GoMarks Help

GoMarks let's you create shortcuts that provides quick access to your favorite websites.

It is a similar concept to go links, smart bookmarks or bangs.

If your request doesn't match any of your shortcuts, GoMarks makes regular search engine requests.

Basic concept

Shortcuts need a keyword and a destination URL.

When your request in GoMarks matches one of your keywords, it redirects (HTTP 302) to the destination URL.

Usage

To use your shortcuts, you can:

1. set GoMarks as your browser start page and use its search box

2. open the URL https://gomarks.labo.ovh/go/?q=keyword+option directly

3. RECOMMENDED: make GoMarks your browser's default search engine so you can type your keywords (and potential options) directly in your browser URL bar.

Simple shortcuts

A keyword bbc can take you to the destination URL https://www.bbc.com.

Simple shortcuts can't take options (for example bbc europe) because they act like traditional bookmarks.

Smart shortcuts

Smart shortcuts can take options (like bbc europe or bbc asia) and will redirect based on a mandatory placeholder %s in the destination URL.

For the above BBC example, this would be your URL https://www.bbc.com/news/world/%s.

A request bbc europe would take you to https://www.bbc.com/news/world/europe.

Smart shortcuts will throw an error if you do not pass an option because the placeholder expects one.

Search shortcuts

GoMarks allows you to create shortcuts for quick searches on websites.

Let's go to The Verge website and look for "Macbook Neo" in their search engine.

This results in https://www.theverge.com/search?q=Macbook+Neo in your browser bar.

This would translate to a destination URL https://www.theverge.com/search?q=%s to which I assign the keyword verge.

Now, searching for verge Macbook Neo in GoMarks will take you to the list of articles about Macbook Neos on The Verge website.

Some websites add a lot of tracking garbage to the URL when searching, like &utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=spring_sale.

Usually you can safely remove those and only keep the query argument in your destination URL.

You can find more shortcut examples below.

Single option keywords

A placeholder %s can take multiple words (like the "Macbook Neo" example above).

When adding or editing a shortcut, you'll see a "1️⃣ single option keyword" option.

This option only activates for URLs with a placeholder.

If you enable the option, it means your shortcut is expected to take a single option (e.g. verge Macbook but not verge Macbook Neo).

If you pass multiple options/words, GoMarks will bypass your keyword and make a search engine query instead.

Let me illustrate the concept with queries around the Docker topic.

You want a shortcut to search for images on Docker Hub by using docker mariadb (destination URL https://hub.docker.com/search?q=%s).

Sometimes, you are also likely to search for docker compose syntax.

If you DO NOT enable single option keyword, you would end up searching Docker Hub for "compose syntax" which is probably not what you wanted.

With the option enabled, docker compose syntax will make a search engine request and docker mariadb will make a Docker Hub search.

When single option is enabled, an icon 1️⃣ appears next to the keyword in the shortcuts list.

Shortcut examples

Description	Link
Find Docker images	`https://hub.docker.com/search?q=%s`
Search in author's Github repositories	`https://github.com/sebw?tab=repositories&q=%s&type=&language=&sort=`
Search a Fedora Linux package	`https://packages.fedoraproject.org/search?query=%s`
Compare Amazon prices	`https://keepa.com/#!search/4-%s`
Find a Python Library	`https://pypi.org/search/?q=%s`
Wikipedia Search	`https://en.wikipedia.org/?search=%s`
Eggtimer. Query "timer 5m" to set a 5 minute timer.	`https://e.ggtimer.com/%s`
Unsure about your pronounciation? Query "say miscellaneous"	`https://www.google.com/search?q=pronounce+%s`
Check movie rating	`https://www.imdb.com/find?q=%s`
Check HTTP status code for cat lovers	`https://http.cat/%s`

Reserved action keywords

Some keywords are reserved to perform GoMarks actions outside of the web interface.

Action keywords do not appear in the list.

You can reconfigure reserved action keywords in the administration section if they conflict with your workflows.

Usage	Action
`!add myshortcut https://www.example.com`	adds a simple shortcut
`!add myshortcut https://www.example.com/%s`	adds a placeholder shortcut
`!add myshortcut https://www.example.com/%s 1`	adds a single option keyword shortcut
`!mod myshortcut`	takes you to the edit page for the shortcut
`!del myshortcut`	takes you to delete confirmation page

Making GoMarks Your Default Search Engine

By making GoMarks your default search engine, you can type your queries and actions in your web browser URL/search bar for even faster access to your links.

By doing so, you never really have to open GoMarks web page.

If your request doesn't match any shortcuts, GoMarks will just make a search engine request.

Chrome

In the address bar go to chrome://settings/searchEngines

Search Engine > Manage search engines and site search

Site Search > Add

Add Site Search and use this URL https://gomarks.labo.ovh/go/?q=%s

Click on the hamburger menu for your new search engine > Make default

Start searching

Firefox

Go to settings > Search > Search shortcuts

Click Add

Give the search engine a name and use this URL https://gomarks.labo.ovh/go/?q=%s

You can also use this add-on.

Safari (iPhone / MacOS)

By default, you can't change the default search engine in Safari.

I personally use "Customize Search Engine (CSE)" [link] to work around the limitation.

On iPhone, you can also use an iOS shortcut and use the action button or widgets to call GoMarks.

Fallback Search Engine

If your request doesn't match any of your shortcut, GoMarks will send your request to the fallback search engine.

The fallback search engine is configurable (Google, Duckduckgo, your own self-hosted solution, etc.)

Backup database

You can trigger a backup via the button on the main page or via:

curl -X POST https://gomarks.labo.ovh/backup

The database will be saved on the filesystem in the format items.db.timestamp.

You can restore the database by manually replacing items.db with the backup copy.

🍌🐇