How KeyJump works

Everything the launcher can do — keys, folders, searches, personalization, sync — in one place. Skim the sections; each one stands alone.

The basics

KeyJump replaces your new tab with a keyboard launcher. You give every site a key; pressing it opens the site. Related sites live in folders (which have keys too), and any site with a search box can become a search shortcut that takes a term.

Everything works locally, without an account — your shortcuts live in your browser. Signing in adds safe sync across devices, nothing more.

The extension is available for Chrome and Firefox — and the demo runs in any browser, no install needed.

Tip — the in-app tour walks through all of this live: it's the “Take the tour” button in the navbar, or in the ? help dialog.

Keys & jumping

With the search box empty, keys act instantly: press g and the shortcut (or folder) on g opens. Hold Alt to open a shortcut in a new tab instead. Keys are case-sensitive — m and M are two different slots, so a folder fits 62 entries (a–z, A–Z, 0–9).

Choosing where focus goes

Settings → Behavior → New-tab focus decides what a fresh tab feels like: Browser bar keeps the address bar focused like a normal new tab (press Esc to hand the keys to KeyJump), Window makes keys jump immediately, Search bar makes typing search immediately.

Folders

A folder is a group of shortcuts with its own key. Press the folder's key to step inside, then the next key: g m is Gmail if your Google folder is on g. Esc or Backspace walks back out. Folders nest as deep as you like.

On the start page, folders appear as a chip row; their contents show as groups underneath (or mixed into one list — Settings → Layout → Nested items). Drag tiles to reorder, drag a tile onto a folder chip to file it inside — or pick the folder right in any item's edit dialog (new items can be filed anywhere at creation too).

A folder can carry an icon: pick one from the built-in library (drawn to match the app) in its edit dialog, or paste any image URL.

Keeping big folders compact

Items shown per folder (Settings → Layout) caps how many shortcuts each group shows — the rest folds into a “+N more” row that opens the folder. Any folder can override this for itself: open its edit dialog (the ⋮ on its chip or group header) → “Items shown on the parent view”. KeyJump learns which shortcuts you actually use (locally on this device, never uploaded) and keeps those visible when folding — your own ordering is never rearranged.

Import bookmarks

Bring your existing bookmarks into KeyJump in one step. Open Import bookmarks — from the card on a fresh new tab, or any time from Settings → Data. A picker lists your top-level bookmark folders; choose which to bring in. Each becomes a KeyJump folder, links become shortcuts, and keys are assigned automatically from the titles. Rename or re-key anything afterward from a folder's edit dialog. Nothing is uploaded.

In the extension — one click

KeyJump reads your bookmarks directly. The first time you import, the browser asks you to allow bookmark access (it's an optional permission — the install itself requests nothing). Approve it and the folder picker opens straight away; no file to export. You can revoke that access anytime from the browser's extension settings.

On the web app — from an exported file

At keyjump.app there's no access to the browser's bookmarks, so export them to an HTML file first and drop it into the importer.

Chrome, Edge & other Chromium browsers

  1. Open the Bookmark Manager: Ctrl+Shift+O (++B on macOS), or ⋮ menu → Bookmarks and lists → Bookmark Manager.
  2. Click the ⋮ menu at the top-right of the manager → Export bookmarks.
  3. Save the HTML file, then choose it in KeyJump's Import bookmarks.

Firefox

  1. Open the Library: Ctrl+Shift+O (++O on macOS), or ☰ menu → Bookmarks → Manage bookmarks.
  2. In the toolbar, click Import and BackupExport bookmarks to HTML…
  3. Save the HTML file, then choose it in KeyJump's Import bookmarks.
Tip — bookmarks carry no visit history, so imported items start unranked and sort by your browser's folder order. As you use them, KeyJump's own frecency takes over and floats your most-used shortcuts to the top.

Search shortcuts

A search shortcut is a URL with a %s placeholder — youtube.com/results?search_query=%s. Activating it asks for a term and opens the results. Three ways to run one:

  • Press its keyy locks the box into “Search YouTube” mode; type the term, Enter. Recent searches appear underneath; Backspace on the empty box (or Esc) unlocks.
  • Command syntax — type keys plus the term in one go: gs capybara (or g s capybara) runs the gs search with “capybara”. The command shows as the first result row.
  • Tab to acceptTab on a search result locks that engine in, keeping what you typed; on a bookmark it simply opens it.

Recent searches are shared with your account across devices (and with KeyJump v1). Hover a recent to remove it, or clear the whole history from the list.

Start views

Two ways to start: the shortcut grid (everything visible) or search only — a clean page with just the bar, your folder chips and one-tap shortcuts. Flip anytime with . or the switch in the navbar. Keys, search and commands work identically in both.

Layout

  • Nested items: grouped under folder headers, or one flat list.
  • Items shown per folder: 3 / 6 / 9 / all, with per-folder overrides.
  • Folder widths: each group can be full, half, third or quarter width — the header button cycles one folder, the button next to “sort” aligns all of them at once.
  • Tile width & density: how wide tiles are and how tightly they pack.
  • The legend: the hint bar at the bottom adapts to what the keys currently do, and , hides or shows it entirely.

Make it yours

Settings → Appearance is the fun part: themes (Fjord is the default; Catppuccin, Tokyo Night, Omarchy, Gruvbox, Nord and more are built in), a custom accent, and stackable background layers — a wallpaper (pick from the gallery, upload your own, or “Surprise me” for a random one per tab), the animated aurora, and a pattern (dots, grid, stars, mesh). Animation pace goes from calm to lively, backgrounds can be fixed for a parallax scroll, and surfaces can be solid, glass or gradient with adjustable opacity. A corner-radius slider rounds or squares every element at once.

Zen mode strips the page down to your search box and shortcuts — no navbar, no legend, no add-buttons. Toggle it with > anytime (a faint settings gear stays top-right, and ! always opens Settings).

Uploaded wallpapers are compressed in your browser before upload and cached on device — new tabs never wait for the network.

On any page

With the extension, the launcher isn't just the new tab:

  • Alt+K opens the full launcher as an overlay on the page you're on — same shortcuts, same keys.
  • Alt+Shift+K saves the current page. If it's a search results page, KeyJump offers the reusable search instead of a frozen bookmark — the term becomes %s automatically.
  • From the address bar: type j and a space, and the browser bar becomes KeyJump — key paths, search and commands all work there, with live suggestions: j gm jumps to gm, j gs capybara runs that search.

Prefer different keys? Rebind both at chrome://extensions/shortcuts (Chrome) or about:addons → gear → “Manage Extension Shortcuts” (Firefox). The defaults use Alt because Ctrl+K and similar are reserved by the browser — but you can still assign those yourself there.

Sync & account

KeyJump is local-first: no account, no server involved. Sign in (email, Google or GitHub) and your whole setup syncs as one document. Sync is two-way and safe: edits push automatically, and if this device and the cloud ever diverge, nothing is overwritten — you choose which side wins. Explicit “Upload” / “Download” actions are in the account menu.

Coming from KeyJump v1? The account menu offers a one-click import of your pages, folders, bookmarks and searches — your v1 data stays untouched.

Key reference

azJump: open the shortcut or enter the folder
/Search everything
EnterOpen the selected result / run the typed command
Ctrl/Alt+EnterOpen the selected result in a new tab
TabAccept the selection: lock a search in / open a bookmark
Alt+keyOpen in a new tab
EscWalk back: query → search → folder
BackspaceEmpty box: unlock the search / leave the folder
Move through results
+New shortcut here
#New folder here
.Switch start view (grid ⇄ search)
>Toggle zen mode — just the search box and shortcuts
,Hide / show the legend
!Open Settings — then a/l/b/u/d jump to a section
?Help

Your data

Settings → Data exports your whole document as JSON, imports one back, or resets to the starter set. It's also where you import your browser bookmarks — one click in the extension, or from an exported file on the web; see Import bookmarks for the steps.

Share a folder from its edit dialog: “Copy share link” makes a link that carries the whole folder and its shortcuts in the URL itself — no account, no server. Whoever opens it sees a preview and can add a copy to their own KeyJump; their existing shortcuts stay untouched, and any key clash is resolved automatically. Using the extension? Paste the link into the search box to import it right there — no need to leave your new tab.

Without an account nothing ever leaves your browser; with one, only what's needed for sync is stored — see the privacy policy.