Multiple working contexts: tabs, multiple windows, or both?

[robertobandini]

Two open feature requests point at the same underlying need: working on more than one context at the same time without losing your place.

• Introduce tabs #1938 proposes top-level tabs, similar to what Mirantis Lens introduced, including multiple tabs on the same cluster.
• allow multiple windows #1852 proposes multiple windows, to compare clusters or namespaces side by side.

Speaking personally, I agree this would be useful! It is a need I have felt myself while working with Freelens, and something I had already been thinking about. But this touches the core navigation model of the app, so before choosing a direction we want to hear from the community and align within the teams:

1. What does your multi-context workflow look like today, and where does Freelens slow you down?
2. Would tabs, windows, or split views fit that workflow best?
3. How often do you need two views of the same cluster, as opposed to different clusters?

A note on scope: one tab per cluster is close to what the app already does internally, while multiple independent views of the same cluster is a much deeper architectural change (memory usage, per-view state, extension API).

A note on timing: our current focus is the v2.0.0 milestone, a major refactoring that already breaks compatibility for extensions. Realistically any implementation of this would land after v2. That said, this is exactly the right moment to discuss the direction: knowing where we want to go helps us avoid decisions in the v2 refactoring and in the Extensions API v2 spec (#2304) that would make multi-context support harder later. Thank you! 🙏