ChatGPT in Opera’s Right Sidebar / Side Panel

[trafficpucker]

trafficpucker last edited by

Hello,

I am using Opera on macOS and I would like to know whether it is possible to use the official ChatGPT website (chatgpt.com) inside a persistent side panel on the right side of the browser.

My goal is specifically to have something similar to Chrome's Side Panel:

• ChatGPT remains open while I browse other tabs.
• It uses my existing ChatGPT web session.
• The panel is displayed on the right side.
• Ideally, I would like to replace or customize the current Opera AI panel with ChatGPT.
• I do not want to use an API-based third-party chatbot; I want the actual chatgpt.com web interface.

I have already tested Chromium extensions using chrome.sidePanel, as well as extensions that embed ChatGPT in an iframe, but they do not work correctly in Opera.

Could you clarify:

1. Does Opera currently support chrome.sidePanel extensions?
2. Is there an Opera-specific API for creating a right-side web panel?
3. Can users replace or customize the Opera AI right panel?
4. Is there any supported way for an extension to load chatgpt.com in that panel?
5. If this is not currently possible, is this capability planned?

Thank you.

[burnout426]

burnout426 Volunteer last edited by

Opera has been recently working on implementing the sidepanel API. The changelog for 135.0.5973.55 says that it's enabled now, but I don't know the state of how well it works. I also don't know if it allows for a right-side panel to appear or if it's just something with a panel in Opera's sidebar, which can only be on the left. I don't think you have to enable any flags at the URL opera://flags or use any command-line switches to enable it. It should just be enabled.

So, if you want to test, make sure you have that build of Opera or newer. You can also try in Opera Developer (see the Developer section at https://www.opera.com/download) to see if it works any better there.

I'm also not sure if the support currently works on all platforms. I assume it does though.

Also note that https://help.opera.com/en/extensions/apis/ probably needs to be updated.

[stephen4]

stephen4 last edited by

I use ChatGPT in a similar way for quick help while researching and working across different tabs, so a persistent panel would be genuinely useful.