# Reuse Tabs

> Prevents duplicate tabs by switching to existing ones. Handles in-page navigation, external apps, and offers exempt duplicates, stale tab reloading, and toast notifications.

Canonical page: [https://chrome-stats.com/d/reuse-tabs1](https://chrome-stats.com/d/reuse-tabs1)

## Overview

- **ID:** `reuse-tabs1`
- **Platform:** Firefox
- **Type:** Firefox add-on
- **Status:** Available
- **Publisher:** Mike Turley
- **Category:** tabs
- **Daily users:** 9
- **Rating:** 5.00 / 5 (1 ratings)
- **Version:** 0.1.7
- **Last updated:** 2026-05-04
- **First published:** 2026-03-13
- **Size:** 61 KB
- **Data as of:** 2026-09-06
- **Store listing:** [Firefox Add-ons Store](https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/reuse-tabs1/)
- **Website:** [https://github.com/mturley/reuse-tabs-extension](https://github.com/mturley/reuse-tabs-extension)

## Description

Prevents duplicate tabs. When you navigate to a URL that's already open in another tab (either by clicking a link or a new tab being opened from another app), the navigation is cancelled (or the new tab is closed) and you're switched to the existing tab instead.

<strong>Features</strong>
<ul><li><strong>Duplicate tab prevention</strong> — Intercepts navigations and new tabs, switching to the existing tab instead of creating a duplicate.</li><li><strong>External app handling</strong> — When an external app opens a URL that's already in a tab, the new tab is closed and the existing one is focused.</li><li><strong>Exempt duplicates</strong> — Right-click a tab and choose "Duplicate tab (exclude from Reuse Tabs)" to intentionally duplicate it. Exempt tabs are marked with a <code>[D]</code> title prefix and ignored by the extension.</li><li><strong>Reload on switch</strong> — Optionally reload stale tabs when switching to them, with a configurable idle timeout (1 min to 1 hour, or always).</li><li><strong>In-page toast notifications</strong> — See what the extension is doing with unobtrusive toast messages in the bottom-left corner of the page.</li><li><strong>Toolbar popup</strong> — Click the extension icon to toggle the extension on/off, enable/disable notifications, and configure reload behavior.</li></ul>
<strong>How it works</strong>
<ol><li>Maintains a cache of all open tab URLs, kept in sync via tab event listeners.</li><li>Uses <code>webRequest.onBeforeRequest</code> with blocking to intercept navigations before they happen.</li><li>If the target URL is already open in another tab, cancels the navigation and switches to that tab.</li><li>Tracks recently created tabs to catch duplicates opened by external apps and close the blank leftover tab.</li><li>Exempt tabs are tracked separately and skipped as switch targets, but navigation within them still triggers reuse logic.</li></ol>

## Rankings

- #34,845 — Overall
- #133 — exist
- #158 — resume
- #165 — reduce
- #193 — handle

## Permissions and access

### Permissions

- `tabs`
- `menus`
- `storage`
- `webRequest`
- `webRequestBlocking`
- `<all_urls>`

## Safety

- **Risk impact:** High risk impact
- **Risk likelihood:** Moderate risk likelihood

### Analysis details

- Grants access to browser tabs, which can be used to track user browsing habits and history, presenting a privacy concern.
- This extension has low user count. Unpopular extensions may not be stable or safe.

> Some risk analysis details are omitted from this free response. [Upgrade to view the full analysis](https://chrome-stats.com/pricing).

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Source: [Chrome-Stats](https://chrome-stats.com/d/reuse-tabs1)