The Chrome side panel — Mama in your browser.

The side panel is where most Mama usage happens once the extension is installed. It opens beside any tab, detects page context, and surfaces the right Mama affordances for that page. On LinkedIn, the magic is automatic — the panel knows whether you're on a profile, a search result, or a company page.

Time: 5 min·Updated: 2026-05-25·Audience: extension users·Shortcut: ⌘⇧M / Ctrl⇧M

TL;DR

Side panel = 360px-wide panel that slides from the right edge. Open with the toolbar icon or ⌘⇧M. Auto-detects page context — different content on LinkedIn profile vs LinkedIn search vs LinkedIn company vs anywhere else. Persists across tab switches — opening the panel once keeps it open until you close it.

01What the side panel is

A persistent 360px-wide panel that lives on the right edge of your browser. Native Chrome side-panel API (not an overlay) — it pushes the page content left rather than covering it, and stays visible while you scroll the page.

Designed for active research: keep the panel open while you browse, jump from one prospect to the next, watch the panel update with each tab change.

02How to open the panel

Toolbar icon: click the Mama logo in your Chrome toolbar (pin it if you haven't yet — see install guide)
Keyboard shortcut: ⌘⇧M on Mac, Ctrl⇧M on Windows/Linux
Right-click context menu: right-click any LinkedIn profile link → "Open in Signal Mama"

The shortcut is remappable from chrome://extensions/shortcuts if it conflicts with your existing setup.

03Page contexts the panel detects

You're on…	Panel shows
LinkedIn profile	Person details, ICP highlight, opener generator, "Brief this company" button
LinkedIn search results	Bulk-save toolbar — checkbox each row, save N at once
LinkedIn company page	Company brief CTA, quick stats, decision-maker count, signal preview
Any company website (root domain)	"Brief this company" button + cached brief if you've already run one
Anywhere else	Default Mama dashboard — recent briefs, quick search, top recommended 5

04Side panel layout

Top to bottom on every panel view:

Header bar — workspace name, settings gear, close button (~40px)
Context strip — auto-detected page context indicator (~30px)
Primary content — varies by context, scrollable
Recently-briefed strip — last 5 companies you briefed (always visible at bottom)
Footer — link to web app, sync status indicator (~32px)

05Persistence behavior

The panel persists across tab switches and across page navigations within the same tab. It does not persist across browser restarts (Chrome closes side panels on restart) — but Mama remembers your last context and restores it on next open.

If you close the panel manually, Chrome remembers that preference per-tab. To reopen, click the icon or hit the shortcut.

06Settings (gear icon)

Click the gear in the header bar for:

Workspace — switch between Mama workspaces (if you belong to more than one)
Notifications — enable browser notifications for high-priority signals
Display — light / dark / auto theme
Privacy — pause Mama on specific domains, clear local cache
Sign out

07Common mistakes

Confusing the panel with a popup

The toolbar icon opens the side panel, not a popup. The right-click "Inspect" menu on the icon shows "Open side panel" — that's the canonical entry point. There's no popup mode by design.

Closing the panel constantly

The panel is meant to stay open. Closing-and-reopening kills the workflow benefit. Pin it open during research sessions.

Expecting Mama on linkedin.com/feed

The feed has no anchor — Mama can't tell who/what you're researching. Magic happens on profile, search, and company pages.

Was this page helpful?

Yes No Report unclear