Tab Title Prefix Cleaner

WHAT IT DOES

Tab Title Prefix Cleaner removes common prefixes from browser tab titles, making them cleaner, shorter, and easier to read at a glance. Many websites prepend their site name, branding, or icons to the page title, resulting in cluttered tab bars with text like "Site Name - Article Title" or "▶ Page Title | Site". This extension strips away these prefixes using customizable regex patterns, leaving only the meaningful page title. You can use the built-in patterns or add your own custom patterns for complete control. A live preview shows the original and cleaned titles side by side, and changes are applied in real-time to the document.title. The extension works with any website and supports per-site customization.

WHERE IT RUNS

The extension works on every website with a document.title, including complex single-page applications, traditional websites, and any page that sets a tab title. It runs locally in your browser, reading and modifying the page title using the document.title API without sending any data to external servers. The extension supports all major browsers and adapts to both desktop and mobile viewports seamlessly.

HOW TO USE

After installation, the extension automatically cleans tab titles on pages where it's enabled. A badge or panel shows the current title and the cleaned version. To customize the experience, open the extension panel and toggle "Enable Prefix Cleaner" to enable or disable the feature. Use the preview section to see the original and cleaned titles. To add a custom pattern, enter a regex pattern (e.g., "^.*?\\s*-\\s*" to remove "Site Name - ") and click "Add Pattern." The new pattern will be applied immediately. To remove a pattern, use the pattern list (delete functionality is available by resetting or managing patterns). Use "Apply Clean Title Now" to manually clean the current title, or "Restore Original Title" to revert to the original. For per-site customization, enable or disable the extension on specific websites using the per-site controls.

THE ACTUAL MECHANISM — REGEX-BASED TITLE CLEANING WITH REAL-TIME DOCUMENT.UPDATE

The extension uses a pattern-based cleaning pipeline. It maintains a list of regex patterns stored via GM_setValue, with both global and domain-specific pattern lists. When the extension is enabled, it reads the current document.title and applies each pattern in sequence using the JavaScript RegExp object. The patterns are designed to match common prefixes including site names followed by separators (`-`, `—`, `–`, `|`, `:`, `▸`, `▶`), bullet symbols, bracketed text, and other common prefixes. The cleaning function runs through each pattern, replacing matched portions with an empty string, then trims extra whitespace and trailing separators. To prevent infinite loops, the cleaned title is marked with `[CLEANED]` when applied, and the extension checks for this marker before re-applying. A MutationObserver watches for changes to the document.title and automatically re-applies cleaning when the title changes. The preview feature shows both the original and cleaned titles in real-time. Per-site patterns are stored as domain-specific overrides, allowing different cleaning rules for different websites.

THE PANEL

The settings panel is a lightweight, draggable overlay that appears in the center of your screen. You can reposition it by clicking and dragging the title bar; release it near the screen edge and it will snap into place automatically. To collapse the panel into a compact title bar, click the minimize button, expanding it again with the same control. The panel is fully responsive, adapting to different screen resolutions with a minimum width of 300px and a maximum of 480px. Press the Escape key at any time to dismiss the panel without applying changes. All controls—the enable/disable toggle, apply clean title button, restore original title button, preview toggle, pattern list, pattern input with type selector, add pattern button, reset patterns button, and per-site controls—are accessible within a clean, high-contrast interface that respects your system's color scheme.

PLEASE NOTE

This extension requires the free BotGentz companion extension to be installed and active, which provides the underlying DOM access and storage engine. The cleaning uses regex patterns which can be powerful but also potentially destructive if misconfigured. Invalid regex patterns are skipped to prevent errors. The extension modifies the document.title in real-time, which may interfere with other extensions that also modify the title. The `[CLEANED]` marker is added to the title to prevent re-processing; this marker is removed if the extension is disabled. No personal data, browsing history, or page content is ever collected, stored, or transmitted. All settings are saved using the browser's storage API and remain solely on your device. The extension does not inject ads, trackers, or analytics of any kind.