Show HN: Tabverse – a free, open-source, with self-hostable server Workona clone

Show HN: Tabverse – a free, open-source, with self-hostable server Workona clone

Hi, I want to share with you my chrome extension: Tabverse, as it is now passed the reveiw of Chrome Web Store and live at: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/tabverse/lffblcippn...

Tabverse is a local first workona like chrome extension for managing tabs, with its source open at https://www.github.com/liyu1981/tabverse.

In essential it has the core functions workona has, but can operate totally locally, which means it will not need an account nor subscription. The only limit is your local storage spaces so that you can have as many spaces(I call tabverse) as you can. It is open source, so not just your data stays with you, and the tool itself will stay with you in future.

Beyond the normal workona features (persisted workspace, load/reload/import/export, note/bookmark/history tools), there are features does require a server. Features like backup/sync, global search on all tabverses, and future collaboration (not yet done), can only be possible if there is a server. I build this part in open too: the server is free to self host and open source in same repo of Tabverse.

The tabverse's idea was with me few years ago while I was using Workona and was frustrated with its limitation on free tier (remember was only 5 workspaces), and the missing features of managing multiple workspaces at the same time. Tabverse takes the idea of Workona, and develop further: each window with a Tabverse tab is a workspace, all stored in local storage, and multi windows can have multi Tabverses same time, and can switch fast. There can even be window without Tabverse, so besides work, personal stuff or entertainment will have place to go. As I build this alone, in the middle, almost give up on this project, and luckily AI agents now is there: not only I have a good helper, but also I have a partner I can discuss a bit. So this time the first version starts with v0.7.2.

But AI agent can never replace the real need from human on what should be built and what works better, so I want to share with you and listen to your feedbacks early. Please give it a try, and every feedback to me is a gift.

Besides the self-hosted option, I host a server at https://tabverse.liyu1981.xyz (yes, the same website of intro and docs), but is invitation only. If you want to help me to test in this early stage, you can login with Google (the only social login I configured :)), and request an invitation there. I will act as soon as I find your request :). But do not worry at all if you only want to use Tabverse locally without a server -- that is the first thing when I was building it.

In current version there are also AI features built in, and again do not worry as the AI features is using Chrome's Prompt API, which is totally local, with Gemini Nano (first time will need to download it automatically), nothing send to a server, and you can always turn this on of off in settings. Morden computers with decent memory should work well, but some older computer may suffer (so please turn off). And it is Chrome only. (Honestly, Tabverse currently only support Google Chrome, but not other Chrome based browsers).

Discussion 0 comments · 1 points · liyu1981au · 2d
Open on HN
Loading the discussion…

Domain filters

Stories from these domains are hidden from every list. Subdomains match too: blocking substack.com also hides danluu.substack.com. Type a domain, or paste a link to block its site, and press Enter.

New collection

Delete this collection?

About YAVCHN

YAVCHN is a reader for Hacker News and Lobsters, with articles and discussions in separate windows or Classic pages.

Created by Paul Parks and built with PUDL.

YAVCHN source code on GitHub

Privacy policy · Terms of use

Help

Keyboard

j / k
Move down and up the story list. The arrow keys scroll whatever has focus.
Enter
Read the marked story in the article reader.
[ / ]
Read the story above or below in the list, in the same article reader. Back returns to the story you came from.
p
Pin or unpin the marked story, which keeps it in Pinned.
n / N
Move to the next or previous top-level comment in the window in front.
c
Collapse or expand that comment.
f
Hide or show the story list.
Esc
Close a menu or this help.
Access key m
Go to the menu bar. Most browsers take it with Alt on Windows and Linux, and Safari with Control and Option.
?
Show this help.

Windows

Each story opens in a window holding its article above its discussion; drag the bar between them to share the room differently. A window can be moved by its title bar, resized from any edge, snapped to a half or a corner by dragging it there, maximised, or minimised to the bar at the foot of the page. Use Window > New reader window to open an empty reader, or Story > Open in new reader window to open another reader for the current article. Docked readers keep their articles when you select another story from the sidebar. Minimized readers can be restored and reused for their site. A window's Previous and Next buttons read up and down the list in the same window.

A link in a comment or an article to another Hacker News or Lobsters thread opens that thread in a window too. A link to a single HN comment opens the comment above its replies.

While a story's window is in front, the Story and Discussion menus in the menu bar hold its commands: pinning, Previous and Next story, sorting, collapsing every thread, jumping to the first new comment. Each window also remembers where you were in its article and discussion, so a reload, or Back to a story that Next took you past, finds your place again. Closing a window forgets it.

The whole arrangement lives in the address, so a bookmark or a shared link brings it back, and Back undoes the last change. Moving between Hacker News, Lobsters, their lists, Pinned and Find changes only the list, and leaves the windows open.

The list

The pin at the start of a row keeps the story in Pinned, and the cross at its end hides it. Pinned can be narrowed by words in the title, site or author, by source, and to the stories you haven't opened yet, and ordered by when you pinned them, by points or by comments; the filters are part of the address, so a filtered view can be bookmarked. Scroll past the end of the list to load more. Domain filters, in the View menu, hide every story from a site.

Collections are named lists of stories. Story > Add to collection files the story in front into one or more of them, and the Collections feed shows them all or one at a time; the menu that chooses collections also creates, renames, and deletes them. A note is your own text on a story. Choose Add note in a story's toolbar to write one; it saves as you type. Rows with a note carry the note mark, and the Notes feed lists every noted story and searches the text of your notes.

Browsing view

View > Windowed and View > Classic select the browsing view and save your default in this browser. Window view reuses a reader for each feed. Classic view opens stories and applets as pages. Open as a page is a one-off action that does not change your saved default. Use the Windowed selector to return an article to a window. Direct page links always open as pages.

Applets

The Applets menu in the menu bar holds three tools, each a window of its own. Replies to me takes your Hacker News user name and lists the replies to your last thirty comments and stories, checking again every three minutes while it is open, and marking what is new since you last marked them read. Look up a user opens a profile on Hacker News or Lobsters, with their submissions and recent comments, as a commenter's name in any discussion does; the bar at the top of a profile looks up someone else in the same window, and Back returns to the one before. Who is hiring? filters the posts of HN's monthly hiring threads by the words you type.

They read only what the sites publish to everyone, so none of them asks for a login, and your user name stays in this browser anonymously and is included in retained applet state when signed in.

Find

Find takes any link and lists every time it was submitted to Hacker News and Lobsters, so you can read each discussion of it.

About

YAVCHN never sees your Hacker News or Lobsters login. The discussion is fetched from each site's public API; to vote or reply, follow the link above the discussion, or the arrow beside a comment, to the source's own site. Without a YAVCHN account, your data stays in this browser. When signed in, pins, collections, notes, blocked domains, and retained reading state are stored with your account and synchronized across devices. Hidden stories and layout stay in this browser. The privacy policy has the details.

Open source: github.com/paulmooreparks/yavchn. Built with PUDL.