Local Search Architecture

Docboot provides client-side documentation search powered by MiniSearch:

No external search service and no per-query network requests.
Search runs locally in the browser after the pre-compiled index is loaded on demand.

How Search Works #

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       Build Pipeline                        │
│                                                             │
│  Markdown Files ──► Build-Time Indexer ──► search-index.json│
└──────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
                               │
                               ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                      Client Runtime                         │
│                                                             │
│  Cmd + K ──► Lazy-load index & MiniSearch ──► Local Queries │
│                                                             │
│  Zero network requests per keystroke ──► Deep Section Links │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

1. Build-Time Extraction: During docboot build (or dev mode), pages are parsed into granular section-level records (page title, section heading, text snippet, URL anchor #).
2. Deterministic Indexing: The index JSON is compressed and hashed into dist/assets/search-index.json.
3. On-Demand Lazy Loading: The MiniSearch JavaScript runtime and search index are not loaded until the user opens search for the first time via Cmd + K, Ctrl + K, or clicking the search trigger.
4. Local Query Evaluation: Once loaded, all typing, fuzzy matching, and prefix searches execute in memory inside the browser without sending queries across the network.

Keyboard Shortcuts #

Search Features #

• Section-Level Deep Links: Direct permalinks to specific headings (/guide/rich-content#safe-embeds) rather than only full page roots.
• Typo Tolerance & Fuzzy Matching: Accidental misspellings still resolve relevant articles.
• Weighted Relevance Scoring: Results are ranked by boosting title (5x), headings (3x), section (2x), and text (1x).
• Mobile Responsive: Sleek touch-friendly icon trigger on mobile viewports; full search bar on desktop.

Customizing Search Configuration #

You can tune search parameters in docboot.config.js:

export default {
  search: {
    fuzzy: 0.2,       // Fuzzy matching threshold (0 = exact, 0.2 = standard)
    prefix: true,      // Prefix search (matches partial words as you type)
    maxResults: 10,    // Maximum number of visible results
    minQueryLength: 2  // Minimum characters before search executes
  }
};

Next Steps #

• Rich Content Primitives — Callouts, tabs, and details
• Themes & Customization — Dark/light modes and color palettes
• Architecture & Runtime — Deep dive into build and client architecture