Fast Travel

Fast Travel App

Supercharge your search bar. Turn your search bar into a command line for the web. Define short triggers and jump straight to the sites and searches you use most — available as a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox, and as a native Android app.

This is the v2 successor to fast-travel. The original self-hosted static page (v1) remains fully functional and available.

What you can do

Instead of bookmarks, history, and half-remembered URLs, type a short command and go straight there:

Type…	…and go to
`g kittens`	a Google search for “kittens”
`ddg privacy`	the same search on DuckDuckGo
`r/technology`	the r/technology subreddit
`$AAPL`	an Apple stock quote
`yt lofi beats`	a YouTube search
`gh fast-travel`	a GitHub search
`w black holes`	a Wikipedia article search
`apps balatro`	the app on the right store for your device
`maps coffee`	nearby coffee on Google Maps
`hn`	Hacker News

Every command is yours to configure — change the triggers, point them anywhere, or add your own.

Features

Command-based navigation — short triggers route to any site or search you set up.
Inline suggestions — autocomplete as you type, per command, from the search engines you choose.
Bring your own config — keep your commands in a JSON file you host yourself and sync the same setup across every device and browser, or use the built-in defaults and edit them in-app.
Device-aware routing — one command can resolve to the right destination per device (e.g. apps opens Steam on desktop, the Play Store on Android).
Groups & themes — organize and personalize your command set, with light/dark modes and multiple styles.
Browser extension — a fast, focused new tab page plus address-bar integration.
Android app — a home-screen widget and the ability to launch installed apps straight from search.
Private by design — no servers, no accounts, no ads, no tracking. Your settings stay on your device.

Install

Platform	Link
Firefox
Android
Chrome / Chromium	GitHub Releases — see below

Chrome install (GitHub Releases)

Fast Travel isn’t on the Chrome Web Store: its single-purpose policy doesn’t allow one extension to offer both a new tab page and search-engine integration, and splitting or stripping the extension would defeat the point. Install it from the latest release instead:

Download chrome-extension.zip and extract it to a folder you’ll keep around (Chrome loads the extension from that folder).
Open chrome://extensions, enable Developer mode (top right).
Click Load unpacked and select the extracted folder.

Heads up: unpacked extensions don’t auto-update. Fast Travel shows a notice on the new tab page when a newer release is available — download the new zip, extract it over the same folder, and hit the reload icon on chrome://extensions.

Direct download (GitHub Releases)

Every release also ships installable artifacts on the Releases page:

Android — download app-release.apk and install it (you’ll need to allow installs from your browser/file manager in Android settings). This is a signed, ready-to-run build.
Firefox — firefox-extension.zip is unsigned; release Firefox only installs signed add-ons, so use the Firefox Add-ons listing. (Developer/Nightly builds can load it as a temporary add-on.)

v1 vs v2

	v1 (`fast-travel`)	v2 (`fast-travel-app`)
Architecture	Self-hosted static page	Browser extension + Android app
Installation	Fork → deploy → set as search engine URL	Install from Chrome/Firefox store or Google Play
Hosting required	Yes (GitHub Pages or own server)	No
Platform support	Any browser with custom search engine support	Chrome, Firefox, Android only
Config	Edit `config.json` in your fork	Remote URL sync or local in-app editing
Search suggestions	Google only; browser/OS dependent	All platforms; site-specific suggestions per command

Choose v1 if you prefer no browser extension, need any-browser support, or want a fully self-hosted solution.
Choose v2 if you want a native Android app, one-click install, or cross-device config sync via URL.

Quick Start

Install the extension or Android app
Open Settings → Configuration → set a remote config URL (or use the built-in default)
Type a command in your browser’s address bar or the Android search widget

Demo

Type a command, get redirected — straight from the new-tab search bar, with live suggestions as you go. A few examples: g mechanical keyboards (Google), r/mechanicalkeyboards (a subreddit), yt lofi hip hop radio (YouTube), w machine learning (Wikipedia), $TSLA (a stock quote).

Browser demo — typing commands and landing on the right page

On Android

The same commands run from the Android search bar — and open the matching native app when it’s installed (YouTube, Wikipedia, Maps), falling back to the browser otherwise.

Android demo — commands opening native apps and the browser

Development

Prerequisites

Node.js 22+
JDK 17+
Android SDK (API 36)

Extension

cd extension
npm install
npm run build          # Chrome
npm run build:firefox  # Firefox
npm test               # Unit tests
npm run test:e2e       # End-to-end tests (requires Chrome)

Android

cd android
./gradlew assembleDebug   # Debug APK
./gradlew test            # Unit tests
./gradlew connectedAndroidTest   # Instrumented tests (requires device/emulator)

Config validation

node tools/validate-config.mjs

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

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