Recently Closed Tabs and How to Reopen Them

## Why it matters

Finding a tab you just closed takes three seconds. Finding one you closed an hour ago takes a search, a session restore, or a half-remembered URL. Chrome's recently closed list lives in your browser all the time, so you're never hunting very far back. This is different from a snapshot, which is a deliberate save you manage yourself.

## How it works

Chrome keeps a stack of recently closed tabs and windows in chrome.sessions.getRecentlyClosed(). The extension reads that list, so it shows only what Chrome remembers. There's no separate record to maintain. When you reopen one, chrome.sessions.restore() rebuilds the tab with its full navigation history. That means the back button works, and you're not refreshing the page from scratch.

A closed window reopens all its tabs together. A closed tab reopens on its own. The list is short (typically 25–50 entries) and automatic; Chrome forgets older entries as new ones come in.

## What does not matter

The myth: closing a tab loses your history. The truth: a tab's history lives in the tab, and reopening it brings that history back whole. You're not losing anything by closing it. The recently closed list is also not a backup: if you need to keep a specific set of tabs for weeks, use a snapshot instead.

## Code example

// Read the recently closed list
chrome.sessions.getRecentlyClosed({ maxResults: 10 }, (sessions) => {
  sessions.forEach((session) => {
    if (session.tab) {
      console.log("Closed tab:", session.tab.title, session.tab.url);
    } else if (session.window) {
      console.log("Closed window with", session.window.tabs.length, "tabs");
    }
  });
});

// Restore a specific closed tab
chrome.sessions.restore(sessionId);
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## How Scalpel Manage Tabs shows it

The "Recently closed" row in the tab manager's panel lists the tabs and windows Chrome just closed. Click one to reopen it. If you open the manager in full window view and work across several windows, the recently closed list is still right there and never gets buried by scrolling.