Side Panel

The side panel is the whole user interface. It uses Chrome's sidePanel API, so it stays open while you switch tabs and does not close when you click into the page.

Opening it

Click the PraisonAI toolbar icon
Press Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P
Right-click a page and choose Open PraisonAI panel

Layout

Area	What it shows
Header	The extension name and a status dot: Ready, Working..., Done, Failed or No tab
Tab info	The URL of the tab the panel is pointed at, plus "Chrome blocks automation here" if it is a restricted page
🛠️ Tools tab	The four tool buttons and the five action forms
📜 History tab	The last 50 actions, with a Clear history button
Output	The result of the last action, or the error if it failed
Footer	"Runs locally in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere."

Which tab it acts on

Side panels are per-window. On open, the panel calls chrome.windows.getCurrent() and remembers its own window id, then targets the active tab of that window only. Tab switches in other windows are ignored, so two panels open in two windows never fight over the same target.

It re-reads the target when you switch tabs in its window, or when the current tab finishes loading. The URL in the header is always the tab your next action will hit.

Errors are visible

Every action either renders its result or renders its error in the same Output box you are already looking at. A failed action sets the status to Failed; it never shows a completed state for work that did not happen.

One action at a time

While an action is running, every button in the panel is disabled and the status reads Working.... Two overlapping actions on one tab would tear down each other's CDP session, so the panel does not allow a second one to start until the first has reported back.

History

Successful Navigate, Click, Type, Scroll, Run JavaScript, Screenshot and Extract Data actions are appended to a local history list, newest first, capped at 50 entries. It is stored with chrome.storage.local under the key history — on your machine only. Clear history deletes it immediately, and uninstalling the extension removes it too.

Console Logs and End Session are not recorded; they are not page actions.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	Command name	What it does
`Ctrl/Cmd`+`Shift`+`P`	`open-panel`	Opens the PraisonAI panel in the current window
`Ctrl/Cmd`+`Shift`+`S`	`capture-screenshot`	Captures a screenshot of the active tab

Both are handled in chrome.commands.onCommand; open-panel calls chrome.sidePanel.open({ windowId }) for the window the shortcut was pressed in.

Chrome will not register a suggested shortcut that another extension already claimed. Reassign at chrome://extensions/shortcuts.

There are exactly two items, both registered with contexts: ['all'], so they appear whether you right-click the page, a link, an image or a text selection:

Capture screenshot — captures the tab and posts a Chrome notification; the image waits in the panel
Open PraisonAI panel — opens the panel

Using any tool attaches Chrome's debugger to that tab, and Chrome shows a banner saying so for as long as it is attached. ⏏ End Session detaches and clears it. See Browser Actions.