I know you asked for chrome, but firefox is really the best here. With https://github.com/mbnuqw/sidebery (version 5) it’s extremely nice.

Here are my custom styles which I think make it look a lot better

#root.root {--tabs-activated-shadow: 0px 1px 4px -1px rgba(0,0,0,.5), inset 0 0 0 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.133);}
#root.root {--tabs-activated-bg: #d3ebffff;}
#root.root {--tabs-inner-gap: 6px;}
#root.root {--tabs-indent: 8px;}
#root.root {--tabs-font: .9rem sans-serif;}
#root.root {--tabs-height: 25px;}
#root.root {--popup-bg: rgb(244, 245, 246);}
#root.root {--general-margin: 0px;}
#root.root {--frame-bg: #9a9996ff;}

#root.root {--status-active: #146fd9;}

#root.root {--tabs-border-radius: 4px 0 0 4px;}


/* OLD CSS VARS

*/

.Tab .body{
  border-style: solid;
  border-width: 0px 0px 1px;
  border-color: rgba(154, 153, 150,0.55);
	background-color: #FCFCFC;
}

.Tab[data-discarded="true"] > .body > .fav,
.Tab[data-discarded="true"] > .body > .t-box, 
.Tab[data-discarded="true"] > .body > .ctx {
  opacity: 1.00;
	--frame-fg: red;
}

.TabsPanel .bottom-space {
	height: 0;
}

.TabsPanel .bottom-bar {
	display: none;
}

.Tab .progress-spinner {
	right: 1px;
	bottom: 1px;
}

.Tab[data-loading="true"] .fav-icon {
  mask: radial-gradient(circle at calc(100% - 8px) calc(100% - 8px),rgba(0,0,0,.141),rgba(0,0,0,.141) 8px,#000 8px,#000);
}

Tab Groups (which is a native feature, not an extension, but not sure if available on Mac)?

Or just multiple windows + Session Buddy to stowe away/restore your tabs/windows.

Could something like Tree Style Tab for Chrome work? I use end extension similar to that for Firefox on Desktop, it has changed the way I use tabs. No matter how many tabs I have, I can read the names, tabs are nested so I can follow the context of how I got to a tab, and tabs I want to keep but I’m not actively using can be collapsed to reduce clutter. On Firefox, there’s some CSS suggested by the extension that can make the top bar of tabs disappear as well, might be worth seeing if that’s possible in Chrome.

Unrelated but why not use safari? The tab grouping is so good, and not buggy/useless like the built in groups in chrome or the extensions for chrome and ff