If you’re a developer, your browser is probably your real IDE.

Docs, GitHub, Stack Overflow, Jira, dashboards, PRs, tickets, random blog posts you swear you’ll read later - all open at the same time.

At some point, tab overload stops being annoying and starts actively slowing you down.

I hit that point, so I built ATO - an AI-powered Chrome extension that organizes tabs automatically.

This post explains:

• the real problem behind “too many tabs”
• why manual tab management doesn’t scale
• and how I approached solving it with AI

The Problem Isn’t Tabs - It’s Lost Context

People usually describe the issue as “I have too many tabs open.”

But that’s not quite right.

Each tab represents:

• a paused task
• an unfinished thought
• a future decision

When everything is open, your brain keeps doing background work:

Is this still relevant?

Can I close it?

Will I need it later?

Chrome has tab groups, but they’re:

• manual
• static
• easy to abandon

Manual organization breaks the moment your browsing behavior changes.

So instead of asking “How do I organize tabs better?”

I asked:

What if tabs could organize themselves - continuously, based on how I actually use them?

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The Core Idea Behind ATO

Before we start,

If you’d rather see it in action than read about it, I put together a short video walkthrough:

ATO doesn’t try to “optimize productivity”.

It focuses on reducing friction.

The extension uses AI only when needed and organizes tabs using different organizing lenses.

Each lens creates a different workflow, depending on how you browse.

Here are the three main ones.

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1. By Category (Semantic Grouping)

This is the most straightforward mode.

ATO analyzes each tab’s:

• title
• URL
• domain
• lightweight metadata

Then it groups tabs by semantic intent, not just by domain.

Examples:

• Docs
• Developer Tools
• Research
• Finance
• Entertainment

Two different websites can belong to the same mental bucket - and that’s exactly what semantic models are good at detecting.

No manual grouping.

No naming things.

One click.

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2. By Last Access (Time Awareness)

Not all tabs are equally important - and recency matters.

This mode groups tabs by when you last interacted with them, for example:

• Recently used
• Earlier today
• Yesterday
• Older than a few days

Nothing is closed automatically.

But once you see your tabs organized by time, you often realize that many of them are simply old, not useful.

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3. By Frequency (Prediction Mode)

This is the most interesting one.

ATO tracks how often you return to tabs and predicts which ones you’re likely to need next.

Instead of asking:

What should I close?

It asks:

What do I actually use?

Frequently accessed tabs rise to the top.

Rarely touched ones quietly fade into the background.

It also suggests tabs you’re unlikely to return to - without forcing any action.

Supporting Tools (Small but Important)

On top of grouping, ATO includes some practical tab tools:

• Collapse / expand all tab groups
• Ungroup everything instantly
• Search across all open tabs
• Rename tabs
• Automatically clean duplicate tabs

Nothing fancy - just things that keep you in flow.

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Tech Stack (High Level)

• Chrome Extension (Manifest V3)
• TypeScript
• Plasmo
• AWS Lambda backend
• Google Gemini API for AI classification
• DynamoDB for token tracking

AI usage is explicit and transparent - no background calls, no hidden consumption.

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What Changed After Using It Daily

The biggest change wasn’t having fewer tabs.

It was:

• faster orientation when opening the browser
• less hesitation about closing things
• less background anxiety about unfinished work

The browser became calmer.

That alone was worth building it.

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If You Want to Try It

If you have ideas, feedback, or strong opinions about tab management - I’d genuinely love to hear them.