Claude in Chrome (desktop/web app): a new tab group is created for every session instead of reusing the previous session's tab

Summary

Using the Claude desktop/web app with the "Claude in Chrome" extension, browser tabs are not shared across sessions: every new session (conversation) spawns a brand-new Chrome tab group instead of reusing the tab/window already open from a previous session.

Within a session: works fine

Inside one conversation, the extension's tab group persists across turns. The same tab is reused for every navigation — I drove it through several different sites across many messages (a marketing site → GitHub → LinkedIn) and it stayed the same tab the whole time. No issue here.

(There is a rare one-off drop at the very start of a session — the initial empty tab can disappear once before the group stabilises — but that is minor and not the main problem.)

Across sessions: the actual bug

Starting a new conversation creates a new tab group. The tab/window left open by the previous session is never reused. Consequences:

• Every new session forces re-selecting the browser and re-navigating from scratch.
• Old tab groups accumulate in Chrome over time.
• You cannot resume work on a page a previous session had open.

Expected

When a new session starts, the extension should be able to reuse the existing tab/tab-group from a previous session (or at least offer to), instead of always creating a fresh one. Within-session persistence already works well and should stay as-is.

Steps to reproduce

1. Claude desktop/web app, "Claude in Chrome" extension connected (single browser, macOS, Chrome).
2. Session A: ask Claude to open a URL → a tab group + tab is created and navigated. Send more messages navigating that same tab to other URLs → it stays the same tab. ✅
3. Session B (new conversation): ask Claude to use the browser again.
4. Observe: a new tab group/window is created. Session A's tab is not reused; you must re-select the browser and re-navigate. Old tab groups pile up.

Environment

• Surface: Claude desktop/web app (not the terminal CLI) + "Claude in Chrome" extension
• Claude Code version: 2.1.181 (Claude Code)
• OS: macOS · Browser: Google Chrome · Single connected browser
• Not a regression — it has always behaved this way.

Related issues

• #23861 — "MCP tab groups persist and multiply across sessions" (closed as duplicate) — closest match
• #29523 — tab groups don't persist (locked, closed as not planned)
• #55332 — terminals should get isolated tab groups like Desktop projects (closed as duplicate)

Filing/keeping this open because the cross-session reuse angle is the concrete user-facing friction and the above are all closed.