Blog | trovu.net

Story of Trovu: From Generated Forms to the Command Line

2025-05-22T00:00:00Z

This article was published before in German on Techniktagebuch.

In my previous article, I wrote about mstart.de, one of several predecessors of (as of 2024, the time of writing) today’s trovu.net, which Kilian previously described from a user’s perspective. This is where the story continues: how a homepage generator turned into a command line for the web.

With mstart, I had collected all my frequently used search forms on one (locally downloaded) web page. To search Google, I just had to click in the appropriate field; Infoseek and stock searches were also easily accessible. But I still needed several clicks or keystrokes, and due to space limitations, only a limited number of services could fit.

At the same time, I knew a great feature from the Opera browser: assigning shortcuts for specific web searches. So I could set “g” for Google and simply type g berlin to get Google’s search results for “berlin.”

What didn’t work, though: defining a shortcut with multiple arguments — for example, having db Berlin, Hamburg open the Deutsche Bahn connection search. Nor could I easily use my own shortcuts on another computer (I’d have to migrate my browser config) or access other users’ shortcuts and maintain them collaboratively.

And that’s exactly why I developed Serchilo in 2005: There’s just one input field, and I can type commands like g berlin, but also db berlin hamburg — and it takes me directly to the appropriate results page. The shortcut database is stored online: all shortcuts are available on any new computer — I just need to visit serchilo.net (or set it as the browser’s default search engine).

The name, by the way, comes from Esperanto (meaning “search tool”), due to my (then and still ongoing) enthusiasm for the language: learning it after English and French in school is like discovering Python when you’ve only known C++.

I wasn’t the only one with the command-line idea: alternatives included YubNub, Yeah Way, Yahoo Open Shortcuts, Sugarcodes, Dozomo, and DuckDuckGo Bangs.

As a database and interface for managing shortcuts, I used MediaWiki (the same platform powering Wikipedia at the time): it already had user management and version control built-in. However, creating a new shortcut was quite complex: each required its own wiki page, and initially, you even needed to know regular expressions. Here’s what the Google command looked like, for example:

query: /^g([\w]{2})? (.*)$/
url: http://www.google.com/search?hl=$subdomain&lr=lang_$1&q=$2&ie=utf-8

That was probably a bottleneck at first, accessible mainly to programmers — but the Serchilo way of searching already fit their style.

Over the next nearly 20 years, I kept working on it — it became my main hobby project. Creating new shortcuts got easier, user-specific commands became possible, internationalization was added (a German user might want a different Wikipedia than a French one), and eventually there was even a Firefox extension and Android app.

Serchilo became my sandbox for experimenting with new technologies:

After MediaWiki, I reimplemented it in Ruby on Rails in 2011 (but never launched it live — I didn’t end up liking it).
In 2012, I moved to Drupal, because that’s what my freelancing friends used — which I wanted to try too.
In 2014, I built it again in Drupal, but better, with everything I had learned — and open-sourced it.

In 2015, I also renamed it to FindFind.it, to have something easier to spell and remember — but I never really liked the name.

Looking back, there was a lot of Shiny Object Syndrome and unfortunately less user communication: some changes confused users, usage numbers stagnated, and only later did I get into the habit of responding quickly to feedback.

Eventually, a sense of responsibility also emerged: for many users, they told me, it had become an essential part of their browser setup — they couldn’t use the internet without Serchilo. So shutting it down was never an option. Making it open source was also motivated by the idea that it could survive without me.

One change, though, had to happen: all user search queries were going through my server — and at some point, I no longer found that acceptable from a privacy perspective.

Interestingly, in 2018 I learned that parameters can also be sent after the hash in a URL (like example.com/#query=search) — and that they are processed only locally.

And so the idea for today's trovu.net was born — which I’ll cover in the next and final article.

Story of Trovu: The Startpage Generator

2025-05-21T00:00:00Z

This article was published before in German on Techniktagebuch.

A few days ago, Kilian wrote his usergraphy about trovu.net. As its developer, I’d now like to say something about its origin and its predecessor.

2001. Although DSL already exists, the internet is still slow in some places. Our shared flat has the bad luck of being located in the fiber-optic "valley of the clueless" in Berlin-Friedrichshain (South Kiez): the most modern lines were laid there very early on, through which ultra-fast internet would someday be available — but at that point, no provider offered service over them yet, and we no longer had the copper cables required for DSL.

So we’re online via ISDN. With six people, that can get slow, so — like in modem times — I’m looking for every possible optimization.

I notice that I always need two steps for Google searches and GMX logins:

one to open the homepage with the search or login form,
and another to load the results page after submitting the form.

What does work, though: I can define a homepage in the browser. When I open a new window, it loads that page first.

So I could set Google or GMX as my homepage — but only one of them. And even that one often reloads!

And so mstart.de is born, a startpage generator: I can configure once what I want — Google, Altavista, dmoz, GMX [1] — then it generates a page with all the forms, and I can even save it locally.

The nice thing is that this works without a user database (an approach I would revisit almost 20 years later with trovu.net): users click together the forms they want, which generates a URL with many GET parameters (like mstart.de/?google=1&gmx=1&…), and that information is enough for the PHP script to generate a personal homepage.

With mstart.de, I now have all my essential search forms at hand, no extra load time, neatly stacked on one page, and I can jump between them with TAB or mouse and start searching right away. A great improvement.

In the following months and years, I continue using my homepage — and eventually wonder: pressing TAB a few times or clicking the mouse just to get to the right form — couldn’t that be easier?

That’s when the idea for Serchilo begins to take root — which I’ll write about in my next article.

[1] Yes, offering a GMX login and telling users to enter their email password on our site was, of course, not a good idea from a security perspective.

20 Years of Trovu / FindFind.it / Serchilo

2025-05-19T00:00:00Z

Trovu's first version, named Serchilo, registered its domain on May 20, 2005. This will be 20 years ago tomorrow, on Tuesday. 🎉

I decided to celebrate this with a Gather.town gathering open to everyone interested.

Gather.town is like a combination of a Zoom call and a 2D avatar game. You only need a browser; just click the link, and you will arrive in a 2D room. You can walk around, and when you come close to others, a video chat will open.

Come and share your user story with me and others, or ask me anything about Trovu's future or past. I look forward to meeting you!

Tuesday, May 20, 2025
20:00 - 21:00 CEST (1800-1900 UTC)
https://trovu.net/20years

New: Browser Extension for Chrome & Firefox

2024-11-16T00:00:00Z

I have created a browser extension for Trovu. With it, you can define a keyboard shortcut, for instance Ctrl-1 which opens a light version of the Trovu homepage, and with your language & country (or Github) settings.

It is available for Chrome and Firefox.

Watch here how to install and use it:

For Safari users on Mac OS, please consider the Raycast extension.

Sponsor Trovu & Get Advanced Support

2024-07-28T00:00:00Z

Trovu is and always will be free. To support the work, there are a few options that I just added to the docs.

At the moment, you can:

Become a sponsor on GitHub. There are various tiers, each with benefits, starting from $2 per month. Your sponsorship will be visible on GitHub, which is also a nice form of support.

If your preferred option is missing, please reach out.

Sponsorship is also a great way to gauge interest: How many of you like it enough to not only use it but also support it financially? That would be valuable feedback!

Indeed, the more sponsors there are, the easier it becomes to work on Trovu full-time.

Fix der Bahn-Fahrplanauskunft

2024-07-14T00:00:00Z

Vor einigen Monaten hörte der Shortcut zur Fahrplanauskunft der Deutschen Bahn auf zu funktionieren (db berlin, hamburg). Grund dafür war, dass die Bahn ihre alte Fahrplanauskunft nun endgültig abgeschaltet hatte.

Die neue Auskunft benötigte hingegen als Suchargument für den Ab- oder Ankunftsort nicht mehr nur den Namen (berlin), sondern auch dessen interne ID (soid=…). Damit konnte Trovu also nicht mehr direkt auf die Ergebnisseite weiterleiten.

Ich hatte in den vergangenen Monaten versucht, auf vielen Wegen eine Lösung zu finden, u.a. bei mehreren Stellen der Deutschen Bahn und in einem Bahn-Nutzer-Forum gefragt. Ein direkter Link auf die Ergebnisseite scheint dennoch immer noch nicht möglich zu sein, ohne die ID zu kennen.

Trotzdem gibt es jetzt eine (experimentelle) Lösung. Damit diese vollständig funktioniert, sollte auf Eurem Rechner ein sogenanntes Userscript installiert sein. Wie man das macht, ist hier in der Dokumentation beschrieben.

Dann könnt Ihr wie gewohnt eine Suchanfrage starten, z.B.:

db berlin, hamburg
db b,hh,21
dbn b,hh,8,mo  # Nur Nahverkehrszüge / mit Deutschlandticket

Diese Seite leitet Euch auf das Suchformular der Fahrplanauskunft, füllt es aber schon mit Euren Suchwerten aus. Das Userscript klickt dann auf den Suchen-Knopf. Wer das Userscript also nicht installiert hat, hat trotzdem etwas davon – er muss nur auf den Knopf selbst klicken.

Zwei Punkte bleiben offen – falls Ihr dazu Abhilfe wisst, schreibt es gern ins Ticket:

Das Userscript ist experimentell: Der Suchen-Knopf ist nicht sofort klickbar, weil offenbar die Seite im Hintergrund noch lädt. Idealerweise löst man das mit window.onload oder DOMContentLoaded – allerdings funktionierten diese Methoden nicht. Es ist jetzt mit einem setTimeout von 4 Sekunden gelöst.
Die Bestpreissuche (dbb) funktioniert immer noch nicht. Ich habe noch nicht den passenden Parameter in der URL gefunden, die beim Klick auf Suchen sofort die Bestpreise anzeigt.

Schreibt auch sonst gern ins Ticket (oder auf anderen Wegen), wie gut der aktualisierte Shortcut für Euch funktioniert.

How I Use Trovu (Hannes)

2024-06-12T00:00:00Z

Hannes Neubarth has been using Trovu and its predecessors for more than 10 years.

Hi folks, my name is Hannes, and I have been using Trovu for several years now. It is a real productivity booster, helps me save a lot of time, and I recommend everyone use it, without exception.

The reason why we all need Trovu is very simple. Most of the time when you work with a browser, you already know where you want to go: You want to see a list of search results on Google, look up your friend's address on a map, or view all bicycles in your favorite web shop.

In all these cases, the usual procedure is:

Open the main website,
Fill out one or several search fields,
Hit enter,
Wait for the results.

We all do this dozens of times a day, hundreds of times per month, probably more. Trovu helps you do the same thing much faster:

Write the shortcut for a website in the address bar,
Add some search terms,
Hit enter.

All you need to do is add another search engine to your browser, and you are ready to go.

If you want to give it a try, I recommend starting with a few simple commands first:

>g pulp fiction
search for Pulp Fiction on Google
>w pulp fiction
look it up on Wikipedia
>a pulp fiction
find it on Amazon
>gm berlin, alexanderplatz
look up an address on Google Maps
>yt funny cats
find videos with funny cats

That's it. Start with a handful of commands. If you use them regularly, you will quickly notice how helpful they are. There are more commands available, but do not get intimidated: You only need to remember the ones that you use often.

When you are ready, you can extend the list step by step. Searching for new commands is easy. Just visit trovu.net, enter a search term, and find the commands that are already defined. Here are a few more that I use regularly:

>en cat
translate a word to/from English
>gtr Translate a whole sentence
use Google Translate
>gi funny cat
search on Google Images
>osm berlin, alexanderplatz
search on OpenStreetMap
>we frankfurt
weather forecast for Frankfurt

Sometimes I want to add a personal command that is not relevant to other people. For this reason, I have created a GitHub repository and defined some commands just for myself. This is especially useful when I am at work:

>jira 1234
search for a ticket in my company's JIRA
>conf release process
search in my company's Confluence
>tt
open my company's time tracking page
>mvn spring-boot
search for Maven/Gradle artifacts

As you see, I use Trovu at work. I also use Trovu on my phone and my second laptop. Actually, I install it whenever I'm on a new computer. Because that's the only downside of Trovu – if you get used to it, you don't want to miss it. Never ever.

How I Use Trovu (Kilian)

2024-06-07T00:00:00Z

Kilian Evang has been using Trovu and its predecessors since 2007. In the German blog "Techniktagebuch" (English: "Technology Diary") he wrote about his experience.

At the top of the browser, in the address bar, you can enter not only URLs. You can also enter a search term and be directed to the search results page of the default search engine, usually Google. This saves you the step of opening the search engine's homepage and finding your way around – ensuring the cursor is in the search field, etc.

But there are many websites offering search functions where I don't want to navigate their homepages each time I search. That's why I have set my default search engine to trovu.net. This means I start each search query in the address bar with a cryptic shortcut.

However, I have numerous websites at my fingertips. Depending on the shortcut, I'm immediately directed to the search results on the corresponding website. Without moving my fingers from the keyboard, Ctrl+L takes me directly to the address bar. For a Unix nerd like me, it's ideal, almost like a #commandline for the web. This YouTube Short illustrates the principle.

Trovu is developed by Georg Jähnig, following his predecessors Serchilo and FindFind.it. He presented Serchilo in 2007 at the Computer Linguistics Student Conference (TaCoS) in Tübingen, which I co-organized.

Since then, I have continuously used Serchilo and its successors. Mobile browsers and search widgets for smartphone home screens have been configurable in a similar manner since the 2010s. Trovu is free, open-source, data-efficient, and ad-free, funded by affiliate links – for example, if I search on Amazon through Trovu and make a purchase, Georg gets a small commission.

Many useful shortcuts are predefined, but you can also define your own and overwrite predefined shortcuts.

In 2024, I switched from Google to DuckDuckGo without retraining my muscle memory: the shortcut g is still for web search, now redefined to call DuckDuckGo, and gi for image search.
In 2013, when Google Reader was discontinued, I redefined r to call Feedly.

For websites I frequently visit, I often don't use a search term but use the shortcut like a bookmark. Trovu usually calls the homepage of the respective website, but this can be configured.

Editing shortcuts was done nerdily via a MediaWiki with Serchilo, via a Drupal-based website with FindFind.it, and nerdily again with Trovu by pushing a configuration file on GitHub.

Here is a subjective and arbitrary selection of my 5 most important use cases for Trovu and the associated shortcuts:

Looking up a word in a bilingual online dictionary: For example, to know what Zahn means in Danish, I enter the ISO-639-2 code for Danish, da, followed by the search word:
>da zahn

Trovu directs me to a German-Danish online dictionary, knowing my default language is German.

To search in an English-Danish dictionary, I prefix the shortcut with the respective namespace shortcut, changing my default language for this query to English:
>en.da tooth

Entering
>fr tooth

takes me to a German-French dictionary, LEO.org.

To use dict.cc, there's also a namespace:

>dcc.fr tooth
Personal shortcuts for my websites:

>vw

for the wiki of the Society for Strengthening Verbs,

>vv

to go directly to the list of strong verbs,

>vf

for the forum,

>lt

to call a keyword at Freut euch des Labenz!,

>ls query

to search all definitions there,

>tn query

to search my tweet archive,

>tttt query

to search my blog.
Navigating the various functions of Kleinanzeigen.de (formerly eBay-kleinanzeigen ):

>kaz

for searching or opening the homepage,

>kazn

for messages,

>kaza

for my ads,

>kazm

for my watchlist, and

>kaz+

for the new ad form.
Amazon searches:

>a query

searches Amazon,

>ao query

my order history. Using the form on the website, I would constantly confuse the two search fields.
Handling URLs behind paywalls, poorly formatted recipes, or missing pages: Prefixed with the appropriate shortcut in Trovu, problematic URLs are handled:

>atd https://example.com/

for Archive.today,

>ckd https://recipesbycarina.com/french-crepe-recipe/

for Cooked.wiki, and

>wbm https://example.com/

for the Wayback Machine.

[1] I don't have to. If my search query doesn't start with a word defined as a shortcut in Trovu, it directs me to my preferred default search engine in Trovu, DuckDuckGo.

How I Use trovu.net (Georg)

2024-05-22T00:00:00Z

I have started creating this project in 2005, many of my friends have known it for years, and they fall into exactly two groups:

"Nice, but I don't see why this would be useful to me."
"This is awesome, I can't use the Internet without it anymore."

There's nothing in between. No one seems to be using it just occasionally.

I'm part of the latter group, and to help you join us, I will show you how I use Trovu.

My Setup #

First, here's how Trovu is integrated into my devices:

I use custom settings and shortcuts in my own trovu-data-user repo.
On my desktop browser, I have integrated Trovu as a search engine and made it the default. My URL is:

https://trovu.net/process/?#github=georgjaehnig&query=%s

On my Android phone, I use either the new Trovu PWA or the third-party app SearchBar Ex:
- SearchBar Ex immediately opens the Android keyboard after launching, but it has no suggestions.
- The PWA has suggestions, but the virtual keyboard only opens after an additional tap into the search input. (Let me know if you know how to make it show immediately.)

(Advanced) Googling #

My most frequent shortcut is g for Google. But sometimes, I need a more complicated Google search, and Trovu has shortcuts for these:

Google for results only in a certain language: #

>gol berlin

will yield results about Berlin only on websites in German – because German is the language I defined in my setup.

For other languages, I can prefix with the language code:

>pl.gol berlin

will show results only from Polish websites.

Google search only on Wikipedia sites: #

>wg berlin

This is like adding site:de.wikipedia.org to my Google search query. It will list only results from that domain, thus all Wikipedia articles that mention Berlin.

I prefer this over the actual Wikipedia shortcut w because it's much faster and allows for more fuzzy searches.

I can also search other languages by prefixing it with the language code:

>fr.wg berlin

This will perform a Google search with site:fr.wikipedia.org.

Same for Reddit and X (Twitter): #

>rg berlin

>xg berlin

These will only show results from reddit.com or x.com, making for a fast and fuzzy-allowing Reddit or X search, sometimes better than their built-in searches.

So, while anything can be done directly with Google, it's much shorter with Trovu's shortcuts.

Train Connections #

I live in Germany and often take the train. There's an old and hidden UI for the train timetables, originally made for the text-based Lynx web browser. It works to this day and is very fast; one only needs to know its URL—or use the Trovu shortcut.

>dbt berlin, hamburg

will show the next train from Berlin to Hamburg.

I can also add the time, and if I want, the date:

>dbt berlin, hamburg, 10, 8.12.

Note that while this interface is fast, it does not show current delays or non-planned interruptions (roughly any outage newer than 24 hours). For that, I use the regular interface:

>db berlin, hamburg

Typed Arguments #

All of these arguments are typed, so I can also do this:

>db b, hh, +2, fr

from and to are of type city, so they can take an abbreviation of a city name. Usually, these are the ones used on vehicle registration plates.

The time and date are, yes, time and date:

I can count up from the current time or date, so +2 means in 2 hours or in 2 days.
For date, I can also use day-of-week abbreviations, e.g., mo.

Filter for Regional Trains #

Cheaper connections can be found if I limit my search to only regional trains (suitable for the Deutschlandticket). I can do so by calling:

>dbn berlin, hamburg

Google Maps #

To find a place on Google Maps, I use:

>gm berlin

If I need a certain street in some city, I use two arguments:

>gm hamburg, hauptstraße

Here, the first argument is typed again as city, so I can use a city name abbreviation:

>gm hh, hauptstraße

To find directions from one place to another, I call:

>gd berlin, hamburg

Again, city name abbreviations work too:

>gd b, hh

Google Flights #

My favorite way to search flights is via Google Flights:

>gfl ber, ibiza, fr, mo

It opens Google Flights and shows direct results for return flights from BER (Berlin) to Ibiza, going there on the next Friday and coming back on the next Monday.

For one-way flights, I use:

>gfl1 ber, ibiza, 10

The date here denotes the 10th of the current month. If it is already in the past, it translates to the 10th of next month.

Programming #

As a developer, I often need to look up libraries and forums:

>npm yaml

will search for Node packages related to YAML.

>sof yaml

will search Stack Overflow for questions around YAML.

Dictionaries #

I speak a few languages and often learn new ones. For a dictionary of most languages, I only need their ISO code:

>en baum

>fr baum

>pl baum

These shortcuts will call dictionaries from English, French, and Polish into German — again because German is the language I defined in my setup.

Though, I can override this language by prefixing with another code:

>es.en baum

>es.fr baum

>es.pl baum

These will call the dictionaries into Spanish instead.

Media #

>yt berlin

searches for YouTube videos about Berlin.

>ytd berlin

does the same but sorts them by date (newest first).

There are also a few torrent search engines; my preferred one is BTDigg:

>btd berlin

Shopping #

I search for books and other products on Amazon:

>a smartphone

For things from China, I look on Temu and AliExpress:

>tmu camera

>axp camera

Do I Remember All Shortcut Keywords? #

The ones I mentioned, yes. These are not many, and I use them regularly.

If there's a shortcut that I know or assume exists but I just don't know its keyword or syntax, I call "my" Trovu page, that is, Trovu with my current settings:

>trovu

I am then on https://trovu.net/?#github=georgjaehnig and have the suggestions available just while typing.

Curious About Yours #

If you are already a Trovu user, too, I'd be curious about your setup and practice. Please share it in our Github Discussions, or as a reply to the X post.

New videos: Summary & Advanced Usage

2024-03-31T00:00:00Z

I've created two new videos about Trovu:

A short summary video pitches Trovu's features in less than 30 seconds. It comes with large subtitles so can be also shared well to mobile devices.
A tutorial video on how to create custom settings and personal shortcuts:

New: App for Smartphones

2024-03-09T00:00:00Z

Using Trovu on your smartphone just got easier. With the new PWA, you can access a full-screen Trovu experience, including its suggestions, directly from your phone's home screen with just a tap.

To install the app, see the docs.

New: User Settings via Self-Hosted File

2024-01-14T00:00:00Z

Until now, to use Trovu with advanced settings and personal shortcuts, you needed a Github account. Now, these features are accessible with a self-hosted file, which can remain private if hosted under a non-public URL.

To do this, create a file following the config.yml syntax. The new feature allows you to create shortcuts directly within the config file:

language: en
country: us
namespaces:
    - o
    - en
    - .us
    - name: my
      shortcuts:
          examplekeyword 0:
              url: https://example.com/
          examplekeyword 1:
              url: https://example.com/?q=<param1>

Host this file anywhere your browser can access it. This could be a public URL, within an intranet, or on your localhost.

Then, open Trovu with:

https://trovu.net/?#configUrl=URL_TO_YOUR_CONFIG_FILE

Stay informed about Trovu

2023-12-09T00:00:00Z

This blog will keep you updated about news around Trovu, the successor of FindFind.it/Serchilo. You can follow it via RSS:

https://trovu.net/blog/feed/