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Content Tabs

Content Tabs live inside each Repo or Worktree App Tab. They display the actual content you work with — issues, files, terminals, branches, commits, and more.

Singleton vs Detail Tabs

There are two kinds of content tabs:

  • Singleton tabs — one per repository. Examples: File Browser, Branches, Changes, Commit History. Clicking a singleton always switches to the existing instance.
  • Detail tabs — multiple allowed. Examples: individual issues, files, commits, pull requests. Each item opens in its own tab.

Tab Bars

Each pane has two tab bars:

  • Top bar — navigation and index tabs (Issues, Files, Branches, Commits)
  • Bottom bar — tool tabs (Terminal, Changes, Diffs)

Only one tab is active per pane at a time, regardless of which bar it’s in.

Opening Tabs

  • Single-click from a singleton tab — opens a detail tab in an adjacent pane (or shows inline detail if the tab supports master-detail)
  • Single-click from a detail tab — navigates in-place (with back/forward history)
  • Ctrl+Click — always creates a new tab in the background

If a detail tab is pinned or has unsaved changes, clicking a new item creates a new tab next to it instead of navigating in-place.

Closing Tabs

  • Hover over a tab to reveal its close button
  • Right-click > Close from the context menu
  • Ctrl+W closes the active tab
  • If a tab has unsaved changes, a confirmation dialog appears

Pinning Tabs

Pin a tab to keep it from being navigated away or accidentally closed:

  • Click the pin icon on the tab header
  • Or right-click > Pin

Pinned tabs are pushed to the front of the tab bar. They won’t be replaced by in-place navigation — a new adjacent tab is created instead.

Tab History

Detail tabs have back/forward navigation, similar to a web browser:

  • Alt+Left — go back
  • Alt+Right — go forward
  • Right-click > History — jump to a specific entry

Context Menu

Right-click any content tab header for options:

  • Pin / Unpin
  • Close / Close Others / Close to Right
  • Move to Top Bar / Move to Bottom Bar
  • Group Tab — Split Right / Split Down

Persistence

All content tabs are saved and restored when you restart Glint — including tab order, pinned state, active tab, and scroll positions. Terminal tabs restore as tabs but start a fresh shell session.