diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index f536483bc3..3161b8b127 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -182,6 +182,10 @@ html_css_files = [
     'theme_overrides.css',
 ]
 
+html_js_files = [
+    'custom.js',
+]
+
 html_context = {
     "display_gitlab": True,
     "gitlab_user": "qemu-project",
diff --git a/docs/sphinx-static/custom.js b/docs/sphinx-static/custom.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..71a8605305
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/sphinx-static/custom.js
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+document.addEventListener('keydown', (event) => {
+    // find a better way to look it up?
+    let search_input = document.getElementsByName('q')[0];
+
+    if (event.code === 'KeyS' && document.activeElement !== search_input) {
+        event.preventDefault();
+        search_input.focus();
+    }
+});