typesense-minibar

minibar is a fast 2kB autocomplete search bar for Typesense. It is an alternative to Algolia DocSearch, InstantSearch, autocomplete-js, typesense-docsearch.js, and typesense-js.

Features

Dependency-free, vanilla JavaScript
Small size, 2kB transfer size
Progressive enhancement, works without JavaScript
Responsive, mobile-first layout
Accessible, keyboard navigation, arrow keys, close on Esc or outside click
Fast, leverages preconnect (Resource Hints), LRU memory cache
Easy to install, fully declarative via HTML (zero-code setup!)
Web Component ready
CSP ready compatible with strict CSP security settings

Getting started

Demo

<typesense-minibar data-origin="" data-collection="" data-key="">
  <form role="search" action="https://duckduckgo.com">
    <input type="search" name="q" placeholder="Search..." autocomplete="off">
    <input type="hidden" name="sites" value="example.org">
  </form>
</typesense-minibar>

<link rel="stylesheet" href="typesense-minibar.css">
<script defer type="module" src="typesense-minibar.js"></script>

Distribution:

jsDelivr (browse):
typesense-minibar.js, typesense-minibar.css
UNPKG (browse):
typesense-minibar.js, typesense-minibar.css

npm: typesense-minibar

npm i --save typesense-minibar

// CommonJS
require('typesense-minibar');
// ESM
import 'typesense-minibar';

API

Markup

As HTML custom element (aka Web Component):

<typesense-minibar data-origin="" data-collection="" data-key="">
  <form role="search" action="https://duckduckgo.com">
    <input type="search" name="q" placeholder="Search..." autocomplete="off">
    <input type="hidden" name="sites" value="example.org">
  </form>
</typesense-minibar>

<typesense-minibar><form>…</form></typesense-minibar> is equivalent to <form class="tsmb-form">, which you can also use directly:

<form role="search" action="https://duckduckgo.com" class="tsmb-form"
    data-origin=""
    data-collection=""
    data-key=""
>
  <input type="search" name="q" placeholder="Search..." autocomplete="off">
  <input type="hidden" name="sites" value="example.org">
</form>

Configuration

Set these attributes on <typesense-minibar> or <form class="tsmb-form">:

data-origin (Required): Base URL to your Typesense server.

Include the https:// or http:// protocol, and (if non-default) the port number.

Example: https://typesense.example.org
data-collection (Required): Which collection to query.

Equal to the "index_name" in your docsearch.config.json file. If you index your websites with something other than docsearch-scraper, set this to the name of your Typesense collection (Typesense API).

Example: example_mine
data-key (Required): Search-only API key (Typesense API).

Example: write000less000do000more0
[data-slash=true] (Optional): Focus the input field if the / slash key is pressed.

When enabled, a keydown event listener is added to document. Key presses in <input> or <textarea> elements are safely ignored. If multiple search forms are initiatilised on the same page, the first has precedence.

Set data-slash="false" to disable this feature.
[data-group=false] (Optional): Group results under category headings.

By default, search results render in a flat list, with the lvl0 field as the page title, where lvl0 typicaly selects h1, lvl1 selects h2, and so on.

To group results by category, configure docsearch-scraper with lvl0 selecting the category (not the h1). And lvl1 should then instead select your h1 page titles.

Set data-group="true" to enable this feature.
[data-foot=false] (Optional): Include a "Search by Typesense" link in the footer.

Set data-foot="true" to enable this feature. When enabled, a plaintext link is added, styled using the Typesense brand color.

Include typesense-minibar-foot.css to render the official Typesense wordmark instead.
[data-search-params=""] (Optional): Modify search query parameters.

Each key-value pair will be added as a search query parameter, or will override the default value. This property must be a valid URL parameters sequence, e.g. "key1=value1&key2=value2".

Refer to typesense-minibar.js for the default search query parameters. Refer to Typesense documentation for all the valid parameters.
[data-no-results="No results for '{}'."] (Optional): The message to display when no results are found.

The sequence of 2 curly brackets {} will be substituted with the queried text.

Styling and theming

The accompanying stylesheet exposes CSS variables that you can override to tweak styles, without writing custom CSS. Alternatively, you can target stable selectors based on the semantic HTML.

Refer to Style API for the CSS variable names and selectors.

Compatibility

typesense-minibar	typesense-server	typesense-docsearch-scraper
1.0.x	>= 0.24	>= 0.6.0.rc1 (Tested upto: 0.9.1)

Browser support

The below matrix describes support for the enhanced JavaScript experience. The HTML experience falls back to submitting a form to DuckDuckGo, and works in all known browsers (including IE 6 and Netscape Navigator).

Browser	Policy	Version
Firefox	Current and previous version, Current and previous ESR	Firefox 74+ (2020)
Chrome	Last three years	Chrome 80+ (2020)
Edge	Last three years	Edge 80+ (2020)
Opera	Last three years	Opera 67+ (2020)
Safari	Last three years	Safari 13.1 (2020)
iOS	Last three years	iOS 13.4 (2020)

^{Notable feature requirements: ES6 syntax, ES2020 Optional chaining, ES2022 Async functions, DOM NodeList-forEach.}

Practical implications:

OS	Supported from	Running
Android	Moto G4 (2016)	Android 7.0 with Chrome 80+
Android	Samsung Galaxy S7 (2016)	Android 7.0 - 8.0
Android	Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)	Android 7.0
Android	Google Pixel 1 (2016)	Android 7.0
iOS	iPhone 6S (2015)	iOS 13.4 (2020) upto iOS 15 (2022)
Linux	Debian 9 Stretch (2018)	`firefox-esr` 91
Linux	Debian 10 Buster (2019)	`firefox-esr` 102, `chromium` 90)
Linux	Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (2018)	current `firefox`, current `chromium-browser`
macOS	OS X 10.9 Mavericks (2013-2016)	Firefox 78 ESR (2020) (Safari 7 default unsupported)
macOS	OS X 10.13 Mavericks (2017-2020)	Firefox 78 ESR (2020), Chrome 80+ (Safari 11 default unsupported)
macOS	OS X 10.15 Catalina (2019-2022)	Safari 13.1, Firefox 78 ESR (2020), Chrome 80+
Windows	Windows 7 (2009) or later	current Edge, current Firefox

Notes:

FAQ: Troubleshooting

Why is the form not interactive if I insert it later?

If you create or insert the element dynamically with JavaScript, it is recommended to write the form as a web component instead, like so:
```
<typesense-minibar>
  <form ..>..</form>
</typesense-minibar>
```
Web components automatically activate the relevant JavaScript, no matter when they are inserted on the page.

By default, typesense-minibar.js also makes sure that any <form class="tsmb-form"> elements on the page are hydrated and activated. This should catch any static element on the page (i.e. before "document ready", or the DOMContentLoaded event). This works internally by levering the fact that script execution is naturally deferred until the document is ready, via the defer and type="module" attributes on the <script> tag.
How does this prevent JavaScript errors in older browsers? What about ES5?

If you load typesense-minibar.js standalone, make sure you have the type="module" attribute on the <script> tag. Scripts with this type are naturally ignored by older browsers. The element works fine without JavaScript, following the principles of progressive enhancement. This technique is analogous to "cutting the mustard".

Feedback

For questions, bug reports, or feature requests, use the Issue tracker.