Make the AI Chat persistent (stay signed in, do not refresh the page)

[naf3ts]

A typical use-case for the AI Chat sidebar, at least for me, is to open it, chat, close it, browse a bit more, go back to the sidebar, chat some more.

However, as soon the sidebar is minimized the web page is closed and your chat history is lost.

On a small (13") screen, the side panel takes up a considerable amount of horizontal space so it is not convenient to keep it open.

But more importantly, the current behaviour is not compatible with how all these AI Chat providers work now - you keep longer running sessions to research something or to work on something. The current implementation works for "one shot and forget" questions but not for AI work that could potentially take lots of back and forth and could span hours.

The AI Chat sidebar should be more like a tab where it keeps state and stays "alive". Right now it is easier to interact with Claude, ChatGPT, etc. simply by opening those up in a tab and pinning that tab.

[Jon]

(Note: similar ideas have been merged into this thread)

[cr0ssmind]

Please implement this feature. It's not so handy hiding and re-opening the last AI chat thread every time.

[MarcOsning]

Currently, when using the built-in AI Chatbot sidebar in Firefox (e.g. with Claude), closing and reopening the sidebar starts a brand new chat session. The previous conversation is lost from view, even though the chat is technically saved on the provider's servers.

Requested behavior:
The sidebar should remember the last active chat and restore it when reopened — rather than always starting a new conversation. A new chat should only be initiated when the user explicitly requests it (e.g. via the "New Chat" button), or when Firefox is restarted / a new window is opened.

Why this matters:
Many users keep the sidebar closed most of the time to save screen space, and only open it briefly when needed. Each time they do, they lose the context of their ongoing conversation. This makes it difficult to have continuous, multi-turn interactions with the chatbot while browsing.

Expected behavior:
- Closing and reopening the sidebar → restores the last active chat
- New Firefox window or browser restart → starts a new chat (acceptable)
- Clicking a "New Chat" button → starts a new chat (expected)

This would significantly improve the usability of the AI sidebar for everyday browsing workflows. Thank you for considering this!

[Jon]

(Note: similar ideas have been merged into this thread)