---
title: Search
description: Keep models in a search index with beachcomber, synced after commit behind a kill-switch, and re-check the candidate IDs a search returns in SQL.
section: services
order: 140
---
# Search

[beachcomber](../../modules/beachcomber/README.md) is the SummerCMS counterpart of Laravel Scout, as WinterCMS applications use it without a queue. A model opts in by implementing `beachcomber.Searchable`; after a write of such a model commits, its row is reloaded and its document written to, or removed from, the search index. A search asks the index for matching IDs, and the application loads the rows from the database.

## Engines

`search.driver` selects the engine. The default, `null`, indexes nothing and finds nothing. The `typesense` engine, from the `beachcomber/typesense` package, talks to a Typesense server over its HTTP API. An engine registers itself from its package's `init` function, so the application imports the engine package for its side effect; an unknown name stops the start-up. `search.prefix` is prepended to every index name, for example to keep staging and production apart on one server:

```go src=modules/beachcomber/example_test.go#ExampleFrom
cfg, err := compass.Open(compass.Options{Dir: "config", Env: "development", Environ: []string{}})
if err != nil {
	fmt.Println(err)
	return
}
_ = cfg.Set("search.prefix", "staging_")
svc, err := beachcomber.From(backpack.New(cfg)) // search.driver defaults to null
if err != nil {
	fmt.Println(err)
	return
}
fmt.Println(svc.Engine().Name(), svc.Engine().Configured(), svc.IndexName(&Post{}))
ids, err := svc.Engine().SearchIDs(context.Background(), svc.IndexName(&Post{}), beachcomber.Query{Q: "go"})
fmt.Println(ids, err)

_ = cfg.Set("search.driver", "elastic")
_, err = beachcomber.From(backpack.New(cfg))
fmt.Println(err != nil)
// Output:
// null false staging_acme_blog_posts
// [] <nil>
// true
```

An engine implements `beachcomber.Engine` and registers with `beachcomber.RegisterEngine`. The examples on this page use a small in-memory engine that matches titles:

```go src=modules/beachcomber/example_test.go#memoryEngine.SearchIDs
func (e *memoryEngine) SearchIDs(ctx context.Context, index string, q beachcomber.Query) ([]string, error) {
	e.mu.Lock()
	defer e.mu.Unlock()
	ids := []string{}
	for id, d := range e.docs[index] {
		if strings.Contains(strings.ToLower(fmt.Sprint(d["title"])), strings.ToLower(q.Q)) {
			ids = append(ids, id)
		}
	}
	slices.Sort(ids)
	return ids, nil
}
```

## Searchable models

A model implements `beachcomber.Searchable` with three methods, and needs no import of beachcomber to do so:

```go src=modules/beachcomber/example_test.go#Post.SearchableAs
// SearchableAs is the index name, before search.prefix.
func (Post) SearchableAs() string { return "acme_blog_posts" }
```

```go src=modules/beachcomber/example_test.go#Post.ShouldBeSearchable
// ShouldBeSearchable keeps drafts out of the index.
func (p *Post) ShouldBeSearchable() bool { return p.Published }
```

```go src=modules/beachcomber/example_test.go#Post.ToSearchableArray
// ToSearchableArray builds the document from the committed row.
func (p *Post) ToSearchableArray(ctx context.Context, db *gorm.DB) (map[string]any, error) {
	return map[string]any{
		"id":      strconv.FormatUint(uint64(p.ID), 10),
		"blog_id": int64(p.BlogID),
		"title":   p.Title,
	}, nil
}
```

`ToSearchableArray` runs after the commit on a fresh copy of the row, so it may query related rows. A row whose `ShouldBeSearchable` is false, a soft-deleted row and a deleted row have their documents removed. A model can also implement `beachcomber.IndexSchemaProvider`, the schema the engine creates a missing index with, and `beachcomber.SearchKeyer`, a document key other than the primary key.

## Sync after commit

`beachcomber.From` installs GORM callbacks that register the sync with `lagoon.AfterCommit`:

- Inside `lagoon.Transaction`, the sync runs after the commit, and never after a rollback.
- A single-statement write syncs after GORM commits it.
- Inside a plain GORM transaction the sync is skipped with a warning, because the commit cannot be observed. Wrap such writes in `lagoon.Transaction`, or call `beachcomber.Service.Sync` after the commit.

The sync runs inline in the writing goroutine, so a search right after a save finds the document, and it is bounded by the engine's timeout. It is never fatal: a failure is logged as `search: sync failed` with the index, key and operation, never the document or the API key, and the write stays committed. A write without a primary key value, such as `Model(&Post{}).Where(...).Updates(...)`, cannot be synced row by row; bulk paths call `beachcomber.Service.Sync` and `beachcomber.Service.Remove` per row, or reindex.

## The kill-switch

Nothing is sent when the engine is not configured (the `null` engine, or Typesense without an API key), when no database is published, or when the application's `beachcomber.Gate` reports off. Install the gate from a plugin's `Boot`. A gate must treat a read error as off:

```go src=modules/beachcomber/example_test.go#gate
svc.SetGate(beachcomber.GateFunc(func(ctx context.Context, db *gorm.DB) bool {
	var enabled bool
	err := db.WithContext(ctx).Raw(`SELECT search_enabled FROM acme_blog_settings WHERE id = 1`).Scan(&enabled).Error
	return err == nil && enabled
}))
```

## Searching

`beachcomber.Engine.SearchIDs` returns the IDs of matching documents, in the engine's order. They are candidates, not answers: the index can be stale (a write it missed, a document from before a permission change) and its filters are only as good as the document. Re-check every ID in SQL, with the same ownership, visibility and soft-delete conditions the rest of the API applies, before a row reaches a response:

```go src=modules/beachcomber/example_test.go#search
ids, err := svc.Engine().SearchIDs(ctx, svc.IndexName(&Post{}), beachcomber.Query{
	Q:        term,
	QueryBy:  []string{"title"},
	FilterBy: "blog_id:=" + strconv.FormatUint(uint64(blogID), 10),
})
if err != nil {
	return nil, err
}
// The ids are candidates from an index that may be stale or loosely
// filtered: re-check every one in SQL before exposing a row.
var posts []Post
err = db.WithContext(ctx).
	Where("id IN ? AND blog_id = ? AND published", ids, blogID).
	Order("id").
	Find(&posts).Error
return posts, err
```

An empty result is an empty list, never an error.

> [!WARNING]
> Never return rows, or even counts, straight from search IDs. A stale index would otherwise show a draft, a deleted record or another user's data.

## Typesense

The Typesense engine follows the Scout Typesense wire contract, so indexes built by a WinterCMS application can be searched by the port:

```yaml
driver: typesense
typesense:
  host: 127.0.0.1
  port: 8108
  protocol: http
```

in `config/search.yaml`, with the key in `SUMMER_SEARCH__TYPESENSE__API_KEY`. Without an API key nothing is ever sent. A search is one request to the collection's search endpoint, and the engine returns the hit IDs in Typesense's order:

```go src=modules/beachcomber/typesense/example_test.go#ExampleEngine_SearchIDs
// A stand-in Typesense node.
node := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	q := r.URL.Query()
	fmt.Println(r.Method, r.URL.Path, "key sent:", r.Header.Get("X-TYPESENSE-API-KEY") != "")
	fmt.Println("q", q.Get("q"), "query_by", q.Get("query_by"), "filter_by", q.Get("filter_by"))
	fmt.Fprint(w, `{"hits":[{"document":{"id":"3"}},{"document":{"id":"1"}}]}`)
}))
defer node.Close()
u, _ := url.Parse(node.URL)
port, _ := strconv.Atoi(u.Port())

engine := typesense.New(typesense.Config{
	APIKey:            "test-only-key", // SUMMER_SEARCH__TYPESENSE__API_KEY
	Host:              u.Hostname(),
	Port:              port,
	Protocol:          "http",
	ConnectionTimeout: 2 * time.Second,
})
ids, err := engine.SearchIDs(context.Background(), "acme_blog_posts", beachcomber.Query{
	Q:        "go",
	QueryBy:  []string{"title"},
	FilterBy: "blog_id:=7",
})
fmt.Println(ids, err)

// Without an API key the engine is not configured and nothing is sent.
fmt.Println(typesense.New(typesense.Config{}).Configured())
// Output:
// GET /collections/acme_blog_posts/documents/search key sent: true
// q go query_by title filter_by blog_id:=7
// [3 1] <nil>
// false
```

Each request times out after `search.typesense.connection_timeout_seconds` (2 seconds by default). A failed answer is a `typesense.StatusError` with the method, path and status, never the answer body.