Firefox Smart Window beta adds AI web search, automatic tab grouping, and natural-language history lookup

Firefox Smart Window moves tab management from manual to automatic. The feature now suggests groups for related tabs and flags duplicates, which should reduce the time engineers spend organizing research sessions. Automatic grouping stops working when tabs share no clear topical link, so complex multi-project workflows may still need manual intervention. The beta is limited to English users in the U.S. and Canada, so global teams will not see these changes yet.

AI search integration with Exa brings web results directly into the browser. Engineers can query current information without leaving Firefox, and the feature shows source links alongside responses. This integration may cut context-switching to external search engines, but it relies on Exa’s retrieval quality. If Exa misses relevant sources or surfaces outdated links, users will still need to verify results manually. The feature does not yet support custom search engines or private indices.

Natural-language history lookup lets users retrieve past browsing sessions with prompts like “running shows I looked at last week.” The feature displays visual previews of pages, which should help engineers quickly identify relevant research without opening each tab. This works best for recent, clearly labeled browsing sessions; older or ambiguous queries may return noisy results. The feature does not yet integrate with bookmarks or saved collections, so it remains a history-only tool.

Mozilla’s roadmap for Smart Window includes surfacing recent browsing journeys and auto-filling online forms. These planned features could further reduce repetitive data entry, but they also raise privacy questions. Users will control which tabs Smart Window accesses, but engineers handling sensitive data may need to audit permissions regularly. The beta status means these features are not yet stable, so production workflows should not rely on them.