The Full Window View Versus the Toolbar Popup

## Why it matters

Moving tabs between three windows at once takes focus, clicking back and forth. A toolbar popup closes the instant you click into any other window, which breaks your work halfway through. Opening the manager in a full tab keeps it visible while you work, so you never lose your place or have to reopen it five times.

## How it works

The toolbar popup is a floating panel that Chrome closes when it loses focus. Click into another window, and it vanishes. The full window view is the same page opened in a new tab using chrome.tabs.create() with a URL pointing to an extension page. That tab stays put because tabs don't auto-close the way popups do.

The layout adapts: the popup is compact, and the window view spreads out to use the extra space. No new permissions needed: it's just a standard extension page opened in a tab.

## What does not matter

The window view doesn't need a side panel or host access. It's not a background script or service worker; it's a regular UI page. And you're not locked into it. You can still use the popup for quick actions, or switch between popup and window view as you like.

## Code example

// Open the tab manager in a full window view
const url = chrome.runtime.getURL("src/ui/panel.html");
chrome.tabs.create({ url });

// Or with a specific query parameter to auto-focus a feature
const urlWithParams = new URL(chrome.runtime.getURL("src/ui/panel.html"));
urlWithParams.searchParams.set("tab", "recently-closed");
chrome.tabs.create({ url: urlWithParams.toString() });
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## How Scalpel Manage Tabs shows it

The toolbar icon has a popup by default. Click the icon to open it. If you want the full window view instead, click the "Open in tab" button inside the popup, or press Alt+Shift+M at any time to jump straight to the full window view. The full view shows all your windows and tabs in a wide layout, so you can see and manage everything at once without the popup closing under you.