Navigation & Persistence

Selecting tabs

• Click / tap a tab.
• Keyboard (when the bar is focused): ←/→ (or ↑/↓ for left/right bars) move between tabs and wrap around; Home/End jump to first/last.
• Swipe (optional): set swipe: true to change tabs with a left/right swipe on touch devices, or swipe_mouse: true to do the same with a left/right mouse drag on desktop. Both honour swipe_wrap.

Remembering the selected tab

The remember option controls what happens when you leave and return:

Mode	Behaviour
none (default)	Always start on default_tab.
browser	The selected tab is saved in localStorage, per dashboard + tab set, on that browser.
url	The selected tab is written to the URL hash (#tab=<name>), so links and reloads keep it and it can be deep-linked/shared.
entity	The selected index is stored in a Home Assistant helper entity, so the active tab syncs across all devices. Set remember_entity to an input_number or input_text.

Cross-device with remember: entity

type: custom:tabdeck-card
remember: entity
remember_entity: input_number.kitchen_deck_tab
tabs: [ ... ]

On load the tab is restored from the entity's value; on every switch the card writes the new index back (input_number.set_value / input_text.set_value). Because it's a real entity, the choice follows you to every dashboard and device.

Live two-way sync. The card also watches the entity. When anything else changes it (another device, an automation, a Node-RED flow, a voice command), every open card switches to that tab straight away, with no reload. That makes the helper a remote control for your wall panels:

# automation: show the Cameras tab (index 2) when the doorbell rings
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.doorbell
    to: "on"
actions:
  - action: input_number.set_value
    target: { entity_id: input_number.kitchen_deck_tab }
    data: { value: 2 }

• Only a real change of the entity's value switches tabs, so a routine state update never pulls you off the tab you picked.
• Out-of-range values (e.g. 9 on a 3-tab deck) are ignored.
• Echoes of the card's own recent writes are ignored, so tapping quickly through several tabs never bounces back.

storage_key (browser mode)

By default browser mode keys storage by dashboard path + tab names. Set storage_key: my-deck to give a deck its own slot — useful when two identical decks would otherwise share state.

type: custom:tabdeck-card
remember: url
default_tab: Climate
tabs: [ ... ]

Deep links (#tab=)

With remember: url (or any mode, on first load), a #tab= hash selects a tab. It can be:

• the tab's index: #tab=2
• the tab's name: #tab=Living%20Room
• a case-insensitive slug of the name: #tab=living-room, #tab=LIGHTS

An exact name match wins over a slug match.

Notes

• With remember: url, give your tabs unique names so the hash maps unambiguously.
• default_tab still applies as the fallback when no remembered value is found.
• Lazy-mounted tabs (lazy: true) keep state once built; switching away does not destroy them.

Back button (history)

With history: true every tab you open becomes a browser history entry. The phone's back gesture or the browser's Back button then returns to the previous tab instead of leaving the dashboard. Forward works too.

type: custom:tabdeck-card
history: true
remember: url      # optional: each entry also gets its #tab= link
tabs: [ ... ]

• Only switches you make are recorded. Auto-rotate, idle return, auto_select and entity sync don't add entries.
• Entries are tagged per deck, so Home Assistant's own history (views, more-info dialogs) isn't disturbed. Back with a dialog open closes the dialog and leaves the tab alone.
• Combine with remember: url and each entry also carries its #tab= link.