Colour groups,
built for your JetBrains IDE tabs

PrismTabs brings a familiar tab-colouring workflow to the JetBrains IDE family. Right-click any editor tab, pick a colour or a named group, and keep sprawling tab strips organised — with a dedicated tool window for managing every group at a glance.

Get the plugin Read the docs

Works in IntelliJ IDEA and every JetBrains IDE on the platform, from 2025.1 onward.

PrismTabs in IntelliJ IDEA: three editor tabs tinted by group, next to the PrismTabs tool window with the Docs, Backend and Tests groups expanded to show their member files and paths — Tests marked active, Docs hidden — with pin, hide, rename, recolour and delete actions in the toolbar. PrismTabs in IntelliJ IDEA: three editor tabs tinted by group, next to the PrismTabs tool window with the Docs, Backend and Tests groups expanded to show their member files and paths — Tests marked active, Docs hidden — with pin, hide, rename, recolour and delete actions in the toolbar.
Features

Group your editor tabs by colour, and manage every group from one place

PrismTabs colours editor tabs directly through the supported platform API and gives every group a proper home in a dedicated tool window.

One right-click away Free

Right-click any editor tab for a colour swatch popup: click one of 8 preset dots to start a new group and name it, or "Add to Group…" to join one you already have.

Named, reusable groups Free

Group tabs under a name, not just a colour. Rename, recolour, or delete a group any time from the popup.

Active-group auto-join Pro

Mark a group active and every file you open that isn't already in a group joins it automatically — until you deactivate it.

A real tab groups panel Pro

The PrismTabs tool window lists every group with its colour, member count, and hidden state — expand one to the files it holds, open or closed.

Hide, then show Pro

Hiding a group closes its tabs and remembers them; showing it reopens every one, in order.

Survives restarts & renames Free

Assignments persist across restarts, along with the tabs a hidden group remembers, and follow a file through a rename or move.

Palette

Eight presets, tuned for both themes — and fully editable

Every colour ships with a light and a dark variant, measured for contrast on editor tabs rather than picked by eye — free to use as-is. With Pro, rename any preset or repaint it under Settings → Tools → PrismTabs.

Grey Blue Red Yellow Green Pink Purple Cyan
The PrismTabs palette editor under Settings, Tools, PrismTabs: every preset renamed to a purpose — Grey to Controllers, Blue to Services, Green to Docs, and so on — each with its own light and dark hex value.
Every preset renamed and repainted under Settings → Tools → PrismTabs (Pro).
How it works

Three steps, no configuration required

PrismTabs works out of the box with sensible defaults — the palette settings are there for when you want them, not because you need them.

Right-click a tab

Open the colour swatch popup from any editor tab's context menu.

Pick a colour or group

Click a preset swatch under "New Group" and give the group a name, or use "Add to Group…" to join one that already exists.

Manage your groups

Rename, recolour, or delete a group from "Manage Groups…" in the same popup — or, with Pro, from the "PrismTabs" tool window on the right-hand stripe, which can also hide and show a group.

The right-click menu open on an editor tab, showing the New Group colour swatches — Grey, Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, Pink, Purple, Cyan — above Add to Group, Manage Groups and Remove from Group.
The colour swatch popup, one right-click from any editor tab.
Compatibility

Built on the IntelliJ Platform, not one IDE

PrismTabs is built on the IntelliJ Platform rather than on any one product, so it runs in every IDE built on it.

IntelliJ IDEA WebStorm PyCharm GoLand PhpStorm Rider RubyMine CLion DataGrip Android Studio 2025.1 and newer
Pricing

Start with everything. Keep what you need.

There's no plan to pick when you install — every copy of PrismTabs begins the same way.

  1. Day 0

    Install PrismTabs

    Straight from the JetBrains Marketplace.

  2. Days 1–14

    Everything unlocked

    The complete Pro feature set, free for everyone. Nothing is held back during the trial.

  3. Day 15 onward

    Free forever, or from $14/year

    Subscribe to keep the Pro features, or carry on with the Free tier. Your groups and colours stay either way.

Free
$0
forever

Where every install lands once the 14-day trial ends — and stays, with no further expiry.

  • Assign tabs to the 8 preset colours
  • Unlimited named groups — create, rename, recolour, delete
  • List a group's files, open tab or not
  • Assignments persist across restarts
  • Follows files through renames and moves
Yours free for 14 days
Pro
Individual $14per year
Organisation $29per user, per year

Unlocked for everyone during the trial. Subscribe to keep these after day 14.

  • Everything in Free
  • The PrismTabs tool window
  • Hide and show a group
  • Active-group auto-join for newly opened files
  • Custom palette editing

Install, click "Evaluate for free", and the 14-day trial begins — no card, no licence key. Subscriptions are billed through the JetBrains Marketplace, and letting one lapse simply returns you to the Free tier. Never a hard lockout, and nothing you've grouped is ever deleted.

Prefer to pay monthly? Pro is also $1.40 a month for individuals, or $2.90 per user a month for organisations. Paying yearly, as above, is the same as getting two months free.

Working on open source? PrismTabs Pro is free for non-commercial open-source development. If JetBrains has verified your account for its open-source programme, claim a free licence from the plugin's pricing page on the JetBrains Marketplace.

Ready to keep your tabs under control?

Read the full manual for everything PrismTabs can do.

Get the plugin Read the docs