Bushido
User Manual

Tab Suspender

Auto-suspend inactive tabs to save memory

Every tab is its own process. Each one eats 120-180MB of RAM. The tab suspender puts idle tabs to sleep so they stop hogging memory without losing your place.

Three States

Bushido uses the same TrySuspend API that Edge uses for sleeping tabs. Tabs move through three states as they sit idle:

StateMemoryWhat happens when you click itWhen
Active~200MBAlready thereIn use
Suspended~30MBWakes up instantly — scroll position, form state, everything intactIdle 2 min
Destroyed0MBFull page reloadIdle 5 min

Both suspended and destroyed tabs show a zzz badge in the sidebar. The difference is what happens when you click them — suspended tabs come back instantly, destroyed tabs reload from scratch.

What Never Gets Suspended

  • The active tab — obviously
  • Tabs in split view — if you can see it, it stays awake
  • Pinned tabs — always safe
  • Tabs playing media — Spotify in a background tab won't get killed
  • Internal pagesbushido://newtab, bushido://settings

Configure the Timeout

Settings → Appearance → Tab suspend timeout

You set the destroy timeout. The suspend timeout is automatically 40% of that (capped at 2 minutes).

SettingSuspends atDestroys at
5 min (default)2 min5 min
10 min4 min10 min
15 min6 min15 min
30 min12 min30 min
Never

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