Getting Started

Welcome to the Typesense Search Plugin for Payload CMS! This guide will help you get up and running quickly.

What is Typesense Search Plugin?

The Typesense Search Plugin is a powerful, production-ready search solution that integrates Typesense with Payload CMS. It provides:

• Lightning-fast search with sub-millisecond response times
• Typo tolerance and intelligent ranking
• Flexible search patterns - single collection, multiple collections, or all collections
• Real-time synchronization with Payload CMS
• Single React component supporting all search patterns with complete UI control
• Built-in caching for optimal performance

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

• Node.js 22.19.0+ or 20.9.0+
• Payload CMS 3.37.0+
• Typesense 0.25.2+
• pnpm (recommended) or npm/yarn

Installation

1. Install the Plugin

# Using pnpm (recommended)
pnpm add typesense-search-plugin

# Using npm
npm install typesense-search-plugin

# Using yarn
yarn add typesense-search-plugin

2. Set Up Typesense

Option A: Docker Compose (Recommended)

Create a docker-compose.yml file in your project root:

version: '3.8'
services:
  typesense:
    image: typesense/typesense:0.25.2
    ports:
      - '8108:8108'
    volumes:
      - ./typesense-data:/data
    command: '--data-dir /data --api-key=xyz --enable-cors'

Then run:

docker-compose up -d

Option B: Manual Docker Setup

docker run -p 8108:8108 \
  -v $(pwd)/typesense-data:/data \
  typesense/typesense:0.25.2 \
  --data-dir /data \
  --api-key=xyz \
  --enable-cors

3. Configure Payload CMS

Add the plugin to your Payload configuration:

import { buildConfig } from 'payload/config'
import { typesenseSearch } from 'typesense-search-plugin'

export default buildConfig({
  // ... your existing config
  plugins: [
    typesenseSearch({
      typesense: {
        apiKey: 'xyz',
        nodes: [{ host: 'localhost', port: 8108, protocol: 'http' }],
      },
      collections: {
        // Configure your collections here
      },
    }),
  ],
})

Next Steps

Now that you have the basics set up, you can:

1. Configure your collections for search
2. Add React components to your UI
3. Explore the API for advanced usage
4. Customize the search behavior

Need Help?

If you run into any issues:

1. Check the Troubleshooting guide
2. Look at the API documentation
3. Report an issue on GitHub

Happy searching! 🚀