0012. TabStrip can leave out new tabs and name what a tab is

Date: 2026-10-14

Status

Proposed. The user asked for the Patina desktop's bar to list open windows with Patina's tabs; the options are my design.

Context

TabStrip (ADR-0009) always ends with + and offers "New Tab" and "Close Tab" in a tab's menu, because Teleprinter's tabs are things the app makes. The Patina desktop's bar shows the open windows as tabs. The bar doesn't make windows (that's the launcher), and a tab there is a window, so "+" does nothing useful and "Close Tab" says the wrong thing.

Decision

Two builder options, defaulting to today's behaviour:

• .new_tab(false) leaves out the + tab and the menu's "New" item. TabAction::New then never comes from the strip.
• .noun("Window") names a tab in the menu and the close button's tooltip: "New Window", "Close Window". The default is "Tab".

Consequences

• Existing callers are unchanged.
• The keyboard shortcuts (tabs::keys) still say nothing of nouns; an app that doesn't want Ctrl+Shift+T simply doesn't call them.