chrome.omnibox

Description: The omnibox API allows you to register a keyword with Google Chrome's address bar, which is also known as the omnibox.
Availability: Stable since Chrome 9.
Manifest: "omnibox": {...}

A screenshot showing suggestions related to the keyword 'Chromium Search'

When the user enters your extension's keyword, the user starts interacting solely with your extension. Each keystroke is sent to your extension, and you can provide suggestions in response.

The suggestions can be richly formatted in a variety of ways. When the user accepts a suggestion, your extension is notified and can take action.

Manifest

You must include an omnibox keyword field in the manifest to use the omnibox API. You should also specify a 16x16-pixel icon, which will be displayed in the address bar when suggesting that users enter keyword mode.

For example: 

      {
        "name": "Aaron's omnibox extension",
        "version": "1.0",
        "omnibox": { "keyword" : "aaron" },
        "icons": {
          "16": "16-full-color.png"
        },
        "background": {
          "persistent": false,
          "scripts": ["background.js"]
        }
      }

Note: Chrome automatically creates a grayscale version of your 16x16-pixel icon. You should provide a full-color version so that it can also be used in other situations that require color. For example, the context menus API also uses a 16x16-pixel icon, but it is displayed in color.

Examples

You can find samples of this API on the sample page.

Summary

Types
SuggestResult
Methods
setDefaultSuggestion − chrome.omnibox.setDefaultSuggestion(object suggestion)
Events
onInputStarted
onInputChanged
onInputEntered
onInputCancelled

Types

SuggestResult

A suggest result.
properties
string content The text that is put into the URL bar, and that is sent to the extension when the user chooses this entry.
string description The text that is displayed in the URL dropdown. Can contain XML-style markup for styling. The supported tags are 'url' (for a literal URL), 'match' (for highlighting text that matched what the user's query), and 'dim' (for dim helper text). The styles can be nested, eg. dimmed match.

Methods

setDefaultSuggestion

chrome.omnibox.setDefaultSuggestion(object suggestion)

Sets the description and styling for the default suggestion. The default suggestion is the text that is displayed in the first suggestion row underneath the URL bar.

Parameters
object suggestion A partial SuggestResult object, without the 'content' parameter.
string description The text that is displayed in the URL dropdown. Can contain XML-style markup for styling. The supported tags are 'url' (for a literal URL), 'match' (for highlighting text that matched what the user's query), and 'dim' (for dim helper text). The styles can be nested, eg. dimmed match.

Events

onInputStarted

User has started a keyword input session by typing the extension's keyword. This is guaranteed to be sent exactly once per input session, and before any onInputChanged events.

addListener

chrome.omnibox.onInputStarted.addListener(function callback)
Parameters
function callback

The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:

function() {...};

onInputChanged

User has changed what is typed into the omnibox.

addListener

chrome.omnibox.onInputChanged.addListener(function callback)
Parameters
function callback

The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:

function(string text, function suggest) {...};
string text
function suggest A callback passed to the onInputChanged event used for sending suggestions back to the browser.

onInputEntered

User has accepted what is typed into the omnibox.

addListener

chrome.omnibox.onInputEntered.addListener(function callback)
Parameters
function callback

The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:

function(string text, enum of "currentTab", "newForegroundTab", or "newBackgroundTab" disposition) {...};
string text
enum of "currentTab", "newForegroundTab", or "newBackgroundTab" disposition The window disposition for the omnibox query. This is the recommended context to display results. For example, if the omnibox command is to navigate to a certain URL, a disposition of 'newForegroundTab' means the navigation should take place in a new selected tab.

onInputCancelled

User has ended the keyword input session without accepting the input.

addListener

chrome.omnibox.onInputCancelled.addListener(function callback)
Parameters
function callback

The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:

function() {...};