Sidepad
English version | Русская версия → README.ru.md
A Chrome side panel for managing task lists in Markdown format. Works as a native Side Panel — stays alongside the page without covering it.
Table of Contents
What is it
Sidepad is a Chrome extension that opens a side panel with a task list. The panel works alongside any browser tab without closing it. Tasks are stored locally in the browser and read/saved in Markdown (.md) format.
The default legacy mode requires no registration and sends task data only to files selected by the user. An experimental, off-by-default Notes API mode is available for development; it is described separately below. The extension has no dependencies and requires no build step.
Features
Tasks
- Add tasks with text, URL link, and section assignment
- Mark tasks as done (checkbox)
- Edit task text by clicking
- Delete user-created tasks
- Copy task text to clipboard with one button
- Move a task to another section with the
→ button (appears on hover)
- Completed tasks automatically move to the end of their section
Sections
- Group tasks into named sections
- Add new sections via a form
- Collapse/expand sections by clicking the header
- "▸ Collapse all / ▾ Expand" button to manage all sections at once
- Rename a section with the
✎ button (appears on hover over the header)
- Delete a section along with all its tasks
- Auto-collapse a section when all its tasks are completed
- Completed task counter in each section header
Tabs
- Work with multiple lists simultaneously in separate tabs
- Each imported file opens in a separate tab
- Rename a tab by double-clicking its name
- Hidden-tab indicator (
+N) when the tab bar overflows horizontally
- Closing a tab saves the list if that tab's
↓auto is on (off by default each session)
- Closing the last tab resets the content to an empty default state
Import and Export
- Load
.md and .txt files via the system file dialog
- Save the current list to
.md via a Save As dialog
↓auto button connects a tab to a file on disk and keeps it saved automatically (per tab, off by default each session)- Support for
[x] and [ ] checkboxes in Markdown
- URLs in tasks are extracted and become clickable links
Cross-Browser Sync
- Connect the same tab to the same file from two different browsers (e.g. Chrome and Brave) — edits made in one appear in the other within a couple of seconds
- Works entirely through the shared file on disk, no network or account involved
- Requires the File System Access API (built into Chrome; in Brave, enable it via
brave://flags)
Appearance
- Dark and light theme (toggle in the header)
- Language switch: Russian / English (toggle in the header)
- Drag & Drop for tasks and sections
Installation
- Download or clone the repository
- Open in Chrome:
chrome://extensions
- Enable Developer mode (toggle in the top right corner)
- Click Load unpacked
- Select the
Sidepad/ folder
- Click the extension icon in the Chrome toolbar — the side panel will open
After changing extension files, click the reload button on the extension card in chrome://extensions, then close and reopen the side panel.
Quick Start
The extension folder contains example.md — a ready-made list with tasks that demonstrates all Sidepad features: sections, links, drag & drop, import and export.
Two ways to load the example:
- Button in the empty list: on first launch, the empty
default.md shows a "Load example →" button — click it and example.md opens immediately
- Manually: click ↑ import and select
example.md from the Sidepad/ folder
After loading, default.md closes automatically.
Interface
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│ ✳ default.md × ✳ work.md × ↓auto RU ◐│ ← Tabs + action buttons
├─────────────────────────────────┤
│ ~/tasks/ default.md — 3 / 10 │ ← Breadcrumb + done counter
├─────────────────────────────────┤
│ + new section... │ ← New section field
│ + new task... │ ← New task field
│ url (optional) │ ← URL field
│ [Select section ▾] [+ add] │ ← Dropdown + add button
├─────────────────────────────────┤
│ ↑ import ↓ export ▸ collapse ✕ clear│ ← Toolbar
├─────────────────────────────────┤
│ ▸ Section 1 2/5 › │ ← Section header (collapsed)
│ ▾ Section 2 0/3 › │ ← Section header (expanded)
│ ⠿ ☐ Task with link ⧉ → × │ ← Task (buttons appear on hover)
│ https://example.com │
│ ⠿ ☑ Completed task ⧉ × │ ← Completed task (with delete button)
└─────────────────────────────────┘
This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗
