You can allow users to interact with your extension through the Chrome omnibox (usually called the
address bar). When a user enters extension-defined keywords in the omnibox, your
extension controls what the user sees in the omnibox. The
[Omnibox New Tab Search](https://github.com/GoogleChrome/chrome-extensions-samples/tree/main/api-samples/omnibox/new-tab-search)
sample extension uses "nt" as the keyword. When the user types "nt" into the
omnibox, it activates the extension. To signal this to the user, it grayscales
the provided 16 by 16 icon and displays it in the omnibox next to the extension
name.
![](https://developer.chrome.com/static/docs/extensions/develop/ui/omnibox-triggers/images/omnibox.png) An example of using the omnibox to trigger an action.

The entered text causes Chrome to send an event to the
[`omnibox.onInputEntered`](https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/omnibox#event-onInputEntered)
event handler. In the handler, the extension opens a new tab containing a Google Search
for the user's entry.

    browser.omnibox.onInputEntered.addListener((text) => {
      // Encode user input for special characters , / ? : @ & = + $ #
      const newURL = `https://www.google.com/search?q=${encodeURIComponent(text)}`;
      browser.tabs.create({ url: newURL });
    });