Meilisearch product search for GoCommerce

What it does

Configuration

Two settings are required: where Meilisearch is, and a key that may write to it. Set them in Config, hand them to the reference binary’s -meilisearch flag through the environment, or type them on the Plugins screen.

The module reads its Config struct, not the environment. The variable names are the ones the package’s own example or the reference binary uses; in your own main() you choose where each value comes from. Where a setting has a panel label, the admin’s settings drawer can hold it too, and a value typed there wins over Config.

Setting it up

1. Run MeilisearchBeside your database, or as a hosted instance. Note its URL and a key that may write indexes, and a search-only key if the storefront will query it directly.
2. Install the modulePass meilisearch.New to gocommerce.New, as below — or start the reference binary with -meilisearch, which reads MEILI_HOST, MEILI_API_KEY and MEILI_SEARCH_KEY.
3. Switch it onWith a host and key in Config it starts switched on. Otherwise enable Meilisearch on the Plugins screen and fill in the URL and key there.
4. SearchThe first poll is a full sync. The storefront calls GET /x/meilisearch/search?q=… with optional limit, offset, filter and sort, and gets Meilisearch’s hits back.

import (
	"os"

	"github.com/itswadesh/gocommerce/core"
	meilisearch "github.com/itswadesh/gocommerce/ext/search-meilisearch"
)

app, err := gocommerce.New(cfg, meilisearch.New(meilisearch.Config{
	Host:      os.Getenv("MEILI_HOST"),
	APIKey:    os.Getenv("MEILI_API_KEY"),
	SearchKey: os.Getenv("MEILI_SEARCH_KEY"),
}))

How it works

• A worker, not a hook

  Every 30 seconds the worker sends the products whose updated_at is newer than the last sync. The first poll after start, and every twentieth after that, is a full pass that also removes what the catalogue no longer holds.

• Archived means removed

  A product that is no longer active is deleted from the index on the next pass, so a draft or archived product stops appearing in results without a rebuild.

• Rebuild from the admin

  POST /api/admin/x/meilisearch/reindex runs a full sync on demand. GET /api/admin/x/meilisearch/status reports whether the index is on, configured and in step, with counts and the last error.

• A search route with no key

  GET /x/meilisearch/search takes q, limit (up to 100, 20 by default), offset, filter and sort, queries with the search-only key or the API key, and returns hits, total and processing time. It answers 404 while search is off.

• Index settings, set for you

  A full sync creates the index with id as its primary key and sets searchable attributes (title first, then SKUs, vendor, type, tags, category, options, description), filters and sorts on price, stock, category and the rest.

• One sync at a time

  A sync asked for while another runs in the same process is refused with “a sync is already running” — the reindex route answers 409 — rather than overlapping it.

What it does not do

Read these before an order depends on it. No store is known to run GoCommerce in production yet, so these come from the code, not from anyone’s experience.

• Variant edits wait for a full passThe incremental pass picks products by their own updated_at, and a price or stock change is written to the variant, not the product. It reaches the index at the next full pass — ten minutes at the defaults — or on a manual rebuild.
• Sending is not indexingMeilisearch applies document writes as background tasks. The module sends them and does not wait for those tasks, so the indexed count on the status route is a count of documents sent.
• State lives in the processThe last sync time and the counts are held in memory: a restart forgets them, and its first poll is a full sync. Several instances each run a worker and push the same documents.
• The default language onlyDocuments hold the catalogue’s stored copy. Text from the translations module is not indexed, so a French shopper searches the default language.
• Config values are not publishedHost and search key reach the storefront through GET /api/plugins only when typed into the panel. Values set in Config are used by the store but not handed out.
• Config.Index is ignoredThe panel’s index field has a default of its own, and the module reads the panel first — so an index name set only in Config never takes effect. Name the index on the Plugins screen.
• Five query parametersThe search route passes q, limit, offset, filter and sort, and nothing else — facet counts and highlighting mean querying Meilisearch directly with the search-only key.