Choose where Blowhorn works in Chrome

Keep Blowhorn's tab beside yours, or give it a window of its own mostly behind yours, in the app or from the command line.

When Blowhorn drives Google Chrome through the Blowhorn Chrome extension, it works in a tab of its own. Your Blowhorn account has one setting for where that tab lives:

Beside your tabs (the default). An inactive tab right after the tab you are on, in the Blowhorn tab group.
In its own window, mostly behind yours. One window of Blowhorn's own, the same size as the window you used last and a little to its right, so an edge of it shows, opened without taking focus. Your window stays in front, your tab stays selected, and Blowhorn keeps reusing the same window until you close it or Chrome quits. Its tab sits in its own Blowhorn tab group.

On a Mac, a page in a tab you are not looking at reads its window size as zero, which a site can notice. A page in its own window can avoid that, so choose In its own window, mostly behind yours if that matters to you. Beside your tabs stays the default.

Keep that edge showing

On a Mac, Blowhorn's window only avoids this while part of it is visible on the desktop you are using, which is why it opens with an edge showing beside yours. The page reads like a background tab again when the window is:

fully covered by other windows
minimized
hidden (Command-H)
on another desktop (Space)

When your Chrome window fills the screen there is no room for the edge, so leave a little space on the right of your window, or use beside your tabs.

The setting follows your account to every computer you use Blowhorn on, and a run reads it once when it starts.

In the app

Open Settings, then Setup.
On the Chrome extension card, under Where Blowhorn works, choose beside your tabs or in its own window, mostly behind yours.

From the command line

terminal

$ blowhorn chrome extension-mode --window own-window   # a window of its own, mostly behind yours
$ blowhorn chrome extension-mode --window side-tab     # an inactive tab beside yours
$ blowhorn chrome extension-mode --window default      # clear it, so runs use the default
$ blowhorn chrome extension-mode                       # show the setting a run would use

Add --dry-run to see what would be saved without saving it.

What stays the same

In both places Blowhorn never brings its tab or Chrome in front of what you are doing. When it needs you, it turns its tab group red and opens it, and waits for you to click its tab. If you close Blowhorn's window, the next run makes a new one. If no Chrome window is open at all, the run stops and asks you to open one.

Last modified October 31, 2026