How to Search Across All Open Browser Tabs and Windows on macOS

1. The Tab Overload Dilemma

Studies indicate the average knowledge worker maintains between 30 and 70 open browser tabs across several windows. When you need to return to a Google Cloud console tab or a GitHub PR, clicking through minimized windows wastes minutes every hour.

macOS Spotlight cannot index open tabs or window titles, leaving users to manually hunt through their application switcher.

2. The Engineering Behind Instant Tab Switching

SearchOnMac connects directly to macOS Automation (AppleScript / JXA) and Accessibility APIs (AXUIElement). When you press Option + Space, SearchOnMac concurrently queries running browsers for window and tab titles off the main thread.

let script = """
tell application "Arc"
    set tabList to {}
    repeat with w in windows
        repeat with t in tabs of w
            set end of tabList to (title of t & "|||" & URL of t)
        end repeat
    end repeat
    return tabList
end tell
"""

3. Switching Across macOS Spaces Instantly

When you select a browser tab from SearchOnMac results, the app activates the target application and uses macOS Accessibility APIs to bring that specific window to the foreground, automatically switching Spaces smoothly.