode to hide/show native tabs when needed.
3. Right-click a tab → Move Tab To Group to create your first custom group.
4. Use Create Rule Group to auto-collect matching files.
5. Open Open Settings from the toolbar to manage rules and preferences.

Screenshots

Demo for how to create a mannual tab group:

Demo for how to create a rule based tab group:

You can open the settings page to mange the extension settings and created rule based groups:

Features

• Vertical tab companion view in a dedicated Activity Bar container.
• One-click vertical mode toggle to hide/show native editor tabs.
• Custom named groups with manual ordering and move up/down/to-top actions.
• Rule groups with create/edit/disable workflows from settings and tab context.
• Inline tab actions for move-to-top, move up/down, and close/pin state handling.
• Group bulk actions: pin/unpin all, sort tabs, merge groups, ungroup all.
• Multi-select and drag-and-drop flows for fast group assignment.
• File state badges (dirty + git status) rendered in the tab rows.
• Distinct labels for content previews ([Preview]) and editor preview tabs ((preview)).
• Active tab synchronization between native tab strip and TabExpert sidebar selection.

Quick start

1. Open the TabExpert activity bar container.
2. Use the toolbar button to enable vertical mode.
3. Right-click a tab and choose Move Tab To Group to create your first custom group.
4. Use Create Rule Group to add automatic matching rules.
5. Open Open Settings from the toolbar to manage all TabExpert settings and rules.

Configuration

• tabExpert.view.groupBy: group sidebar by editorGroup or rule.
• tabExpert.grouping.skipActiveTab: skip active tab during grouping operations.
• tabExpert.debug.enableLogging: enable debug output in the TabExpert Debug channel.
• tabExpert.rules: manage named rules with include/exclude glob patterns and target group.

Commands

• Enable Vertical Mode
• Disable Vertical Mode
• Open Settings
• Create Rule Group
• Fold All Groups / Unfold All Groups
• Move Tab To Group

Development

npm install
npm run check

To launch the extension host in VS Code, press F5.

Packaging and publishing

Build a VSIX package locally:

npm run package:vsix

Publish manually (if needed):

npm run publish:vsce

For automated publishing, this repository includes a tag-based GitHub Actions workflow.

If your source repository is private, set GitHub repository variables VSCE_BASE_CONTENT_URL and VSCE_BASE_IMAGES_URL to publicly accessible URLs (for example, a public assets repo or CDN) so Marketplace README links and images render correctly.

Support

Issues and bugs

• Please report bugs and feature requests in the GitHub issue tracker:
  • https://github.com/Zieng/VSCodeTabExpert/issues

What to include

• VS Code version
• Operating system
• TabExpert version
• Reproduction steps
• Screenshots or logs if available

Debug logging

Enable tabExpert.debug.enableLogging and reproduce the problem. Then copy relevant entries from the TabExpert Debug output channel.

Security

If you need to report a sensitive issue privately, open an issue and request a private contact channel.