# app-search-javascript

**Repository Path**: mirrors_elastic/app-search-javascript

## Basic Information

- **Project Name**: app-search-javascript
- **Description**: Elastic App Search Official JavaScript Client 
- **Primary Language**: Unknown
- **License**: Apache-2.0
- **Default Branch**: master
- **Homepage**: None
- **GVP Project**: No

## Statistics

- **Stars**: 0
- **Forks**: 0
- **Created**: 2020-08-08
- **Last Updated**: 2025-09-20

## Categories & Tags

**Categories**: Uncategorized

**Tags**: None

## README

<p align="center"><img src="https://github.com/elastic/app-search-javascript/blob/master/logo-app-search.png?raw=true" alt="Elastic App Search Logo"></p>

<p align="center"><a href="https://circleci.com/gh/elastic/app-search-javascript"><img src="https://circleci.com/gh/elastic/app-search-javascript.svg?style=svg" alt="CircleCI buidl"></a></p>

> A first-party JavaScript client for building excellent, relevant search experiences with [Elastic App Search](https://www.elastic.co/products/app-search).

## Contents

- [Getting started](#getting-started-)
- [Versioning](#versioning)
- [Browser support](#browser-support)
- [Usage](#usage)
- [Running tests](#running-tests)
- [Development](#development)
- [FAQ](#faq-)
- [Contribute](#contribute-)
- [License](#license-)

---

## Getting started 🐣

### Install from a CDN

The easiest way to install this client is to simply include the built distribution from the [jsDelivr](https://www.jsdelivr.com/) CDN.

```html
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@elastic/app-search-javascript@8.13.0/dist/elastic_app_search.umd.js"></script>
```

This will make the client available globally at:

```javascript
window.ElasticAppSearch;
```

### Install from NPM

This package can also be installed with `npm` or `yarn`.

```
npm install --save @elastic/app-search-javascript
```

The client could then be included into your project like follows:

```javascript
// CommonJS
var ElasticAppSearch = require("@elastic/app-search-javascript");

// ES
import * as ElasticAppSearch from "@elastic/app-search-javascript";
```

## Versioning

This client is versioned and released alongside App Search.

To guarantee compatibility, use the most recent version of this library within the major version of the corresponding App Search implementation.

For example, for App Search `7.3`, use `7.3` of this library or above, but not `8.0`.

If you are using the [SaaS version available on swiftype.com](https://app.swiftype.com/as) of App Search, you should use the version 7.5.x of the client.

## Browser support

The client is compatible with all modern browsers.

Note that this library depends on the [Fetch API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Fetch_API).

This is not supported by Internet Explorer. If you need backwards compatibility
for Internet Explorer, you'll need to polyfill the Fetch API with something
like https://github.com/github/fetch.

## Usage

### Setup: Configuring the client and authentication

Using this client assumes that you have already an instance of [Elastic App Search](https://www.elastic.co/products/app-search) up and running.

The client is configured using the `searchKey`, `endpointBase`, and `engineName` parameters.

```javascript
var client = ElasticAppSearch.createClient({
  searchKey: "search-mu75psc5egt9ppzuycnc2mc3",
  endpointBase: "http://127.0.0.1:3002",
  engineName: "favorite-videos"
});
```

\* Please note that you should only ever use a **Public Search Key** within Javascript code on the browser. By default, your account should have a Key prefixed with `search-` that is read-only. More information can be found in the [documentation](https://swiftype.com/documentation/app-search/authentication).

### Swiftype.com App Search users:

When using the [SaaS version available on swiftype.com](https://app.swiftype.com/as) of App Search, you can configure the client using your `hostIdentifier` instead of the `endpointBase` parameter.
The `hostIdentifier` can be found within the [Credentials](https://app.swiftype.com/as#/credentials) menu.

```javascript
var client = ElasticAppSearch.createClient({
  hostIdentifier: "host-c5s2mj",
  searchKey: "search-mu75psc5egt9ppzuycnc2mc3",
  engineName: "favorite-videos"
});
```

### List of configuration options:

| Option            | Required | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| ----------------- | -------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| hostIdentifier    | No       | Your **Host Identifier**, should start with `host-`. Required unless explicitly setting `endpointBase`                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| searchKey         | No       | Your **Public Search Key**. It should start with `search-`.<br/><br/>NOTE: This is not _technically_ required, but in 99% of cases it should be provided. There is a small edge case for not providing this, mainly useful for internal App Search usage, where this can be ommited in order to leverage App Search's session based authentication. |
| engineName        | Yes      |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| endpointBase      | No       | Overrides the base of the App Search API endpoint completely. Useful when proxying the App Search API, developing against a local server, or a Self-Managed or Cloud Deployment. Ex. "http://localhost:3002"                                                                                                                                        |
| cacheResponses    | No       | Whether or not API responses should be cached. Default: `true`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| additionalHeaders | No       | An Object with keys and values that will be converted to header names and values on all API requests                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |

### API Methods

This client is a thin interface to the Elastic App Search API. Additional details for requests and responses can be
found in the [documentation](https://swiftype.com/documentation/app-search).

#### Searching

For the query term `lion`, a search call is constructed as follows:

```javascript
var options = {
  search_fields: { title: {} },
  result_fields: { id: { raw: {} }, title: { raw: {} } }
};

client
  .search("lion", options)
  .then(resultList => {
    resultList.results.forEach(result => {
      console.log(`id: ${result.getRaw("id")} raw: ${result.getRaw("title")}`);
    });
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(`error: ${error}`);
  });
```

Note that `options` supports all options listed here: https://swiftype.com/documentation/app-search/guides/search.

In addition to the supported options above, we also support the following fields:

| Name                           | Type          | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| ------------------------------ | ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| disjunctiveFacets              | Array[String] | An array of field names. Every field listed here must also be provided as a facet in the `facet` field. It denotes that a facet should be considered disjunctive. When returning counts for disjunctive facets, the counts will be returned as if no filter is applied on this field, even if one is applied. |
| disjunctiveFacetsAnalyticsTags | Array[String] | Used in conjunction with the `disjunctiveFacets` parameter. Queries will be tagged with "Facet-Only" in the Analytics Dashboard unless specified here.                                                                                                                                                        |

_Response_

The search method returns the response wrapped in a `ResultList` type:

```javascript
ResultList {
  rawResults: [], // List of raw `results` from JSON response
  rawInfo: { // Object wrapping the raw `meta` property from JSON response
    meta: {}
  },
  results: [ResultItem], // List of `results` wrapped in `ResultItem` type
  info: { // Currently the same as `rawInfo`
    meta: {}
  }
}

ResultItem {
  getRaw(fieldName), // Returns the HTML-unsafe raw value for a field, if it exists
  getSnippet(fieldName) // Returns the HTML-safe snippet value for a field, if it exists
}
```

#### Query Suggestion

```javascript
var options = {
  size: 3,
  types: {
    documents: {
      fields: ["name"]
    }
  }
};

client
  .querySuggestion("cat", options)
  .then(response => {
    response.results.documents.forEach(document => {
      console.log(document.suggestion);
    });
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(`error: ${error}`);
  });
```

#### Multi Search

It is possible to run multiple queries at once using the `multiSearch` method.

To search for the term `lion` and `tiger`, a search call is constructed as follows:

```javascript
var options = {
  search_fields: { name: {} },
  result_fields: { id: { raw: {} }, title: { raw: {} } }
};

client
  .multiSearch([{ query: "node", options }, { query: "java", options }])
  .then(allResults => {
    allResults.forEach(resultList => {
      resultList.results.forEach(result => {
        console.log(
          `id: ${result.getRaw("id")} raw: ${result.getRaw("title")}`
        );
      });
    });
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(`error: ${error}`);
  });
```

#### Clickthrough Tracking

```javascript
client
  .click({
    query: "lion",
    documentId: "1234567",
    requestId: "8b55561954484f13d872728f849ffd22",
    tags: ["Animal"]
  })
  .catch(error => {
    console.log(`error: ${error}`);
  });
```

Clickthroughs can be tracked by binding `client.click` calls to click events on individual search result links.

The following example shows how this can be implemented declaratively by annotating links with class and data attributes.

```javascript
document.addEventListener("click", function(e) {
  const el = e.target;
  if (!el.classList.contains("track-click")) return;

  client.click({
    query: el.getAttribute("data-query"),
    documentId: el.getAttribute("data-document-id"),
    requestId: el.getAttribute("data-request-id"),
    tags: [el.getAttribute("data-tag")]
  });
});
```

```html
<a
  href="/items/1234567"
  class="track-click"
  data-request-id="8b55561954484f13d872728f849ffd22"
  data-document-id="1234567"
  data-query="lion"
  data-tag="Animal"
>
  Item 1
</a>
```

## Running tests

The specs in this project use [node-replay](https://github.com/assaf/node-replay) to capture responses.

The responses are then checked against Jest snapshots.

To capture new responses and update snapshots, run:

```
nvm use
REPLAY=record npm run test -u
```

To run tests:

```
nvm use
npm run test
```

## Development

### Node

You will probably want to install a node version manager, like nvm.

We depend upon the version of node defined in [.nvmrc](.nvmrc).

To install and use the correct node version with nvm:

```
nvm install
```

### Dev Server

Install dependencies:

```bash
nvm use
npm install
```

Build artifacts in `dist` directory:

```bash
# This will create files in the `dist` directory
npm run build
```

Add an `index.html` file to your `dist` directory

```html
<html>
  <head>
    <script src="elastic_app_search.umd.js"></script>
  </head>
  <body>

  </body>
</html>
```

Run dev server:

```bash
# This will serve files in the `dist` directory
npm run dev
```

Navigate to http://127.0.0.1:8080 and execute JavaScript commands through the browser Dev Console.

### Build

```
nvm use
npm run build
```

### Publish

```
nvm use
npm run publish
```

## FAQ 🔮

### What if I need write operations?

App Search has a first-party [Node.js](https://github.com/elastic/app-search-node) client which supports write operations like indexing.

### Where do I report issues with the client?

If something is not working as expected, please open an [issue](https://github.com/elastic/app-search-javascript/issues/new).

### Where can I learn more about App Search?

Your best bet is to read the [documentation](https://swiftype.com/documentation/app-search).

### Where else can I go to get help?

You can checkout the [Elastic App Search community discuss forums](https://discuss.elastic.co/c/app-search).

## Contribute 🚀

We welcome contributors to the project. Before you begin, a couple notes...

- Prior to opening a pull request, please create an issue to [discuss the scope of your proposal](https://github.com/elastic/app-search-javascript/issues).
- Please write simple code and concise documentation, when appropriate.

## License 📗

[Apache 2.0](https://github.com/elastic/app-search-javascript/blob/master/LICENSE.txt) © [Elastic](https://github.com/elastic)

Thank you to all the [contributors](https://github.com/elastic/app-search-javascript/graphs/contributors)!