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About this widget

The ratingMenu widget lets users refine search results by clicking on stars. The stars are based on the selected attribute.

Requirements

The attribute provided to the widget must be in attributes for faceting, either on the dashboard or using the attributesForFaceting parameter with the API. Attribute values must be integers, not strings or floats. The widget only returns exact numerical matches. For example, if a user selects “4 [stars] & Up”, only return with values such as 4 or 5 are returned— not those with values like 4.5 or 4.7. If your attribute is a float, index a new attribute with the rounded integer value to use in this widget.

Examples

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Options

container
string | HTMLElement
required
The CSS Selector or HTMLElement to insert the widget into.
attribute
string
required
The name of the attribute in the record.
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max
number
default:5
The maximum value for the rating. This value is exclusive, which means the number of stars will be the provided value, minus one.
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templates
object
The templates to use for the widget.
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cssClasses
object
default:"{}"
The CSS classes you can override:
  • root. The root element of the widget.
  • noRefinementRoot. Container class without results.
  • list. The list of results.
  • item. The list items.
  • selectedItem. The selected item in the list.
  • disabledItem. The disabled item in the list.
  • starIcon. The default class of each star (when using the default template).
  • fullStarIcon. The class of each full star (when using the default template).
  • emptyStarIcon. The class of each empty star (when using the default template).
  • label. The label of each item.
  • count. The count of each item.
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Templates

You can customize parts of a widget’s UI using the Templates API. Each template includes an html function, which you can use as a tagged template. This function safely renders templates as HTML strings and works directly in the browser—no build step required. For details, see Templating your UI.
The html function is available in InstantSearch.js version 4.46.0 or later.
item
string | function
The template used for displaying each item, with:
  • count: number. The number of results that match this refinement.
  • isRefined: boolean. Whether the refinement is selected.
  • name: string. The name corresponding to the number of stars.
  • value: string. The number of stars with a string form.
  • url: string. The value of the URL with the applied refinement.
  • labels: object. The value of the other templates.
  • cssClasses: object. The CSS classes provided to the widget.
  • stars: boolean[]. The list of stars to generate with:
    • true. Represents a filled star
    • false. Represents an empty star

HTML output

HTML

Customize the UI with connectRatingMenu

If you want to create your own UI of the ratingMenu widget, you can use connectors. To use connectRatingMenu, you can import it with the declaration relevant to how you installed InstantSearch.js.
Then it’s a 3-step process:
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Create a render function

This rendering function is called before the first search (init lifecycle step) and each time results come back from Algolia (render lifecycle step).
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Render options

items
object[]
This list of stars to display, with:
  • count: number. The number of results that match this refinement.
  • isRefined: boolean. Whether the refinement is selected.
  • name: string. The name corresponding to the number of stars.
  • value: string. The number of stars with a string form.
  • stars: boolean[]. The list of stars to generate with:
    • true. Represents a filled star
    • false. Represents an empty star
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canRefine
boolean
required
Indicates if search state can be refined.
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refine
function
Selects a rating to filter the results. Takes the value of an item as parameter.
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sendEvent
(eventType, facetValue) => void
The function to send click events. The click event is automatically sent when refine is called. To learn more, see the insights middleware.
  • eventType: 'click'
  • facetValue: string
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createURL
function
Generates a URL for the next state. Takes the value of an item as parameter.
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Create and instantiate the custom widget

First, create your custom widgets using a rendering function. Then, instantiate them with parameters. There are two kinds of parameters you can pass:
  • Instance parameters. Predefined options that configure Algolia’s behavior.
  • Custom parameters. Parameters you define to make the widget reusable and adaptable.
Inside the renderFunction, both instance and custom parameters are accessible through connector.widgetParams.
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Instance options

attribute
string
required
The name of the attribute in the record.
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max
number
default:5
The maximum value for the rating.
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Full example

Last modified on July 10, 2026