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Quick Start

You need Node.js 22+ and Chrome. Six steps, about 5 minutes.

1. Install the CLI

npm install -g @opentabs-dev/cli

2. Start the server

opentabs start

First run does a few things: creates the ~/.opentabs/ directory, generates an auth secret, and installs the Chrome extension files. It also prints ready-to-copy config blocks for Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and OpenCode — with your auth secret already filled in. You'll need those in step 4.

3. Load the Chrome extension

Yeah, you have to manually load it. Chrome doesn't let you distribute Manifest V3 extensions outside the Chrome Web Store for localhost servers. It takes 30 seconds:

  1. Open chrome://extensions/ in Chrome
  2. Enable Developer mode (top-right toggle)
  3. Click Load unpacked and select ~/.opentabs/extension

You should see the OpenTabs icon in your toolbar. The extension connects to the server automatically.

4. Configure your MCP client

Grab the config block that opentabs start printed in step 2 and paste it into your client's config file. That's it.

For Claude Code, the fastest way is the CLI:

claude mcp add --transport http opentabs http://127.0.0.1:9515/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_SECRET_HERE"

Or merge the printed JSON block into ~/.claude.json under "mcpServers" manually.

| Client | Config file | | --- | --- | | Claude Code | ~/.claude.json (merge into "mcpServers") | | Cursor | .cursor/mcp.json in your project root | | Windsurf | ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json | | OpenCode | opencode.json in project root |

To see the config blocks again at any time:

opentabs start --show-config

Or to view just the current config:

opentabs config show --show-secret

5. Install a plugin

opentabs plugin search

Pick one, install it:

opentabs plugin install slack

Honest recommendation though: consider building your own instead. Plugins run in your browser with your logged-in sessions — you should know what the code does. Point your AI agent at any site and it'll build a plugin in minutes. More on that in Your First Plugin.

6. Make a tool call

Ask your AI agent to use the plugin's tools. The agent will see all registered tools from your installed plugins, plus built-in browser tools for tab management, screenshots, DOM interaction, and more.

That's it. You're running.

Something look off?

opentabs status
opentabs doctor

These two commands check everything — server health, extension connectivity, plugin state, MCP client config. If something's broken, doctor will usually tell you what.

If you're still stuck, open an issue and I'll take a look.

Next steps

Last Updated: 10 Mar, 2026