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Install from source

Tabverse is open source (MIT). If you want to run the code in this repository rather than the released build - to try a change, to read along, or to build the store package yourself - this page is the whole path from a clone to a working extension in Chrome.

For the ordinary install, see Get Started. This page assumes you can run commands in a terminal.

What you need​

  • Chrome 140 or newer. Tabverse is a Manifest V3 extension and uses chrome.storage.session, the side panel and Chrome's built-in AI.
  • Node.js 22 or newer and pnpm. pnpm-lock.yaml is the source of truth; the repository does not use npm or yarn.
  • Git, to get the code.

Get the code​

git clone https://github.com/liyu1981/tabverse.git
cd tabverse
pnpm install

Build the extension​

Two commands matter day to day:

pnpm run dev      # watch build into dist/, rebuilt on every save
pnpm run build    # one production bundle into dist/

Either way the output is a complete, loadable extension in dist/ - manifest, pages, assets, icons and locales. pnpm run build minifies and drops the development affordances; use pnpm run dev while working.

pnpm run build-store produces the same production bundle as a zip at dist_store/tabverse.zip, which is the file the Chrome Web Store dashboard takes (and the file a release ships).

Load it in Chrome​

Chrome loads a folder, not a zip:

  1. Open chrome://extensions.
  2. Turn on Developer mode (top right).
  3. Click Load unpacked and pick the dist/ folder in your clone.

Then click the Tabverse T in the toolbar; if it is not pinned, use the extensions puzzle-piece menu.

With pnpm run dev running, the files in dist/ change as you edit. Chrome does not reload them by itself:

  • UI changes (React pages, CSS) show up after you reload the page - the popup or the manager tab - not the whole extension.
  • Service worker or manifest changes need the reload arrow on the Tabverse card in chrome://extensions.

Reloading that way keeps the extension id, so your tabverses, notes and settings survive the loop.

pnpm run dev keeps running until you stop it; do not leave it in a terminal you have forgotten about.

A note on extension ids and data​

An unpacked build loaded from dist/ gets an id derived from its folder path, which is not the id of the Chrome Web Store build. Everything Tabverse stores - tabverses, notes, todos, bookmarks, closed-tab history - lives in IndexedDB, which is per extension id. So a development build starts empty and does not see the data of a store install, and vice versa.

Two practical consequences:

  • Use one folder for your build and keep it. Moving or renaming the clone gives the unpacked extension a new id - a fresh, empty profile.
  • A .tabverse file exported from one install imports into the other (popup → Import), which is the way to carry data across.

Before sending a change​

pnpm test               # vitest with coverage
pnpm run typecheck      # tsc --noEmit
pnpm run lint:check     # biome lint
pnpm run format:check   # biome format

The repository also has a Go server for optional sync; its suite lives in server/ (go vet ./..., go test -race ./...).