Pickup

Pickup is a small browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. You choose the tabs that still matter, give the set a title, and optionally write down the next action and a note. Later, Pickup reopens the set so you can continue without reconstructing why those tabs were open in the first place. It is deliberately not a bookmark manager. Bookmarks are good at remembering a page; Pickup is for remembering a temporary piece of work.

Where it is right now

The browser-extension MVP is working in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari: save, restore, search, archive, delete, and local JSON backup are in place. Chrome and Firefox can also recreate native tab groups. It is still an early build, so the project is marked work in progress and this page does not promise a store release or date.

Local on purpose

A pickup contains the title, next action, and note you enter, plus the selected tabs’ titles, URLs, order, pinned state, and active state. Chrome or Firefox group details are saved when relevant. Everything lives in the browser’s extension storage on the device. There is no account, server, sync service, analytics, or advertising. You can export a readable JSON backup, but Pickup never uploads it. That keeps the privacy model simple: the extension handles a personal list of pages, but that list does not leave your browser unless you export it and move the file yourself.

One idea, three browsers

Chrome, Firefox, and Safari share most of the extension, but not every browser capability. Chrome and Firefox have compatible native tab-group APIs, so Pickup can rebuild a saved group with its title and colour. Safari restores the same tabs into a new window instead. The permission models differ too. Chrome and Firefox need storage, tabs, and tabGroups, with no host permissions. Safari requires website access before it reveals the title and URL of inactive tabs. Pickup declares that access so a saved set is not full of blanks, but has no content scripts, reads no page body, and sends nothing over the network. The plain-English privacy policy explains the exact boundary.

Design lessons from the MVP

• Context is the feature. Saving URLs is easy. Saving the next action is what turns a pile of tabs back into a task.
• Restore fidelity matters. Order, pinned state, the active tab, and Chrome or Firefox group details are small pieces individually; together they make the restored workspace feel familiar.
• Local-only still deserves a privacy policy. Tab URLs and notes can be sensitive even when they never reach a server, so the permission and backup behaviour should be clear before installation.

Questions, bugs, or ideas: App Support, with Pickup already selected.