winget install --id=Fefedu973.UniversalSearchSuggestions -e Universal Search Suggestions brings browser-like search behavior to PowerToys Command Palette. Live autocomplete from Google/Bing/DuckDuckGo and friends, inline answers (calculator, currency, weather, definitions), local bookmarks and history, plus an optional rich details panel with Wikipedia summaries and a streamed AI answer.
Your browser's address bar — inside the Windows Command Palette.
Type a query, get the same live suggestions, instant answers, bookmarks and AI replies you'd see in Chrome's omnibox — without ever opening a browser.
Install · What you get · Settings · FAQ ·
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/73c08002-5b7b-4c37-98e8-a2eeb6935c6d
30‑second demo — autocomplete, instant answers, local bookmarks, AI panel.
Open the Command Palette (Win + Alt + Space), start typing, and Universal Search Suggestions reacts the way a browser would:
github.com/user/repo → opens straight to the page)Pick a result, hit Enter, and it opens in your browser. That's it.
> Requires Windows 11 with PowerToys 0.95+ and the Command Palette module enabled.
In the Command Palette, run Install command palette extension, then pick Universal Search Suggestions.
Single click install with automatic updates:
winget install Fefedu973.UniversalSearchSuggestions
Same package as the Microsoft Store, installed from the command line. WinGet handles updates automatically.
.msix matching your CPU — _x64.msix for Intel/AMD, _arm64.msix for ARM.git clone https://github.com/Fefedu973/UniversalSearchSuggestions
cd UniversalSearchSuggestions
.\scripts\dev-deploy.ps1 -Configuration Release -Platform x64
| Source | Notes |
|---|---|
| The same fast autocomplete used by Chrome's omnibox | |
| Google rich | Adds descriptions and thumbnails (sports, finance, dictionary…) when available |
| Google answers | Calculator, weather, currency conversion, dictionary, sunrise/sunset, translation, local time, sports, finance — shown inline, no extra click |
| Bing, DuckDuckGo, Brave, Yahoo, Ecosia, Qwant, Swisscows | All optional, all free, all using the same public autocomplete endpoints their own websites use |
| Direct URL detection | Type youtube.com/watch?v=… and it opens directly — no detour through search |
Google is on by default. Anything else is one toggle away.
Live autocomplete as you type. Type a URL — it opens straight to the page.
Math, currency, units, definitions, translations, stock quotes, general knowledge — answered inline, no extra click.
Calculator Currency Units
Dictionary Translation Stock quotes
General knowledge — facts, sport scores, sunrise/sunset, local time, and more.
Pick one browser profile (Chrome, Edge, Brave, or Firefox) and Universal Search will quietly index its bookmarks and history, ready to be matched as you type. Everything stays on your machine.
You can use Raycast-style operators in the search box:
gh -clone match "gh", exclude "clone"
"react hooks" exact phrase
\-deprecated treat the dash as literal
Your own bookmarks and history surface alongside live web suggestions.
Select a suggestion and the right side shows what the result is about — without opening it:
The default AI runs on a free, no-account, anonymous endpoint (OVH's hosted Llama 3.1). Bring your own API key to point it at OpenAI, Groq, OpenRouter, Together, Mistral, Azure OpenAI — or any OpenAI-compatible service.
Web summary from Wikipedia / DuckDuckGo with thumbnail. AI answer streamed live in your language.
Every suggestion has a context menu with:
Right-arrow on any suggestion to pick a specific browser, profile, or incognito mode.
Before you've typed anything, the page can show:
What you see the moment you open the page — recent and trending, blended.
Universal Search ships with sensible defaults — installing it and starting to type is enough. Everything below can be tuned later from the extension's settings page.
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Primary search engine | |
| Browser | System default |
| Suggestion language | Auto-detected from Windows |
| Google autocomplete + rich + answers | On |
| Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Brave, Qwant, Swisscows | Off |
| Bookmarks + history | On (from your default browser) |
| Details panel | On |
| Web summary (Wikipedia + DuckDuckGo) | On |
| AI answer in details | On — anonymous OVH Llama 3.1 8B |
| Empty page content | Recent searches + Google suggestions |
| Site favicons | On |
| Max suggestions per source | 10 |
| Max local results | 12 |
| Max total results | 40 |
| Network debounce | 110 ms |
Paste a different endpoint and key into the AI settings and you're done:
| Provider | Endpoint | Suggested model |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions | gpt-4o-mini |
| Groq | https://api.groq.com/openai/v1/chat/completions | llama-3.1-8b-instant |
| OpenRouter | https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/chat/completions | meta-llama/llama-3.1-8b-instruct |
| Together AI | https://api.together.xyz/v1/chat/completions | meta-llama/Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct-Turbo |
| Mistral | https://api.mistral.ai/v1/chat/completions | mistral-small-latest |
| OVH (default, no key) | https://oai.endpoints.kepler.ai.cloud.ovh.net/v1/chat/completions | Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct |
Leave the API key empty and you fall back to the anonymous OVH endpoint — free, rate-limited, no signup.
Is anything sent to a server?
The autocomplete sources you turn on receive your typed query the same way they would in a browser address bar. Bookmarks and history never leave your computer. The AI answer (if enabled) goes to the endpoint configured in settings — by default, OVH's anonymous Llama 3.1 endpoint. You can disable it, change the endpoint, or add your own API key at any time.
Will it slow the Command Palette down?
No. The "Search…" row appears the moment you type — that one is local. Network sources are debounced (110 ms by default) and cancelled on every keystroke. The details panel loads asynchronously and never blocks the list. Wikipedia and DuckDuckGo thumbnails are cached on disk, so re-selecting a result is instant.
Why are there several "Google" toggles?
Google exposes a few different autocomplete feeds and each adds something different:
In normal use, the three default-on Google sources together give you the full Chrome address-bar feel.
Where are bookmarks and history read from?
From the browser profile you picked in Bookmarks/history browser. Chromium browsers expose them through a Bookmarks JSON file and a History SQLite database; Firefox uses places.sqlite. Universal Search reads them on demand into memory and matches them locally — no telemetry, no sync, no network call. The local cache lives at %LOCALAPPDATA%\UniversalSearchSuggestions\.
Why don't I see my Google search history before I type?
Google ties personalized "recent searches" to your signed-in browser session via cookies. A standalone process can't reuse that session, so Universal Search keeps its own local list of recent queries instead. You can also display Google's anonymous trending suggestions, or both.
How do I clear the cache?
Open the Command Palette, find the Universal Search top-level command, press the right arrow to open its context menu, and pick Reset Universal Search cache. This clears favicons, thumbnails, AI responses, and recent searches.
Issues, ideas, and pull requests are very welcome.
UniversalSearchSuggestions.Core/Search/Providers/ and a unit test next to it.Strings.resx (English) and Strings.fr.resx (French) — please keep both in sync.dotnet format before committing..\scripts\build.ps1 # build all projects
.\scripts\test.ps1 # run the xUnit suite
.\scripts\dev-deploy.ps1 # register the MSIX and reload Command Palette
Stack: .NET 9 / C# 13, WindowsAppSDK 1.6, Microsoft.CommandPalette.Extensions 0.9, xUnit 2.9.
| Project | Role |
|---|---|
UniversalSearchSuggestions.Core | Pure .NET library: providers, parsers, URL heuristics, bookmark/history readers, image cache, localization. Fully unit-tested. |
UniversalSearchSuggestions | The Command Palette extension itself: settings UI, list rendering, details panel, browser launching. |
UniversalSearchSuggestions.Tests | xUnit tests for the parsing and ranking logic. |
MIT — use it anywhere, just keep the credit.
Made with care, inspired by the original PowerToys Run plugin.
If it saves you keystrokes, a star helps. ⭐