Quiet browsing? Tabby keeps you company

Announcement Open source Chrome extension Entertainment

Published: July 8, 2026

Long stretches in the browser can feel oddly empty. You hop from a recipe blog to your notes, then a news site, and the only company is more tabs. Students grinding through research, remote workers between calls, and anyone who lives in Chrome know that quiet.

Tabby is a free, open-source Google Chrome extension I built for that. She is a virtual pet cat who floats on the pages you visit, reacts from the tab title and web address only, and grows from a newborn kitten into an adult cat over real calendar days. Pet her, feed her, play with her. Everything stays on your device: no account, no cloud, no data sent anywhere.

Install from the Chrome Web Store · Source on GitHub

Who is it for?

Anyone who wants a gentle companion while browsing
Remote workers and students who spend hours in tabs
Cat lovers who want something fun that still respects privacy

How to use it

1. Meet Tabby

Install Tabby and open any page. On first install she appears in the bottom-left with a short three-step tour: who she is, that she stays local, and how to feed or play with her.

Tap Next to walk through, Got it on the last step, or I already know Tabby to skip. Skip keeps her on screen and quiet. She does not read page text.

2. Browse with Tabby

Drag her anywhere. She is a Lottie-animated cat with gold eyes and a purple collar.

Most of the time she stays out of the way. Now and then she may peek in from the edge, say a quiet line, or ask for food when she is hungry. Tap × on the bubble to dismiss speech without opening the menu.

Her mood can shift gently after you stay on a page for about a minute. She never reads what is on the page, only the tab title and web address.

3. Tap Tabby to interact

Click the cat to open her care menu. Pick Pet, Play, Feed Tabby, or What's up? Her reply appears in a speech bubble.

Tap More for do not disturb (30 minutes, 1 hour, or until end of today) or hide her on this page.

When she is hungry, feeding starts a short munching moment. Play can turn into a wild paw moment with jokes.

4. Open settings

Click the Tabby icon in the toolbar.

Do not disturb hides her on every tab until the timer ends. Tabby on your page lets you show or hide her on this tab or on all tabs.

Settings: do not disturb, visibility, quiet hours

Quiet hours keep unprompted speech off at night. When Tabby speaks up sets how often she may check in while you browse.

That's it. Meet her once, browse, tap to care, open the toolbar for settings.

What makes her different

Floating companion you can drag anywhere on the page
Moods and needs: hungry, happy, stressed, sleepy, and more
Three life stages: newborn kitten, playful kitten, then adult cat
Memories: places you visit together can echo back in what she says later
Show / hide per page, on every page, or do not disturb for a while

Privacy

Tabby uses only the active tab's title and URL. She never reads page text, never looks through your history, and never sends data anywhere. Permissions are tabs, storage, alarms, and scripting. No host permissions. No backend. State lives in IndexedDB and chrome.storage.local on your device.

Open source

MIT licensed. Built with WXT, TypeScript, Lottie animations, and Vitest. Full tutorial: tutorial on GitHub.

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