Search Plugin

This plugin generates records of your documents that are extremely fast to search on. It does so by creating a new search collection that is indexed in the database then saving a static copy of each of your documents using only search-critical data. Search records are automatically created, synced, and deleted behind-the-scenes as you manage your application's documents.

For example, if you have a posts collection that is extremely large and complex, this would allow you to sync just the title, excerpt, and slug of each post so you can query on that instead of the original post directly. Search records are static, so querying them also has the significant advantage of bypassing any hooks that may present be on the original documents. You define exactly what data is synced, and you can even modify or fallback this data before it is saved on a per-document basis.

To query search results, use all the existing Payload APIs that you are already familiar with. You can also prioritize search results by setting a custom priority for each collection. For example, you may want to list blog posts before pages. Or you may want one specific post to always take appear first. Search records are given a priority field that can be used as the ?sort= parameter in your queries.

This plugin is a great way to implement a fast, immersive search experience such as a search bar in a front-end application. Many applications may not need the power and complexity of a third-party service like Algolia or ElasticSearch. This plugin provides a first-party alternative that is easy to set up and runs entirely on your own database.

Core Features

Automatically adds an indexed search collection to your database
Automatically creates, syncs, and deletes search records as you manage your documents
Saves only search-critical data that you define (e.g. title, excerpt, etc.)
Allows you to query search results using first-party Payload APIs
Allows you to query documents without triggering any of their underlying hooks
Allows you to easily prioritize search results by collection or document

Installation

Install the plugin using any JavaScript package manager like Yarn, NPM, or PNPM:

1pnpm add @payloadcms/plugin-search

Basic Usage

In the plugins array of your Payload Config, call the plugin with options:

1import { buildConfig } from 'payload'
2import { searchPlugin } from '@payloadcms/plugin-search'
3
4const config = buildConfig({
collections: [
  {
    slug: 'pages',
    fields: [],
  },
  {
    slug: 'posts',
    fields: [],
  },
],
plugins: [
  searchPlugin({
    collections: ['pages', 'posts'],
    defaultPriorities: {
      pages: 10,
      posts: 20,
    },
  }),
],
24})
25
26export default config

Options

`collections`

The collections property is an array of collection slugs to enable syncing to search. Enabled collections receive a beforeChange and afterDelete hook that creates, updates, and deletes its respective search record as it changes over time.

`localize`

By default, the search plugin will add localization: true to the title field of the newly added search collection if you have localization enabled. If you would like to disable this behavior, you can set this to false.

`defaultPriorities`

This plugin automatically adds a priority field to the search collection that can be used as the ?sort= parameter in your queries. For example, you may want to list blog posts before pages. Or you may want one specific post to always take appear first.

The defaultPriorities property is used to set a fallback priority on search records during the create operation. It accepts an object with keys that are your collection slugs and values that can either be a number or a function that returns a number. The function receives the doc as an argument, which is the document being created.

1// payload.config.ts
2{
// ...
searchPlugin({
  defaultPriorities: {
    pages: ({ doc }) => (doc.title.startsWith('Hello, world!') ? 1 : 10),
    posts: 20,
  },
}),
10}

`searchOverrides`

This plugin automatically creates the search collection, but you can override anything on this collection via the searchOverrides property. It accepts anything from the Payload Collection Config and merges it in with the default search collection config provided by the plugin.

Note that the fields property is a function that receives an object with a defaultFields key. This is an array of fields that are automatically added to the search collection. You can modify this array or add new fields to it.

1// payload.config.ts
2{
// ...
searchPlugin({
  searchOverrides: {
    slug: 'search-results',
    fields: ({ defaultFields }) => [
      ...defaultFields,
      {
        name: 'excerpt',
        type: 'textarea',
        admin: {
          position: 'sidebar',
        },
      },
    ],
  },
}),
19}

`beforeSync`

Before creating or updating a search record, the beforeSync function runs. This is an afterChange hook that allows you to modify the data or provide fallbacks before its search record is created or updated.

1// payload.config.ts
2{
// ...
searchPlugin({
  beforeSync: ({ originalDoc, searchDoc }) => ({
    ...searchDoc,
    // - Modify your docs in any way here, this can be async
    // - You also need to add the `excerpt` field in the `searchOverrides` config
    excerpt: originalDoc?.excerpt || 'This is a fallback excerpt',
  }),
}),
12}

1import type { SearchConfig, BeforeSync } from '@payloadcms/plugin-search/types'

See what others are building with Payload.

"Payload has transformed the way our clients manage content. It's an indispensable tool for any modern agency."

Deploy your entire stack in one place with Payload Cloud.

Microsoft chose Payload to tell the world about AI.