Web Search Ninja Mode: How I Find What I Need Instantly

Alex Kaul — Sun, 22 Jun 2025 15:13:50 +0000

In my previous post, I shared how I boosted my productivity while juggling multiple workflows and projects by using Freeter — a free, open-source app I built for this exact purpose.

In a recent update, I added a new feature that makes it even more powerful: it lets you set up workflows for performing quick searches across multiple websites and search engines simultaneously, in a much more accessible way.

For example, you can type in keywords to search for a vector image and instantly see results — in your preferred style — from all your favorite image resources at once. Or, you might type a programming question and get answers from several search engines and developer forums at the same time. It’s a huge time-saver if you frequently use search tools on the same websites with similar parameters.

In this quick post, I’ll share a couple of my go-to search workflows — one for researching web development topics and another for finding vector icons in a predefined style. Hopefully, it’ll inspire you to power up your own search game.

Research Web Dev Topics

This workflow lets you ask Copilot and search Stack Overflow and DuckDuckGo at the same time — giving you a broad perspective and increasing the chances of finding exactly what you need, fast.
To build this workflow, create a new screen in Freeter with the following widgets:

Query: Add a Web Query widget for entering your search terms. In its settings, set the mode to Webpage Widgets.
Copilot: Add a Webpage widget and use this URL: https://copilot.microsoft.com/?q=webdev+question%3A+QUERY
Stack Overflow: Add another Webpage widget with this URL: https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=QUERY
DuckDuckGo: One more Webpage widget, with this URL: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=webdev+question%3A+QUERY+-stackoverflow.com

Tip: The QUERY part in each URL is a placeholder. It will automatically be replaced by the text you type into the Web Query widget.

Now, when you type a development-related question, you’ll instantly get answers from Copilot, Stack Overflow, and DuckDuckGo — all in one view.

Find Vector Icons

This workflow helps you search for Black-Outline style vector icons using Flaticon, Icons8, and The Noun Project — all at once.

Here’s how to set it up:

Query: Add a Web Query widget and set it to Webpage Widgets mode.
Flaticon: Add a Webpage widget with this URL:
https://www.flaticon.com/search?word=QUERY&color=black&shape=outline
Icons8: Another Webpage widget with:
https://icons8.com/icons/set/QUERY--technique-line--mono
The Noun Project: Add a Webpage widget with:
https://thenounproject.com/search/icons/?q=QUERY&style=line

Once set up, just type in a keyword and you’ll see results from all three resources — giving you a wide selection of matching icons in seconds.

Search the Web in Ninja Mode

Now, whenever you need to find something, press Ctrl + Shift + F to bring up Freeter, open the relevant workflow tab, and run your search.

I hope this inspires you to streamline your search workflows too. To get started, visit the Freeter homepage.

How I boosted my productivity while working on multiple projects

Alex Kaul — Sun, 12 May 2024 16:07:48 +0000

As a freelance web developer, app creator and open source maintainer, I have to constantly switch back and forth between multiple workflows, such as editing code, designing mockups, managing to-do lists, searching for icons and docs, executing command lines, checking emails with different accounts and so on. Each of these switches requires a constant stream of repetitive actions:

Launch a code or image editor and open the files of a specific project in it.
Open a web browser and navigate to the project in a task manager.
Navigate to an icon website, set image filters and perform a search.
Open a web mail app and switch accounts.
Launch Terminal and enter commands into it.
etc…

Everything is scattered in different places, and turns the whole process into a real mess. And when working on multiple projects, things get even worse. I thought I could greatly improve my productivity by collecting everything I needed to get my work done in one place and organizing it into projects and workflows so that they had the right context. Projects and workflows will have clear boundaries, and switching between them will no longer be a nightmare. So I came up with Freeter, an organizer app that does just that. And recently released it as a forever free and open source project.

In this short post, I'll show you how I’ve increased my productivity with Freeter, using three workflows as examples. I hope this gives you some ideas on how you too can improve your productivity.

Workflows

First, I analyzed my workflows and everything I often do when I’m looking for something I need while working on a project:

When I’m developing an app or website, I often need to be able to access the task manager, open project files in code and image editors, search for icons and docs on specific websites, jot down quick ideas, and open the project repository in a web browser.
When I check email and Twitter DMs, I need access to the webmail and the Twitter DM page. I have multiple accounts, and need to be logged in with project specific ones.
When I release a new version of the app, I need to run the release command in the Terminal app, open the releases page in the git repository, open the task manager and open the "planned feature" post editor in the Freeter community.

Now it’s time to turn them into Freeter workflows.

App/website development

To have a quick access to the things I need to develop the app/website, I set up a workflow screen using the following widgets:

Tasks: Webpage widget, to embed the project’s task manager right into the workflow screen.
Edit Code: File Opener widget, to open the project folder in the code editing program.
Edit Mockup: File Opener widget, to open the mockup file in the image editing program.
MDN: Web Query widget, to search MDN Web Docs website.
Node.js Docs: Web Query widget, to search Node.js Docs website.
Outline Icons: Web Query widget, to search a website with icons, filtered by outline icons.
Fill Icons: Web Query widget, to search a website with icons, filtered by fill icons
Notes: Note widget, to jot down quick ideas while developing a feature.
Open Repo: Link Opener widget, to open the project repository in a web browser.
Bug Reports: Link Opener widget, to open the bug reports page in a web browser.
Feature Requests: Link Opener widget, to open the feature requests page in a web browser.

This workflow allows me to immediately switch to the development context, launch everything I need to start the development process with a simple click, quickly search docs & icons, and quickly access the task list.

Messages

To check emails and Twitter DMs, I set up a workflow using two Webpage widgets:

To embed the Google Mail inbox page.
To embed the Twitter DM page.

I also set Session Scope to Project in the widget settings so that I can be logged in under different accounts in other projects.

This workflow allows me to quickly get simultaneous access to Google Mail and Twitter DMs for project-specific accounts.

New Release

To release a new version of the app, I set up a workflow with these five widgets:

Release: Commander widget, to execute a command line in Terminal that asks for a new version number and starts a draft build of the new version.
Open Releases: Link Opener widget, to open the releases page in the web browser.
Tasks: A copy of Tasks from the App Dev workflow. I will need it to see all the Finished tasks in the current release.
Planned Features: Webpage widget, to embed the Freeter community's "planned features" page into the workflow screen. With its help, I update the planned features and post about implemented features in the new release.
Release steps: Note widget, to not forget to do something during the release.

Thanks to this workflow, I can easily release a new version and post updates about new features.

Switch between workflows like a superhero

Now, when I switch between projects and workflows, I simply press Ctrl+Shift+F to bring Freeter to the front, open the workflow tab I need at the time, and get right to work.

I hope this inspires you to organize your workflows too. To get started, visit Freeter homepage.

DEV Community: Alex Kaul