Hot
Hands stay on the keyboard.
Search without reaching for the mouse. Opens on slash, moves with the arrow keys, closes on escape, and returns focus exactly where it started.
Search overlays are usually built for the mouse and bolted onto the keyboard afterwards, which is why so many of them trap focus or lose it entirely on close.
This one was built the other way round. The focus path was designed first, results are announced as they change, and closing always returns the reader to the element they started from.
Our power users found it within a day.
— A support lead
Built for the keyboard first.
Opens on a keystroke
Slash or the platform shortcut opens search from anywhere, without stealing typing in a form field.
Designed focus path
Focus enters the field, moves through results by arrow key, and returns to its origin on close.
Announced results
Result counts land in a live region, so a screen reader hears the list change rather than guessing.
Debounced queries
One request per pause in typing rather than one per keystroke, with in-flight requests cancelled.
The rest of the interaction.
The parts of a search overlay that only get noticed when they are missing.
- Slash to open, escape to close
- Focus returned to its origin
- Arrow-key result navigation
- Live region result counts
- Debounced and cancellable requests
- Recent searches stored locally
- Grouped results by post type
- No layout shift when opening
The details
- Version
- 1.6.2
- Released
- Mar 24, 2026
- Shortcut
- Slash, configurable
- Focus
- Returned on close
- Requests
- Debounced, cancellable
- Storage
- Browser local only
Recent releases
- 1.6.2Mar 2026 — Shortcut no longer fires while typing in a form field
- 1.6.1Feb 2026 — In-flight requests cancelled when the query changes
- 1.6.0Dec 2025 — Recent searches moved to local storage
MORE LIKE THIS
Related themes
New
Featured
