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Features & Options

Custom Tree-Style Tabs

Palefox replaces Firefox's native tab strip with a custom tree-style tab panel featuring vim keybindings, deep nesting, groups, and mouse interactions.

Mouse Controls

Action Effect
Left click Select tab
Middle click Close tab
Double click Clone tab as child
Shift+click Range select (from cursor to clicked tab)
Drag & drop Reorder tabs in the tree
Right click Context menu (rename, collapse, group, close)

Vim Keybindings (Normal Mode)

Focus the tab panel to enter normal mode. Keys are only intercepted when the panel is focused.

Navigation

Key Action
j / k Move cursor down / up
h / l Outdent / indent tab (vertical mode)
h / l Move between columns (horizontal mode)
gg Jump to first tab
G Jump to last tab
/ Search tabs by name or URL
n / N Next / previous search match

Actions

Key Action
Enter Activate tab and focus content (or toggle collapse on group)
Tab Toggle collapse / expand
x Close tab (or all selected tabs)
r Rename tab / group
i Focus content (enter insert mode)

Tree Manipulation

Key Action
Alt+h / Alt+l Outdent / indent subtree
Alt+j / Alt+k Swap with next / previous sibling

Pane Switching

Key Action
Ctrl+w, h Focus sidebar
Ctrl+w, l Focus content
Ctrl+w, w Toggle focus between sidebar and content
SPC, w, h/l/w Same as Ctrl+w chords

Ex Commands (press :)

Command Action
:group <name> Create a named group after cursor
:refile Refile current tab — search for a target, then press Enter to move it as a child

Multi-Select

Shift+click to select a range of tabs. Selected tabs are highlighted. Actions apply to the full selection:

  • x closes all selected tabs
  • Drag moves all selected tabs together

Drag & Drop

Drag a tab to reorder it in the tree. Drop zones are divided into thirds:

  • Top third — insert before the target
  • Middle third — insert as child of the target
  • Bottom third — insert after the target's subtree

Sidebar Button (right-click menu)

Right-click the sidebar button (bottom of the sidebar) to access:

  • Enable/Disable Compact — autohide sidebar off-screen, revealed on left-edge hover with spring animation
  • Expand/Collapse Layout — toggle between full sidebar and icons-only strip
  • Horizontal/Vertical Tabs — switch tab orientation
  • Customize Sidebar — open Firefox's native sidebar settings

Left-click the sidebar button toggles compact mode directly.

Compact Mode

When enabled, the sidebar slides off-screen and reappears when you hover the left edge. Popup menus and context menus keep the sidebar visible while open. The urlbar breakout still works — focus the urlbar and it expands past the sidebar.

Can also be toggled via pfx.sidebar.compact in about:config.

Linux users: Set widget.gtk.ignore-bogus-leave-notify to 1 in about:config. Without this, GTK can send spurious leave events that cause the sidebar to collapse unexpectedly.

HTTP Insecure Warning

When browsing an insecure HTTP page, a warning banner appears after a 2-second delay. The delay prevents false alarms on HTTP-to-HTTPS redirects.

about:config Options

Pref Default Description
pfx.sidebar.compact false Autohide sidebar, reveal on left-edge hover
pfx.sidebar.menuBar false Show the menu bar
pfx.sidebar.newTab false Show the new tab button in the sidebar
pfx.sidebar.width 300 Sidebar width in pixels (saved automatically on resize)
pfx.view.draggable-sidebar true Drag the window from empty sidebar space

Accessibility

Palefox respects your OS "reduce motion" setting — all transitions become instant. On Linux you can also set ui.prefersReducedMotion to 1 in about:config.

Recommended Extensions

Vim-motions

Other

  • New Tab Override - Replace the default new tab page with a custom URL. Point it at a localhost service serving a barebones HTML page (without autofocus on the URL bar) so Vimium keybindings work immediately on new tabs

To get notified about new Palefox releases, watch the GitHub repository and select "Releases only" under custom notifications.