Smart Tabs (VS Code Style)

pending

by Migi

Replicates VS Code tab behavior: Preview tabs, auto-locking on edit, and smart tab reuse to prevent tab clutter.

★ 1 starsUpdated 1mo agoMITDiscovered via Obsidian Unofficial Plugins
View on GitHub

Smart Tabs demo

Smart Tabs (VS Code Style)

Stop tab clutter. Browse notes like an IDE — with panel-isolated preview tabs.

Smart Tabs is an Obsidian plugin that replicates VS Code-style tab behavior:

  • Single click opens a note in a temporary Preview tab (italic title)
  • Double click opens a Permanent tab
  • Preview auto-locks on edit, rename, or double-click
  • Each panel manages its own preview tab independently

Features

Preview Tabs (per panel)

  • Single-click a file to open it in a Preview tab (shown with italic title).
  • Each panel (tab group) keeps exactly one preview tab.
  • Browsing files replaces the preview tab instead of creating new tabs.

Auto-Lock (Promote to Permanent)

A preview tab becomes permanent when you:

  • Start editing the note body
  • Edit the inline title (300ms debounce)
  • Rename the file
  • Double-click the tab header or sidebar item
  • Edit a Canvas (add/move/delete nodes or edges)

Double-Click = Permanent Tab

  • Double-clicking a file in the File Explorer, Bookmarks, or Search opens it as a permanent tab.
  • If a preview of the same file exists, it gets promoted instead of creating a duplicate.

Smart Reuse & Duplicate Prevention

  • If the file is already open in the same panel, clicking it again focuses the existing tab.
  • This is panel-isolated — no cross-panel jumping.

Supported Sources

All of these follow the same Preview/Permanent pattern:

  • File Explorer, Quick Switcher (Ctrl+O), Bookmarks, Search
  • Graph View nodes, Wiki-links, Backlinks, Outgoing Links
  • Random Note, Canvas, PDF

New Note Creation

New notes (Ctrl+N, ribbon button, right-click, Daily Notes, Unique Note Creator) always open as permanent tabs with title editing mode.

Modifier Key

  • Ctrl/Cmd + Click forces a new permanent tab, regardless of existing tabs.

Compatibility

This plugin uses Obsidian workspace internals (monkey-patching openFile, setViewState, detach) on a best-effort basis. If Obsidian changes internal APIs:

  • Core behavior will continue to work in most cases
  • Tab placement or italic styling may degrade

Known Limitations

  • PDF: Read-only, so no automatic promotion. Use tab header double-click to manually promote.
  • Recent Files: Requires a separate plugin (Recent Files), not tested.
  • Canvas viewport changes (pan/zoom): Do not trigger promotion (by design — only content edits do).

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you find a bug or have a feature request, please open an issue.

Contact & Support

License

MIT License

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