Portable custom search engines
Custom search engines (or site search) are a useful tool for improving your workflow in the browser. By configuring shortcuts and URLs, you’re able to search sites or complete paths quickly and efficiently. Plus, it’s totally customizable.
I have a few setup to query common documentation sites or complete common URLs. They save me time, clicks, and/or cognitive load and are an important part of my workflow.
Even though Chrome browsers and Firefox all support custom search engines, there isn’t a good way to port your settings from one browser to the next. They’re hidden away in a special settings location which doesn’t get exported alongside history and bookmarks when you move.
As a front-end developer, I spend a lot of time hoping between browsers. And the inability to use my custom search engines everywhere has been a point of frustration. To solve this, I created a web-based solution that gives me the features I want from custom search engines without getting locked in to any particular browser.
Jean is a portable custom search engine that you control. Search engines are added to a simple file using a CSV-like syntax for labels, shortcuts, and URLs. Then load the page in your browser and get searching!
Jean was designed to work with GitHub Pages, but for a little more privacy you can load it directly from your computer – no HTTP server required! Just copy the whole path into your browser and bookmark it.
You can checkout a live version of Jean here.
For a little extra power, you can use Jean’s query API to forward shortcuts through Jean. Just add a single custom search engine to your browser:
- Label: “Jean”
- Shortcut: “j” (or whatever you want)
- URL: ”
Now you can search using any of your custom search engines by using Jean as a proxy:
j wk Search engines
After porting all of my custom search engines over to Jean, I was able to switch my Chrome work setup to Edge in about two minutes. Blazin’!
To create your own portable custom search engine, fork the Jean repository and add your favorites to engines.js. And that’s it; you’re read to start searching.
Let me know what you think, and file an issue if you find a bug.
Happy searching!