Built a Safari extension that adds Arc/Zen-style essentials with multi-space favicon grid and iCloud sync
For anyone who liked the essentials feature in Arc or Zen and ended up back in Safari: I built it as a Safari Web Extension.
Toolbar popup with a grid of favicons grouped into spaces. iCloud syncs across your Macs. Drag to reorder, drag between spaces. Click a tile and it focuses the matching open tab if one exists, otherwise opens a new one. Set a custom icon if a site's favicon is bad. Configurable keyboard shortcuts for open and space-switching.
Doesn't manage Safari's pinned tabs, doesn't read your history. No telemetry, no analytics, no servers. Favicon fetches go from your browser directly to the sites.
$4.99 one-time, porchase (macOS 14+, Safari 17+). Apple's refund policy applies if it doesn't work for you.
I'm the dev, happy to talk about the implementation if anyone's interested or answer questions.