I was asked by email about ways to create and customize N-panel setups, so I’m sharing the tips here as well.
If you want to open a frequently used N-panel tab from a Pie Menu or another command, you can use the following script:
SIDEBAR_TAB="My Category";s=C.space_data;s.show_region_ui or setattr(s,"show_region_ui",True);r=next((x for x in C.area.regions if x.type=='UI'),None);r and bpy.types.UILayout.enum_item_name(r,"active_panel_category",SIDEBAR_TAB) and setattr(r,"active_panel_category",SIDEBAR_TAB)
Panel Groups also support Poll conditions. By creating a custom Enum property with Property and using it in Poll, you can create something similar to grouped panels.
I’ve also made an add-on that makes working with N-panel tabs much more convenient, so please give it a try!