Object
Mandatory No Manifest version 2 or higher Example
"commands": {
"toggle-feature": {
"suggested_key": {
"default": "Ctrl+Shift+Y",
"linux": "Ctrl+Shift+U"
},
"description": "Send a 'toggle-feature' event"
}
}
Use the commands
key to define one or more keyboard shortcuts for your extension.
Each keyboard shortcut is defined with a name, a combination of keys, and a description. After defining commands in your extension's manifest.json
, you can listen for their associated key combinations with the commands
API.
The commands
key is an object, and each shortcut is a property of it. The property's name is the name of the shortcut.
Each shortcut's value is an object with up to 2 properties:
suggested_key
Optional: the combination of keys that activate the shortcut.description
Optional: a string that describes the shortcut, i.e., what it does.The suggested_key
property is an object with any or none of these properties (all strings):
"default"
"mac"
"linux"
"windows"
"chromeos"
"android"
"ios"
The value of each property is the keyboard shortcut for the command on that platform, as a string containing keys separated by +
. The value for "default"
is used on all platforms that aren't explicitly listed. If "default"
isn't included, the command doesn't have a keyboard shortcut on any platform not included, unless a shortcut is configured by the user or through the commands.update
API.
For example:
"commands": {
"toggle-feature": {
"suggested_key": {
"default": "Alt+Shift+U",
"linux": "Ctrl+Shift+U"
},
"description": "Send a 'toggle-feature' event to the extension"
},
"do-another-thing": {
"suggested_key": {
"default": "Ctrl+Shift+Y"
}
},
"do-something-else": {
"suggested_key": {
"linux": "Ctrl+Shift+P"
}
},
"do-nothing-yet": {}
}
This JSON defines these shortcuts:
"toggle-feature"
, accessed with Ctrl + Shift + U on Linux, and Alt + Shift + U on all other platforms."do-another-thing"
, accessed with Ctrl + Shift + Y on all platforms."do-something-else"
, accessed with Ctrl + Shift + P on Linux only, and no default shortcut on other platforms."do-nothing-yet"
, sets no keyboard shortcut but enables a shortcut to be set by the user or with the commands.update
API.You can listen for the commands with code like this, in this case for the "toggle-feature"
command:
browser.commands.onCommand.addListener((command) => {
if (command === "toggle-feature") {
console.log("Toggling the feature!");
}
});
Special shortcuts
There are 4 special shortcuts with default actions for which the commands.onCommand
event doesn't fire:
_execute_browser_action
: works like a click on a toolbar button created with browserAction
or specified in the browser_action key in the manifest.json key._execute_action
: works like a click on a toolbar button created with action
or specified in the action key in the manifest.json key._execute_page_action
: works like a click on an address bar button created with pageAction
or specified in the page_action key in the manifest.json key._execute_sidebar_action
: opens the extension's sidebar specified in the sidebar_action manifest.json key.The availability of these special shortcuts varies between manifest versions and browsers, like this:
Manifest V2 Manifest V3_execute_browser_action
Yes No _execute_action
No Yes _execute_page_action
Yes Firefox only _execute_sidebar_action
Firefox only Firefox only
Note: If the user changes the shortcut of the _execute_browser_action
command, it is automatically carried over to the _execute_action
command when the extension migrates from Manifest V2 to V3. This was implemented in Chrome 111 and Firefox 127.
For example, this JSON defines a key combination that clicks the extension's browser action:
"commands": {
"_execute_browser_action": {
"suggested_key": {
"default": "Ctrl+Shift+Y"
}
}
}
Shortcut values
There are two valid formats for shortcut keys: as a key combination or as a media key.
Key combinationsNote: On Macs, "Ctrl"
is interpreted as "Command"
, so if you actually need "Ctrl"
, specify "MacCtrl"
.
Key combinations must consist of 2 or 3 keys:
"Ctrl"
, "Alt"
, "Command"
, or "MacCtrl"
."Shift"
or (for Firefox ⥠63) any one of "Ctrl"
, "Alt"
, "Command"
, or "MacCtrl"
. Must not be the modifier already used as the main modifier.A
â Z
0
â 9
F1
â F12
Note: From Firefox 135, users can assign the F13
to F19
keys to an extension using Manage Extension Shortcuts. Your extension can't assign these keys from the manifest file. However, it can assign them using commands.update
.
Comma
, Period
, Home
, End
, PageUp
, PageDown
, Space
, Insert
, Delete
, Up
, Down
, Left
, Right
The key is then given as a string containing the set of key values, in the order listed above, separated by +
. For example, "Ctrl+Shift+Z"
.
If a key combination is already used by the browser (like "Ctrl+P"
) or by an existing add-on, then you can't override it. You can define it, but your event handler will not be called when the user presses the key combination.
Alternatively, the shortcut can be specified as one of these media keys:
"MediaNextTrack"
"MediaPlayPause"
"MediaPrevTrack"
"MediaStop"
In Firefox, your extension can update shortcut key settings using commands.update()
. Users can update shortcuts using the Manage Extension Shortcuts option at about:addons
, as shown in this video. Your extension can open this option using commands.openShortcutSettings()
.
In Chrome, extensions can't programmatically update shortcut keys. Users can change shortcuts at chrome://extensions/shortcuts
, which can be opened using tabs.create()
.
Safari doesn't support programmatic or user modification of extension shortcut keys.
ExampleDefine a keyboard shortcut using only the default key combination:
"commands": {
"toggle-feature": {
"suggested_key": {
"default": "Ctrl+Shift+Y"
},
"description": "Send a 'toggle-feature' event"
}
}
Define two keyboard shortcuts, one with a platform-specific key combination:
"commands": {
"toggle-feature": {
"suggested_key": {
"default": "Alt+Shift+U",
"linux": "Ctrl+Shift+U"
},
"description": "Send a 'toggle-feature' event"
},
"do-another-thing": {
"suggested_key": {
"default": "Ctrl+Shift+Y"
}
}
}
Browser compatibility
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HTML:
3.2
| Encoding:
UTF-8
| Version:
0.7.4