Copy Tab URLs Browser Extension

Overview

Copy Tab URLs is a lightweight, offline-ready WebExtensions add-on that helps you collect, copy, and reopen the URLs from your current browsing session. The extension now supports Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Brave, Edge) and Firefox with the same MV3 codebase.

Features

• Copy the URLs from the current window or every open browser window with one click.
• Toggle whether restored sessions open in the current window or a brand-new window.
• Automatically filter out internal pages such as chrome:// and about: URLs.
• Display real-time status updates, copy statistics, and last saved timestamps in the popup.
• Save the most recent copy session and restore it later on demand.
• Open URL lists from your clipboard whether they are newline-separated text, JSON arrays, or objects with a urls field.
• Persist your preferences across browsers with storage.sync and keep the last session safe in storage.local.
• Work completely offline with no external network access.

Installation

Chrome / Brave / Edge (Chromium)

1. Clone or download this repository to your machine.
2. Open the extensions page (chrome://extensions/, brave://extensions/, or edge://extensions/).
3. Enable Developer mode in the top-right corner.
4. Click Load unpacked and select the project directory.

Pre-built XPI: You can use copy-tab-urls-chrome.xpi for Chrome-based browsers if needed.

Firefox / LibreWolf

1. Clone or download this repository to your machine.
2. Build the Firefox-compatible XPI:

   ./build-firefox.sh

3. Open Firefox/LibreWolf and navigate to about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox.
4. Click Load Temporary Add-on… and select copy-tab-urls-firefox.xpi.

For permanent installation in LibreWolf:

1. Go to about:config and set xpinstall.signatures.required to false.
2. Go to about:addons, click the gear icon, and select "Install Add-on From File...".
3. Select copy-tab-urls-firefox.xpi.

Note: Firefox/LibreWolf requires a different manifest format than Chrome (background scripts instead of service worker). The build-firefox.sh script creates a Firefox-compatible version automatically.

Usage

1. Open the popup from the toolbar.
2. Decide whether to copy from all browser windows and whether restored URLs should open in a new window.
3. Click Copy URLs to Clipboard to capture the list. The popup shows progress and writes the final list to your clipboard.
4. Use Restore Last Saved to reopen the most recently copied URLs, or Open URLs from Clipboard to parse a list you already have.
5. Review the stats panel for counts, character totals, and last saved timestamps.

Clipboard Format Support

• Plain text with one URL per line.
• JSON arrays (e.g. ["https://example.com", "https://openai.com"]).
• JSON objects with a urls property (e.g. { "urls": ["https://example.com"] }).

QA Checklist

Verify the extension on Linux and Windows with Chrome, Brave, Edge, and Firefox:

• Copy URLs from both the current window and all windows and confirm the clipboard contents update.
• Toggle the Open in New Window preference, copy again, and restore the session in each mode.
• Import URLs from the clipboard using newline-separated text, JSON arrays, and { "urls": [] } objects.
• Confirm internal/privileged URLs such as chrome://, edge://, and about: are filtered out.
• Trigger copy/restore actions with the popup closed to ensure background notifications and status text remain accurate.
• Refresh the browser and reopen the popup to confirm settings persist via storage.sync and the last session reloads from storage.local.

License

This project is open-source and available under the MIT License.