SearchEngines

Configure search engines in Firefox. As of Firefox 139, these policies are available in all Firefox release channels.

Compatibility

Firefox	Firefox ESR	Firefox Enterprise
Available since 139	Available since 60	Available since 149

POST support in Firefox ESR 68, Encoding in Firefox 91, Remove in Firefox ESR 60.2.

CCK2 Equivalent: searchplugins (Add), defaultSearchEngine (Default), disableSearchEngineInstall (PreventInstalls), removeDefaultSearchEngines (Remove)
OMA-URI: SearchEngines
Preferences Affected: N/A

Examples

policies.json

{
  "policies": {
    "SearchEngines": {
      "Default": "Example1",
      "Add": [
        {
          "Name": "Example1",
          "URLTemplate": "https://www.example.org/q={searchTerms}",
          "Method": "GET",
          "IconURL": "https://www.example.org/favicon.ico",
          "Alias": "example",
          "Description": "Description",
          "SuggestURLTemplate": "https://www.example.org/suggestions/q={searchTerms}"
        }
      ],
      "PreventInstalls": true
    }
  }
}

policies.json

{
  "policies": {
    "SearchEngines": {
      "Remove": [
        "Example1"
      ],
      "PreventInstalls": false
    }
  }
}

JSON schema

SearchEngines JSON schema

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "Add": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "required": [
          "Name",
          "URLTemplate"
        ],
        "properties": {
          "Name": {
            "type": "string"
          },
          "IconURL": {
            "type": "string",
            "anyOf": [
              {
                "format": "uri"
              },
              {
                "maxLength": 0
              }
            ]
          },
          "Alias": {
            "type": "string"
          },
          "Description": {
            "type": "string"
          },
          "Encoding": {
            "type": "string"
          },
          "Method": {
            "type": "string",
            "enum": [
              "GET",
              "POST"
            ]
          },
          "URLTemplate": {
            "type": "string"
          },
          "PostData": {
            "type": "string"
          },
          "SuggestURLTemplate": {
            "type": "string"
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "Default": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "DefaultPrivate": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "PreventInstalls": {
      "type": "boolean"
    },
    "Remove": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "type": "string"
      }
    }
  }
}

Values

SearchEngines accepts an object with one or more of the following keys:

• Add (array of objects): Add new search engines. Each entry accepts:
  • Name (required): the name of the search engine.
  • URLTemplate (required): the search URL with {searchTerms} to substitute for the search term.
  • Method: either GET or POST.
  • IconURL: a URL for the icon to use.
  • Alias: a keyword to use for the engine.
  • Description: a description of the search engine.
  • PostData: the POST data as name=value pairs separated by &.
  • SuggestURLTemplate: a search suggestions URL with {searchTerms} to substitute for the search term.
  • Encoding: the query charset for the engine. Defaults to UTF-8. Although there are five engines available in the ADMX template, there is no maximum number that can be specified — to add more in the ADMX template, duplicate the XML.
• Default (string): set the default search engine.
• PreventInstalls (boolean): prevent installing search engines from webpages.
• Remove (array of strings): hide built-in search engines by name.

Windows (GPO)

Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SearchEngines\Add\1\Name = "Example1"
Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SearchEngines\Add\1\URLTemplate = "https://www.example.org/q={searchTerms}"
Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SearchEngines\Add\1\Method = "GET" | "POST"
Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SearchEngines\Add\1\IconURL = "https://www.example.org/favicon.ico"
Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SearchEngines\Add\1\Alias = "example"
Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SearchEngines\Add\1\Description = "Example Description"
Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SearchEngines\Add\1\SuggestURLTemplate = "https://www.example.org/suggestions/q={searchTerms}"
Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SearchEngines\Add\1\PostData = "name=value&q={searchTerms}"
Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SearchEngines\Default = NAME_OF_SEARCH_ENGINE
Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SearchEngines\PreventInstalls = 0x1 | 0x0
Software\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox\SearchEngines\Remove\1 = NAME_OF_SEARCH_ENGINE

macOS

<dict>
  <key>SearchEngines</key>
  <dict>
    <key>Add</key>
    <array>
      <dict>
        <key>Name</key>
        <string>Example1</string>
        <key>URLTemplate</key>
        <string>https://www.example.org/q={searchTerms}</string>
        <key>Method</key>
        <string>GET | POST</string>
        <key>IconURL</key>
        <string>https://www.example.org/favicon.ico</string>
        <key>Alias</key>
        <string>example</string>
        <key>Description</key>
        <string>Example Description</string>
        <key>SuggestURLTemplate</key>
        <string>https://www.example.org/suggestions/q={searchTerms}</string>
        <key>PostData</key>
        <string>name=value&q={searchTerms}</string>
      </dict>
    </array>
    <key>Default</key>
    <string>NAME_OF_SEARCH_ENGINE</string>
    <key>PreventInstalls</key>
    <true/> | <false/>
    <key>Remove</key>
    <array>
      <string>NAME_OF_SEARCH_ENGINE</string>
    </array>
  </dict>
</dict>