Keyword syntax.

A keyword is a word you choose, saved with an address. In Chrome's address bar you type >, press Space (or Tab), then the keyword, and press Enter. Everything on this page is about what you can put in that address, and what happens when you type.

Prefer a walk-through? The how-to guides cover the common cases step by step: address bar shortcuts, searching a website and opening several tabs at once. This page is the full reference.

The basics

• Keyword alone opens its page. A search keyword typed on its own opens the site's home page (> yt opens youtube.com).
• Keyword and words searches: the words go where the address has %s.
• Anything that is not a keyword goes to your usual web search, so typing after > is never a dead end.
• Keywords are not case-sensitive, and doubled spaces are ignored.
• Alt+Enter opens the result in a new tab (Chrome's own new-tab key in the address bar).

Add a keyword by clicking Wyrd's icon on the page you want (the address is filled in and a few keywords are suggested), or with + Add keyword on the Keywords page, which > /home opens. A first install comes with a few starter keywords, such as g for a Google search: try > g cats.

Pages

The simplest keyword is a word and an address. Wyrd checks the address before it is saved:

• An address without https:// gets it. Addresses that are almost always local get http:// instead: localhost, IP addresses such as 192.168.1.1/admin, and a name without dots but with a port, such as myserver:8080.
• javascript:, data:, vbscript:, blob:, view-source: and filesystem: addresses are refused.
• Other kinds of link are fine for keywords you add yourself: tel: and sms: links, chrome:// pages, file:// addresses and app links.

Searches with %s

Put %s in the address where your words should go, and the keyword becomes a search. What you type after the keyword replaces %s.

A keyword without %s has nowhere to put extra words, so it does not count as a match when you add some: > cal friday with a plain calendar keyword runs an ordinary web search for "cal friday" rather than gluing "friday" onto the address.

Numbered blanks: %1, %2 …

When the words belong in different places, number them. %1 takes the first word, %2 the second, and so on up to %9; the highest number takes the rest of what you typed. A missing word leaves its place empty.

URL encoding is never mistaken for a blank: %20, %2F and every other % followed by two hexadecimal digits stay as they are.

Aliases

To reach the same place by several names, make one keyword the real one and point the others at it with @ and its name as the address:

> lib whatever behaves exactly like > library whatever. Change the address of library once and every alias follows; rename it and its aliases are updated with it. An alias of an alias works too. A loop, or an alias whose keyword is gone, is marked "broken alias" on the Keywords page and falls back to a web search.

Several pages at once

Separate addresses with a pipe that has a space on each side, | , and one keyword opens them all:

The first page opens in the current tab and the rest in background tabs. Each part can have its own %s; parts without one open unchanged. Only a pipe with spaces around it separates pages, so a | inside an address is safe. An alias can point at such a keyword, but its parts cannot be aliases.

Sub-keywords

A keyword can have keywords under it. Each one is an ordinary keyword you add, with a slash in its name:

> dentist call and > dentist/call both open dentist/call (Chrome asks which app places the call), and > dentist alone opens the portal. A sub-keyword with %s takes the words after it: with a jira/bug search, > jira bug 123 fills it. Typing > dentist with a space lists the sub-keywords first, and the Keywords page shows them set in under their parent.

Phrases and slashes

A keyword may contain spaces (meta stock) and slashes (work/roadmap). An exact phrase always comes first: with a keyword called dentist call, > dentist call opens it rather than the sub-keyword.

Without the >. If you use Wyrd as your search engine and type without the prefix, Chrome treats anything with a slash, such as work/roadmap, as a web address and never hands it to Wyrd. Type it with a space instead, or keep the >. See search without the prefix.

Categories

A keyword can carry one category, nested with / up to four levels deep: Work, Health/Dentist, Templates/Legal. Categories group keywords on the Keywords page and help the suggestions find them; they never change what a keyword opens. The categories of your own keywords are kept on this computer. Wyrd proposes one for a new keyword from the address (a GitHub page is Code, a Google Doc is Docs) or from your keywords on the same site.

How Wyrd finds a keyword

People forget their keywords, so the suggestions under the address bar look further than the first letters. After > and a few letters they list, best first:

1. keywords that start with what you typed (g finds gh);
2. keywords that contain it (lib finds citylibrary);
3. keywords whose description, category, page title or site has words starting with each word you typed (dent finds smile, filed under Health/Dentist);
4. keywords one letter off, or two for longer words (payrlol finds payroll, marked "did you mean?").

Within each group, the keywords you use most come first; > and a space with nothing else shows your five most used. All of it is matched on your computer, from what Wyrd already stores; nothing is fetched or sent.

When nothing matches

The first suggestion says so ("No keyword dentist"), the closest keywords follow, and the last line offers Create the keyword dentist, which opens the Keywords page with it filled in. Enter still searches the web with your fallback search, Google unless you choose another in Settings (any web address with %s, such as DuckDuckGo).

Which keyword wins

When the same keyword exists in several places, the first place that has it decides:

1. your own keywords;
2. your shared lists, from top to bottom in the order you set;
3. Wyrd's starter keywords that you never changed.

A list's keyword hidden by one of yours stays reachable through the list's short name: > team/wiki. Details in shared lists.

History of a keyword

Add /history to a keyword to see every address it pointed at before: > dance/history. > team/dance/history shows the dance of the list you named team, > team/history everything that changed in that list, and > /history every change of every keyword.

How many keywords fit

Your own keywords travel through Chrome sync, where Chrome gives them one item of about 8 KB. That is roughly 170 keywords with short addresses, or about 75 long deep links. Keyword tools shows how full it is, and a save that would not fit is refused without losing anything. Usage counts, page titles, categories and history are kept on the computer and do not count. More in permissions and data.