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Integrate Swiftype with Strapi

Integrating Swiftype with Strapi isn't all that difficult. Follow this handy guide.

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    These integration guides are not official documentation and the Strapi Support Team will not provide assistance with them.

    Introduction to Swiftype and Strapi

    Swiftype is a search platform that adds advanced search functionality to applications. It provides tools for fast and relevant search capabilities, helping users find content efficiently. Swiftype can index content from various sources and offers APIs for integrating search features into applications.

    Combining Swiftype with Strapi provides content management with advanced search functionality. By indexing Strapi content in Swiftype, developers can enhance the user search experience. Integrating the two involves setting up Swiftype to receive content from Strapi and implementing search features in the frontend using Swiftype's APIs.

    Why Use Strapi with Swiftype

    Enhance Search Functionality

    Swiftype provides features like relevance tuning, real-time indexing, and analytics, enabling fast and accurate search results. Strapi's new Rich-Text Editor with Content Blocks enhances the content creation process with features like a real WYSIWYG field, drag-and-drop for rearranging paragraphs, and Notion-like shortcuts, making content creation more intuitive and efficient.

    Achieve Smooth Integration

    Strapi's customizable API and webhooks, along with Strapi JWT Authentication, offer a robust solution for managing content updates and security.

    Improve User Experience

    Swiftype's advanced capabilities allow users to quickly find needed information, enhancing engagement. This is particularly beneficial for frontend developers and headless CMS, as features like synonym matching and result weighting deliver more relevant search results.

    Key Features of Swiftype

    Utilize Efficient Search Algorithms

    Swiftype's efficient algorithms deliver accurate and relevant results, improving user experience by helping users find content quickly.

    Simplify Content Indexing

    With Swiftype's API, you can easily index Strapi content. Recent updates in Strapi, such as those in version 3.4.0, have improved data management by displaying relational fields in the list view. This allows users to manage content more efficiently by viewing, filtering, sorting, and customizing relational fields, which enhances navigation and understanding of data entries. By creating scripts or services in Strapi, content is automatically indexed when created, updated, or deleted.

    Customize the Search Experience

    Swiftype allows tailoring search experiences with features like synonyms, result rankings, and field weights, providing more relevant results. For more on optimizing Strapi with search, explore Strapi search solutions.

    Integrate into the Frontend

    Swiftype provides client libraries and APIs to integrate search functionality into frontend applications, such as building a React-Native app with Strapi, offering a responsive user experience.

    Ensure Scalability and Performance

    Designed for large volumes of data, Swiftype ensures fast and reliable search functionality, crucial for high-traffic environments. This scalability is particularly important in headless for mobile development, where performance is key.

    Use Developer-Friendly APIs

    Comprehensive APIs and documentation make Swiftype accessible for developers, allowing smooth integration with Strapi and advanced search feature development.

    Best Practices for Integrating Swiftype With Strapi

    Set Up Swiftype Correctly

    Create a Swiftype account and set up a new search engine for your Strapi content. Obtain essential API credentials for indexing and searching. Consider the various deployment options for Strapi to ensure optimal performance.

    Efficiently Index Strapi Content

    Develop a script or service within Strapi to handle content indexing. Use Strapi's API to fetch and send content to Swiftype. Implement Strapi's lifecycle hooks or webhooks to update the Swiftype index automatically. Understanding REST and GraphQL integration can help in leveraging Strapi's capabilities.

    Implement an Intuitive Search Interface

    In your frontend application, use Swiftype's API or client libraries to manage search queries and display results smoothly. Ensure the search interface is user-friendly and responsive.

    Keep the Index Synchronized

    Maintain accurate search results by synchronizing the Swiftype index with Strapi content using automated processes like Strapi's lifecycle hooks or periodic reindexing.

    Secure API Credentials

    Protect Swiftype API credentials by storing them securely and implementing authentication and authorization to prevent unauthorized access.

    Monitor Performance and Adjust Accordingly

    Regularly test the integration to verify content indexing and relevant search results. Monitor performance, especially with large content or high traffic.

    Customize to Fit Your Needs

    Adapt the integration to your requirements. Customize data sent to Swiftype and adjust search configurations to enhance relevance and efficiency.

    Getting Started With Swiftype

    Follow these steps to integrate Swiftype with Strapi.

    Set Up Swiftype

    Sign up for a Swiftype account and create a search engine to index Strapi content. Keep your API Key, Engine Name, and Host Identifier handy for connecting Strapi to Swiftype.

    Install the Swiftype Client

    Install the Swiftype App Search Node.js client in your Strapi project directory using the appropriate npm command for this package.

    Configure Swiftype in Strapi

    Update plugins.js in the config directory with the necessary Swiftype configurations. Ensure that you replace placeholders with actual Swiftype credentials or set them in environment variables. For detailed guidance, refer to the official Swiftype documentation or Strapi community resources.

    Create a Custom Service

    Create a service for Swiftype operations in src/api/search/services using the swiftype-app-search-node client. The service should initialize a Swiftype client with configuration details, provide methods to index and search content, transform content into Swiftype documents, and remove content by ID.

    Index Content with Lifecycle Hooks

    Strapi's lifecycle hooks can be used to manage content operations. Here's an example of how to implement these hooks:

    1module.exports = {
2
3  async afterCreate(event) {
4
5    const { result } = event;
6
7    await strapi.service('api::[search.search](http://search.search)').indexContent(result);
8
9  },
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11  async afterUpdate(event) {
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13    const { result } = event;
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15    await strapi.service('api::[search.search](http://search.search)').indexContent(result);
16
17  },
18
19  async beforeDelete(event) {
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21    const { params } = event;
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23    await strapi.service('api::[search.search](http://search.search)').removeContent([params.where.id](http://params.where.id));
24
25  },
26
27};

    Create a Search API Endpoint

    Create a controller for search requests:

    1module.exports = {
2
3  async search(ctx) {
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5    const { query } = ctx.request.body;
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7    const results = await strapi.service('api::[search.search](http://search.search)').search(query);
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9    ctx.body = results;
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11  },
12
13};
14
15Define a route for this endpoint:
16
17module.exports = {
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19  routes: \[
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21    {
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23      method: 'POST',
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25      path: '/search',
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27      handler: '[search.search](http://search.search)\_restaurants',
28
29    },
30
31  \],
32
33};

    Integrate Search in the Frontend

    In your frontend application, create a search interface to send queries to the Strapi search endpoint and display results from Swiftype.

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