Add app shortcuts

In one line: the manifest shortcuts member lets a PWA’s icon present a context menu (for example via right-clicking or long-pressing it) with quick-action entries, so choosing one navigates the user directly to a specific in-scope URL.

1. Declare shortcuts in the manifest

Per the W3C spec, each entry in the shortcuts array requires a name and a url; short_name, description, and icons are optional:

{
  "shortcuts": [
    {
      "name": "New Invoice",
      "short_name": "New",
      "description": "Create a new invoice",
      "url": "/app/invoice/new",
      "icons": [
        { "src": "/icons/shortcut-new.png", "sizes": "96x96", "type": "image/png" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "Dashboard",
      "url": "/app/dashboard"
    }
  ]
}

2. Keep every shortcut url in scope

The W3C spec requires every shortcut’s url to be within the manifest’s scope; a url outside scope is not honored. Within that constraint, MDN describes shortcuts as direct navigation to a frequently used feature or page — the spec does not also require that destination to be reachable from the app’s regular in-app navigation, so a shortcut-only entry point is fine as long as it stays in scope.

Browser & ecosystem support

• Legend
• Yes
• Partial
• Flag
• No
• Unknown

Browser / Platform	Support	Versions	Confidence	Source	Notes
Chrome (Android)	Yes	85	low	source	—
Chrome (Desktop)	Yes	96	low	source	—
Edge (Desktop)	Yes	96	low	source	—
Samsung Internet	Yes	14.0	low	source	—
Firefox (Desktop)	No	—	low	source	1
Safari (iOS)	No	—	low	source	2
Safari (macOS)	Yes	17.4	low	source	—

1. No desktop install path consuming shortcuts.
2. Not supported on iOS.

Source data: /compatibility/manifest-shortcuts.json · Global usage: 81 % (StatCounter 2026-05)

Source: spec · MDN · Last verified 2026-07-11 · Confidence: low (computed from sources)

Per Can I Use, global browser-usage support for the shortcuts manifest member is about 80% (79.97% full support plus 0.05% partial), so treat the OS shortcuts menu as a convenience layer on top of your normal navigation, not the only path to a feature.

Detecting support and falling back

Per the W3C spec, the user agent or operating system decides how shortcuts are presented and how many shortcuts are shown to a user — there is no JavaScript API that reports whether the current browser or OS will expose an OS-level shortcuts menu at all. What a page can check is its own manifest object, guarding against a missing or malformed shortcuts array before deciding what to show:

function hasDeclaredShortcuts(manifest) {
  if (!('shortcuts' in manifest) || !Array.isArray(manifest.shortcuts) || manifest.shortcuts.length === 0) {
    // No shortcuts declared in the manifest — nothing for an OS menu to expose.
    return false;
  }
  return true;
}

That only confirms what your own manifest declares, not whether the visitor’s browser and OS will actually surface it — so the real fallback is unconditional: always render an always-visible in-app quick-actions menu as a companion entry point, regardless of hasDeclaredShortcuts()’s result, so every visitor has equivalent access whether or not their browser and OS also expose an OS-level menu.

Practical checklist

• Every shortcut url is within the manifest scope — an out-of-scope url is not honored, per the W3C spec.
• name is required on every entry; keep it short enough to display without truncation on the narrowest supported platform.
• Order shortcuts by importance — per the W3C spec, how many are shown and whether the list is truncated is left to the user agent and operating system.
• Always render an in-app quick-actions equivalent — per the W3C spec, presentation of the OS shortcuts menu is left entirely to the user agent and operating system.
• Do not assume every visitor gets the OS shortcuts menu — Can I Use reports about 80% global browser-usage support for the feature.

Where to go next

• Manifest shortcuts reference — full shortcut object syntax and per-platform display limits.
• manifest: shortcuts support — per-browser compatibility data for this manifest member.