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StepStep

Tabs

Restore tabs after a crash or restart

How Step persists tabs and brings everything back automatically.

1 min read

Step writes Space state to disk continuously. After a crash, restart, or macOS reboot, your Spaces reopen exactly as you left them.

Automatic restore

Step opens the last active Space and reloads its tabs lazily — only the focused tab loads immediately. Other tabs load when you click them, which keeps the launch fast even with hundreds of tabs.

Crash recovery

If Step crashes, the next launch shows a small "Recovered" dot on each affected Space. Click any tab to load it; nothing is lost.

Forced fresh start

Hold ⇧ while launching Step to start with no tabs loaded. Useful if a misbehaving tab caused the crash.

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