Recipe

Algolia primer

Instant search that feels like magic — wire Algolia into your Meridian dashboard in under an hour.

What you'll build

A typeahead search bar that indexes your user-facing content — docs, products, or user profiles — and returns results in single-digit milliseconds. No backend search endpoints, no database full-text indexes.

Ingredients

Algolia free tier account
Your Meridian project with a data source
algoliasearch npm package
One API route for the secured search key

Step 1 — Index your records

Push JSON objects to Algolia from a build script or webhook. Each record needs an objectID and the fields you want searchable. Keep payloads small — Algolia charges by record size and operation count.

Step 2 — Generate a secured API key

Never expose your admin key to the browser. Create an API route that returns a time-limited, index-restricted search key signed with your private API key. Pass it to the frontend on page load.

Step 3 — Wire the search UI

Instantiate the Algolia client with your app ID and the secured key. Attach it to an input. Debounce keystrokes by 150ms. Render hits in a dropdown positioned absolutely below the input. Highlight matching text with the built-in snippet engine.

Gotchas

Secured keys are HMAC-signed — tampering invalidates them instantly.
Free tier caps at 10k records and 10k search requests per month.
Re-index on data change. Stale search results erode trust fast.

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