{"id":1709,"date":"2006-09-27T23:37:45","date_gmt":"2006-09-27T18:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2006\/09\/how-i-created-my-first-firefox-search-plugin-in-20-minutes\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T19:59:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T14:29:02","slug":"how-i-created-my-first-firefox-search-plugin-in-20-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2006\/09\/how-i-created-my-first-firefox-search-plugin-in-20-minutes\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Add a Custom Search Engine to Firefox (and Create Your Own)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Want to <strong>add a custom search engine to Firefox<\/strong> so you can search your favourite site straight from the address bar? In 2006 I created QuickOnlineTips&#8217; first Firefox search plugin in about 20 minutes, using the old Mycroft project&#8217;s .src format, a 16&#215;16 icon and a trip to the Searchplugins folder. Firefox has changed completely since then. Today you can do it in a few clicks, and site owners can offer one with a small OpenSearch file. Here is how both work in 2026.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-63514\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/firefox-custom-search-engine.webp\" alt=\"Add a custom search engine to Firefox\" width=\"1200\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/firefox-custom-search-engine.webp 1200w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/firefox-custom-search-engine-300x158.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/firefox-custom-search-engine-1024x538.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/firefox-custom-search-engine-150x79.webp 150w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/firefox-custom-search-engine-768x403.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Quick answer:<\/strong> In Firefox, open Settings, then Search, scroll to Search Shortcuts and click <strong>Add<\/strong>. Enter a name, the search URL with <code>%s<\/code> where the search words go, and an optional keyword such as &#8220;qot&#8221;. Then type the keyword and your search terms in the address bar. Site owners can make their site&#8217;s search addable by publishing an OpenSearch description file.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6ae47f5ed3db4\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"ez-toc-cssicon\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6ae47f5ed3db4\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2006\/09\/how-i-created-my-first-firefox-search-plugin-in-20-minutes\/#Method_1_Add_a_search_engine_in_Firefox_settings\" >Method 1: Add a search engine in Firefox settings<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2006\/09\/how-i-created-my-first-firefox-search-plugin-in-20-minutes\/#Method_2_Add_a_search_from_the_site_itself\" >Method 2: Add a search from the site itself<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2006\/09\/how-i-created-my-first-firefox-search-plugin-in-20-minutes\/#Method_3_Create_a_keyword_bookmark\" >Method 3: Create a keyword bookmark<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2006\/09\/how-i-created-my-first-firefox-search-plugin-in-20-minutes\/#For_site_owners_create_an_OpenSearch_plugin\" >For site owners: create an OpenSearch plugin<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2006\/09\/how-i-created-my-first-firefox-search-plugin-in-20-minutes\/#Chrome_and_Edge\" >Chrome and Edge<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2006\/09\/how-i-created-my-first-firefox-search-plugin-in-20-minutes\/#What_happened_to_Mycroft_and_src_plugins\" >What happened to Mycroft and .src plugins?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2006\/09\/how-i-created-my-first-firefox-search-plugin-in-20-minutes\/#Handy_search_shortcuts_to_set_up\" >Handy search shortcuts to set up<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2006\/09\/how-i-created-my-first-firefox-search-plugin-in-20-minutes\/#FAQ\" >FAQ<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2006\/09\/how-i-created-my-first-firefox-search-plugin-in-20-minutes\/#How_do_I_change_the_default_search_engine_in_Firefox\" >How do I change the default search engine in Firefox?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2006\/09\/how-i-created-my-first-firefox-search-plugin-in-20-minutes\/#Why_cant_I_add_a_search_engine_in_Firefox\" >Why can&#8217;t I add a search engine in Firefox?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2006\/09\/how-i-created-my-first-firefox-search-plugin-in-20-minutes\/#Can_I_remove_a_search_engine\" >Can I remove a search engine?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Method_1_Add_a_search_engine_in_Firefox_settings\"><\/span>Method 1: Add a search engine in Firefox settings<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Search the site once and copy the results URL, for example <code>https:\/\/www.example.com\/?s=test<\/code>.<\/li>\n<li>Replace your search word with <code>%s<\/code>, giving <code>https:\/\/www.example.com\/?s=%s<\/code>.<\/li>\n<li>Open <strong>Settings &gt; Search<\/strong> in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mozilla.org\/firefox\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Firefox<\/a> and scroll to <strong>Search Shortcuts<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Click <strong>Add<\/strong>, enter a name, the URL and a short keyword, and save.<\/li>\n<li>Type the keyword, a space and your search terms in the address bar, and press Enter.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If your Firefox version does not show the Add button, use one of the methods below.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Method_2_Add_a_search_from_the_site_itself\"><\/span>Method 2: Add a search from the site itself<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Many websites publish an OpenSearch file. When you visit them, Firefox can add their search: right-click in the address bar or open the search menu and choose <strong>Add &#8220;Site name&#8221;<\/strong>. It then appears under Search Shortcuts.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Method_3_Create_a_keyword_bookmark\"><\/span>Method 3: Create a keyword bookmark<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Right-click any site&#8217;s search box and choose <strong>Add a Keyword for this Search<\/strong>. Give it a keyword, and Firefox creates a bookmark that searches the site when you type the keyword plus your terms. This trick has worked for years and needs no extensions.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"For_site_owners_create_an_OpenSearch_plugin\"><\/span>For site owners: create an OpenSearch plugin<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The old Mycroft .src format was replaced by <a href=\"https:\/\/developer.mozilla.org\/en-US\/docs\/Web\/XML\/Guides\/OpenSearch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">OpenSearch<\/a>, a small XML file supported by Firefox, Chrome and Edge. Create a file called opensearch.xml:<\/p>\n<pre><code>&lt;?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?&gt;\r\n&lt;OpenSearchDescription xmlns=\"http:\/\/a9.com\/-\/spec\/opensearch\/1.1\/\"&gt;\r\n  &lt;ShortName&gt;QuickOnlineTips&lt;\/ShortName&gt;\r\n  &lt;Description&gt;Search QuickOnlineTips&lt;\/Description&gt;\r\n  &lt;InputEncoding&gt;UTF-8&lt;\/InputEncoding&gt;\r\n  &lt;Image width=\"16\" height=\"16\" type=\"image\/x-icon\"&gt;https:\/\/www.example.com\/favicon.ico&lt;\/Image&gt;\r\n  &lt;Url type=\"text\/html\" template=\"https:\/\/www.example.com\/?s={searchTerms}\"\/&gt;\r\n&lt;\/OpenSearchDescription&gt;<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>Upload it to your site and link it in the page head:<\/p>\n<pre><code>&lt;link rel=\"search\" type=\"application\/opensearchdescription+xml\" title=\"QuickOnlineTips\" href=\"\/opensearch.xml\"&gt;<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>Visitors can now add your site&#8217;s search from the browser menu. A clear favicon makes it look professional; see how to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2012\/07\/create-favicon-online-free\/\">create a favicon online free<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Chrome_and_Edge\"><\/span>Chrome and Edge<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Chrome and Edge also pick up OpenSearch files automatically. You can add sites manually under Settings, then Search engine, then Manage search engines and site search, using <code>%s<\/code> in the URL just like Firefox.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_happened_to_Mycroft_and_src_plugins\"><\/span>What happened to Mycroft and .src plugins?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The Mycroft Project once hosted thousands of browser search plugins, including ours in its News\/Technology section. Firefox dropped the old Sherlock-style .src format long ago, and installing plugins by copying files into the program&#8217;s Searchplugins folder no longer works. OpenSearch and the settings shown above replaced them. More Firefox tips are in our list of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2005\/12\/50-best-firefox-extensions-for-power-surfing\/\">best Firefox extensions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Handy_search_shortcuts_to_set_up\"><\/span>Handy search shortcuts to set up<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Once you know the trick, a few keywords save time every day: &#8220;w&#8221; for Wikipedia, &#8220;yt&#8221; for YouTube, &#8220;a&#8221; for Amazon, &#8220;m&#8221; for Google Maps, and a keyword for your own website so you can find old posts instantly. Because each shortcut is just a URL with %s, you can also add internal tools such as your WordPress dashboard search or a company wiki.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FAQ\"><\/span>FAQ<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_do_I_change_the_default_search_engine_in_Firefox\"><\/span>How do I change the default search engine in Firefox?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Open Settings, then Search, and choose a Default Search Engine from the list.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_cant_I_add_a_search_engine_in_Firefox\"><\/span>Why can&#8217;t I add a search engine in Firefox?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The site may not offer OpenSearch. Use the keyword bookmark method instead, which works on almost any search box.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Can_I_remove_a_search_engine\"><\/span>Can I remove a search engine?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Yes. In Settings, then Search, select it under Search Shortcuts and click Remove.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Want to add a custom search engine to Firefox so you can search your favourite site straight from the address&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":63514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-1709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-google","tag-tutorials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63515,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1709\/revisions\/63515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}