What is ban.gs?

ban.gs is a shortcut search tool. It lets you type things like !gh react to search GitHub, !w cats to search Wikipedia, or just plain words for a normal web search.

What is a !bang?

A !bang is a short code that starts with !. It tells bangs.to where to send your search. For example, !yt ambient music searches YouTube for ambient music and !mdn fetch searches MDN for fetch.

Does bangs.to see everything I search for?

No. Your browser does the redirection and your queries never leave your device. There is no analytics or tracking built into the site.

Do I need to install an extension?

No browser extension is required. You visit the site once, then add it as a custom search engine in your browser. After that, your address bar can use it directly.

What happens if I type a normal search?

If you do not use a !bang, bangs.to sends the search to your default search engine. Normally this default is DuckDuckGo, but you can change it in Settings.

Can I change the default search engine?

Yes. Open Settings and change the default bang. That decides where plain searches go when you do not type a shortcut.

Is this private?

It is more private than sending every search through a remote redirect page, because the redirect logic runs on your device. But the site you end up using, like DuckDuckGo, Google, YouTube, or GitHub, still receives the search you send to it.