Using Tab Slot with SpaceLauncher

Tab Slot makes an Open URL shortcut return to a reusable browser tab instead of opening another duplicate tab.

Use it for browser pages that behave more like workspaces than one-time links: search pages, docs, issue lists, dashboards, monitoring views, and other pages where you often keep browsing after the first URL opens.

Configure an Open URL action

In the Key Bindings window, create or edit an Open URL action.

1. Enter the page URL.
2. Turn on Open in Tab Slot.
3. Optionally enter a Slot Name.
4. Choose what should happen when the slot already exists.

When the action runs, SpaceLauncher opens a marked URL that the Tab Slot browser extension can recognize. The extension removes the marker, opens the clean URL, and remembers which browser tab belongs to that slot.

Slot Name

Leave Slot Name empty when you want this URL to have its own reusable tab. In that case, Tab Slot uses the clean URL itself as the slot name.

Enter a slot name when multiple shortcuts should return to the same browser tab. For example, several documentation shortcuts can share the slot name docs, or several issue-tracking shortcuts can share issues.

When Slot Exists

Leave When Slot Exists set to Return to current tab for normal Tab Slot behavior. When the slot already exists, the extension focuses that tab without changing its current page.

Choose Replace current slot tab only when this shortcut should navigate the existing slot tab to the configured URL. This is useful for fixed subpages or saved views inside the same workspace, but it is more destructive: browser Back may return to the previous page, while unsaved form data or in-page state can be lost.

URL preview

SpaceLauncher shows a clickable Tab Slot URL preview under the Slot Name field. This is the exact URL SpaceLauncher will ask your browser to open.

For an empty Slot Name, the preview uses the short marker form:

https://example.com/docs###

For a named slot, SpaceLauncher uses a versioned marker so URLs with fragments continue to work correctly:

https://example.com/docs###tabslot:v1:<payload>

The payload is UTF-8 JSON encoded with URL-safe Base64. SpaceLauncher writes:

{
  "slot": "docs",
  "url": "https://example.com/docs"
}

slot is required and must be a non-empty string after trimming spaces. url is optional for generated links in general, but SpaceLauncher includes it so the extension can open the exact original URL after removing the marker.

When Replace current slot tab is selected, SpaceLauncher also writes:

{
  "slot": "docs",
  "url": "https://example.com/docs/filter",
  "behavior": "replace"
}

behavior is optional. When it is omitted, or set to return, the extension focuses an existing slot tab without changing its page. When it is set to replace, the extension navigates the existing slot tab to url.

Browser extension

Tab Slot requires the Tab Slot browser extension to reuse tabs. Without the extension, the marked URL is still an ordinary http or https URL with a fragment, so most websites still open normally; the tab just will not be reused.

Install Tab Slot from the Chrome Web Store.

Browsers identify tabs with temporary tab IDs. After a browser restart or session restore, a saved slot may no longer point to a usable tab. When that happens, run the SpaceLauncher shortcut again; Tab Slot opens the clean URL and binds the slot to the available tab.

The general Tab Slot page explains the marker format and browser-side behavior: Tab Slot.