ZeroTab

Zero-dependency LRU tab eviction daemon built with Python asyncio to profile browser activity and compress idle tabs.

✨ Features

• Zero-Dependency: Runs entirely on standard Python libraries. No external packages required.
• O(1) Tab Eviction: Instantly identifies and compresses idle tabs using an efficient LRU (Least Recently Used) tracking mechanism.
• Low Footprint: Operates on <12MB RAM without competing with your main system workloads.
• Non-Blocking Concurrency: Built with asyncio to prevent performance lag, even during heavy browser interactions.

Architecture Overview

ZeroTab: Streamlining Browser Memory Management

The architecture involves a flow from the Active Browser Engine (which might consume large amounts of RAM, e.g., 6.4 GB) through the ZeroTab Daemon (utilizing asyncio & O(1) LRU), which passes data to the JSON Gzip State Serializer, and finally into Local Storage (significantly reducing the footprint, e.g., to 4.2 MB).

Key architectural components and highlights:

• The Eviction Engine - O(1) LRU State Tracking: Uses a Hash Map and Doubly-Linked List for instant identification of idle tabs.
• Non-Blocking Concurrency: Employs asyncio event loops to prevent performance lag during heavy browser interactions.
• System Performance - <12 MB RAM Footprint: The daemon operates with minimal overhead, never competing with main system workloads.
• Zero-Dependency Architecture: Built entirely on Python 3.10+ standard library primitives like gzip and collections.

Setup

Prerequisites

• Tech Stack: Python 3.12+ (Standard Library: asyncio, collections, gzip, json)
• APIs: OS Process APIs
• Storage: Local compressed JSON storage

Follow these steps to get ZeroTab up and running:

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/SukritiC/ZeroTab.git
   cd ZeroTab
   

2. Set up a virtual environment (optional but recommended):

   python -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate
   

3. Install the package: (ZeroTab is zero-dependency, so this step simply installs the daemon itself)

   pip install .
   

4. Run the daemon:

   python -m zerotab.main
   

⚙️ Usage & Testing

Running the Daemon

By default, the daemon runs in the foreground. You can pass configuration options via command-line flags.

To run the daemon targeting a specific browser with custom settings:

python3 -m zerotab.main --browser safari --timeout 300 --poll 5

(Check python3 -m zerotab.main --help for all available options)

Running Unit Tests

To verify the core LRU logic and Storage compression, run the built-in unittest suite:

python3 -m unittest discover tests/

Manual Testing & Execution

For macOS (Native): macOS is natively supported via AppleScript. Simply run the daemon targeting your browser of choice (chrome, safari, edge, brave, opera):

python3 -m zerotab.main --browser chrome --timeout 30

Open a few tabs in your browser, wait 30 seconds without interacting with them, and watch them suspend to a lightweight local stub!

For Windows & Linux (Chromium Browsers): To keep the tool zero-dependency, Windows and Linux use the Chrome Remote Debugging Protocol.

1. Launch your browser from the terminal with the debugging port exposed:

   # Windows (Chrome)
   chrome.exe --remote-debugging-port=9222
   # Linux (Chrome)
   google-chrome --remote-debugging-port=9222
   

2. Start the ZeroTab daemon:

   python3 -m zerotab.main --browser chrome --timeout 30
   

💻 Supported Browsers

• Google Chrome (macOS, Linux, Windows)
• Microsoft Edge (macOS, Linux, Windows)
• Brave Browser (macOS, Linux, Windows)
• Opera (macOS, Linux, Windows)
• Safari (macOS)

(Note: Firefox is currently not supported natively as it lacks required AppleScript and CDP tab-query endpoints without heavy modification.)

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! If you have suggestions for improvements, found a bug, or want to add support for a new browser:

• Fork the repository
• Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
• Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
• Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
• Open a Pull Request

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	🔗 Visit the TBRly Website 📺 Watch the TBRly YouTube Demo

🤝 Share the Knowledge

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