android-chrome-tab-transfer

A tool to transfer google chrome tabs from your android phone to your computer using adb.

Prerequisites

• PHP 8.1 or newer
• Composer
• Android Debug Bridge (platform tools including the adb executable)
• Google Chrome Browser on your android phone

Make sure to add the location of the platform tools to the PATH environment variable. Also make sure to activate the usb debugging feature under developer options on your android phone and to connect it to your computer. The browser has to be running for this tool to work properly.

Installation

Source

On Windows:

git clone git@github.com:machinateur/android-chrome-tab-transfer.git
cd android-chrome-tab-transfer
composer install --no-dev
copy-tabs.cmd

On Mac/Linux:

git clone git@github.com:machinateur/android-chrome-tab-transfer.git
cd android-chrome-tab-transfer
composer install --no-dev
chmod +x ./copy-tabs.sh
./copy-tabs.sh

Phar

As of now, the phar is no longer part of the repository, you'll have to build it from source, as described down below.

git clone git@github.com:machinateur/android-chrome-tab-transfer.git
cd android-chrome-tab-transfer
composer install --dev
composer run-script box-compile
php copy-tabs.phar

Usage

php copy-tabs.php

The command will generate three new files:

• A tabs.json file containing the raw json of your tab's data.
• A tabs-gist.md file containing a markdown formatted list of all your tabs.
• A tabs-reopen.sh bash script containing a curl call for each of your tabs to reopen.

The filename, port and socket name can be changed using the command arguments and options described below.

The timeout can also be changed using the -t argument, default is 10s, which is also the minimum required value.

Description:
  A tool to transfer tabs from your android phone to your computer using `adb`.

Usage:
  copy-tabs [options] [--] [<file>]

Arguments:
  file                   The relative filepath to write. [default: "tabs.json"]

Options:
  -p, --port=PORT        The port to forward requests using `adb`. [default: 9222]
  -s, --socket=SOCKET    The socket to forward requests using `adb`. [default: "chrome_devtools_remote"]
  -t, --timeout=TIMEOUT  The network timeout for the download request. [default: 10]
      --skip-cleanup     Skip the `adb` cleanup command execution.
  -h, --help             Display help for the given command. When no command is given display help for the copy-tabs command
  -q, --quiet            Do not output any message
  -V, --version          Display this application version
      --ansi|--no-ansi   Force (or disable --no-ansi) ANSI output
  -n, --no-interaction   Do not ask any interactive question
  -v|vv|vvv, --verbose   Increase the verbosity of messages: 1 for normal output, 2 for more verbose output and 3 for debug

Alternatively, you can also run the command as composer script:

composer run-script copy-tabs

Credit

The inspiration for this tool was this android stackexchange answer.

How it works

The adb, which is part of the android platform tools, is used to forward http calls via the usb connection. What http calls, you ask? I present to you the chrome devtools protocol.

The Chrome DevTools Protocol allows for tools to instrument, inspect, debug and profile Chromium, Chrome and other Blink-based browsers.

It exposes endpoints to retrieve all currently open tabs and also one to open a new tab. The former is used to download tab information, while the latter one can be used by the generated sh script to reopen the tabs on another device.

About the re-open script

To reopen the tabs on another device, connect it instead, allow usb debugging and start the google chrome browser. Then run the generated script file. It requires curl to send the commands to reopen all tabs, as well as adb. The generated script will include commands to manage the debug connection, so make sure your new phone is connected before running the shell script.

Please note, that in most cases there will be a dialog prompting you to allow the usb debugging access. It's advised you keep your phone unlocked during the process, to make sure the request doesn't time out.

Currently, this will not run on a Windows system without something like MINGW64 being installed. WSL/WSLv2 might also work. See #18 for more information on how to repurpose the re-open script for a windows use-case.

Chrome Beta/Canary support

This is an advanced use-case. For details on how to use this tool with the beta or canary channels of the Google Chrome browser on Android, read #2. Extended technical knowledge is advised.

Detecting network errors

Time has shown that the communication between adb on the computer and the android device attached via cable can cause errors or at least confusion. Thus, the possibility was introduced to get the error message and code of whatever occurred during downloading the tabs from the device. Since that information is rather technical and will only be needed in certain cases, it is only displayed when the download request fails and the command is run in debug mode.

The output of the curl request will also be set to verbose and print directly to STDOUT.

To run the command with debug verbosity, append -vvv to the end of the command:

php copy-tabs.php -vvv

Make sure to activate the usb debugging feature under developer options on your android phone and to connect it to your computer. The browser has to be running for this tool to work properly. If you are not sure on how to set it up, here is a guide on how to remotely debug an android phone.

It's possible to gain some more insight using the device inspection built into any chrome-based browser. For that, navigate to chrome://inspect/#devices in any chrome based browser, like for example google chrome, installed on your computer.

Building phar from source

The phar can be built from source using box. If you don't have it installed yet, you can by running the following command:

composer global require humbug/box

Please keep in mind that global composer dependencies are discouraged, you should use the box version that's included as a dev-dependency.

The configuration may be customized using a box.json file. To build, run the following command:

box compile

Or, to use the dev-dependency, as recommended:

composer install --dev
composer run-script box-compile

License

It's MIT.