I work with linux kernel. Most of my time goes in to read the code. This results in a lots of open tabs and no efficient way to handle them. We don’t need to see the open tabs all the time. We only need the list when we want to switch between tabs. I have come up with a solution which works for me. I have added following lines in settings.json:

  "workbench.editor.showTabs": false,
  // If you use extension vscodevim
  "vim.normalModeKeyBindingsNonRecursive": [
    {
      "before": [";"],
      "commands": ["workbench.action.showAllEditorsByMostRecentlyUsed",]
    },
    ]

If you don’t use the extension vscodevim, also add following lines in keybindings.json:

{
  "key": "alt+q",
  "command": "workbench.action.showAllEditorsByMostRecentlyUsed"
}

The above keybinding opens the command palette with the list of tabs in most recently used menu. We can navigate the list with arrow keys and select the tabs by pressing <enter>. We can also search the list. There is always ctrl+tab to move between previously used tab.

BONUS: To have similar feature in Chrome or Brave browser you can use the extension Quickey.