Abstract: In one aspect, a method includes electing one of a plurality of browser tabs at a client device as a master browser tab based on a timer value associated with each of the plurality of browser tabs, each of the plurality of browser tabs running web pages or web applications maintained by a common service being served by one or more servers, issuing a request from the master browser tab to the one or more servers, receiving a response to the request including a time value indicating the next time a request should be sent to the one or more servers at the master browser tab, updating, by the master browser tab, a local storage accessible by the plurality of browser tabs with the time value and resetting the timer value at each of the plurality of browser tabs according to the time value in response to receiving the response.