Sync your URLs with Vue InstantSearch
On this page
You’re reading the documentation for Vue InstantSearch v4. Read the migration guide to learn how to upgrade from v3 to v4. You can still find the v3 documentation for this page.
Synchronizing your UI with the browser URL is considered good practice. It allows your users to share one of your results page by copying its URL. It also improves the user experience by enabling the use of the back and next browser buttons to keep track of previous searches.
Vue InstantSearch provides the necessary API entries to let you synchronize the state of your search UI (your refined widgets, current search query) with any kind of storage.
This is possible with the routing
option.
This guide focuses on storing the UI state in the browser URL.
Note that when you are using routing, you can not use initial-ui-state
as the two options override each other. Simple and static use cases can be more straightforward using initial-ui-state
, but anything dynamic or complex should use routing
.
Working examples
This code has been specifically created for Vue 2. Some modifications may be required for it to work correctly in Vue 3.
Basic routing
SEO-friendly routing
Vue router
Basic URLs
This guide uses the router from InstantSearch.js. Make sure you add instantsearch.js
to your project’s dependencies in addition to vue-instantsearch
.
Vue InstantSearch provides a basic way to activate the browser URL synchronization with the routing
option.
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<template>
<ais-instant-search
:search-client="searchClient"
index-name="instant_search"
:routing="routing"
>
<!-- add the other components here -->
</ais-instant-search>
</template>
<script>
import { history as historyRouter } from 'instantsearch.js/es/lib/routers';
import { singleIndex as singleIndexMapping } from 'instantsearch.js/es/lib/stateMappings';
export default {
data() {
return {
searchClient: algoliasearch(
'latency',
'6be0576ff61c053d5f9a3225e2a90f76'
),
routing: {
router: historyRouter(),
stateMapping: singleIndexMapping('instant_search'),
},
};
},
};
</script>
Assume the following search UI state:
- Query: “galaxy”
- Menu:
categories
: “Cell Phones”
- Refinement List:
brand
: “Apple”, “Samsung”
- Page: 2
The resulting URL in your browser’s URL bar will look like this:
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https://example.org/?instant_search[query]=galaxy&instant_search[menu][categories]=All Unlocked Cell Phones&instant_search[refinementList][brand][0]=Apple&instant_search[refinementList][brand][0]=Samsung&instant_search[page]=2
This URL is accurate and can be translated back to a search UI state. However, this isn’t the most human-readable, or optimized for search engines. The next section shows how to make it more SEO-friendly.
Rewriting URLs manually
The default URLs that InstantSearch generates are comprehensive, but if you have many widgets, this can also generate noise. You may want to decide what goes in the URL and what doesn’t, or even rename the query parameters to something that makes more sense to you.
The stateMapping
defines how to go from InstantSearch’s internal state to a URL, and vice versa. You can override it to rename query parameters and choose what to include in the URL.
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export default {
data() {
return {
searchClient: algoliasearch(
'latency',
'6be0576ff61c053d5f9a3225e2a90f76'
),
routing: {
stateMapping: {
stateToRoute(uiState) {
// ...
},
routeToState(routeState) {
// ...
},
},
},
};
},
};
InstantSearch manages uiState
.
It contains information about the user’s search, including the query, applied filters, the current page being viewed, and the widget hierarchy.
uiState
only stores modified widget values, not defaults.
To persist this state in the URL, InstantSearch first converts the uiState
into an object called routeState
. This routeState
then becomes a URL. Conversely, when InstantSearch reads the URL and applies it to the search, it converts routeState
into uiState
. This logic lives in two functions:
stateToRoute
: convertsuiState
torouteState
.routeToState
: convertsrouteState
touiState
.
Assume the following search UI state:
- Query: “galaxy”
- Menu:
categories
: “Cell Phones”
- Refinement List:
brand
: “Apple” and “Samsung”
- Page: 2
This translates into the following uiState
:
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{
"indexName": {
"query": "galaxy",
"menu": {
"categories": "Cell Phones"
},
"refinementList": {
"brand": ["Apple", "Samsung"]
},
"page": 2
}
}
Implement stateToRoute
to flatten this object into a URL, and routeToState
to restore the URL into a UI state:
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const indexName = 'instant_search';
export default {
data() {
return {
indexName,
searchClient: algoliasearch(
'latency',
'6be0576ff61c053d5f9a3225e2a90f76'
),
routing: {
stateMapping: {
stateToRoute(uiState) {
const indexUiState = uiState[indexName];
return {
q: indexUiState.query,
categories: indexUiState.menu && indexUiState.menu.categories,
brand:
indexUiState.refinementList &&
indexUiState.refinementList.brand,
page: indexUiState.page,
};
},
routeToState(routeState) {
return {
[indexName]: {
query: routeState.q,
menu: {
categories: routeState.categories,
},
refinementList: {
brand: routeState.brand,
},
page: routeState.page,
},
};
},
},
},
};
},
};
Change the name of a key in routing
Applies to Vue InstantSearch v2 and later.
If you want to change, for example, “query into “q” in routing, use the stateMapping
functions to:
- In
stateToRoute
, return an object containing “q” for the query - In
routeToState
, replace that “q” with “query”.
SEO-friendly URLs
This guide uses the router from InstantSearch.js. Make sure you add instantsearch.js
to your project’s dependencies in addition to vue-instantsearch
.
URLs are more than query parameters. Another important part is the path. Manipulating the URL path is a common ecommerce pattern that better references your page results. In this section, you’ll learn how to create this kind of URLs:
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https://example.org/search/Cell+Phones/?query=galaxy&page=2&brands=Apple&brands=Samsung
This URL is composed of the path which now includes /search
, then /Cell+Phones
for the category. The query parameters are also simplified by only using the attribute name as the key. This requires you to have only one widget per attribute.
Implementation example
In the following SEO-friendly example the brand is stored in the path, and the query and page as query parameters.
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import { history as historyRouter } from 'instantsearch.js/es/lib/routers';
// Returns a slug from the category name.
// Spaces are replaced by "+" to make
// the URL easier to read and other
// characters are encoded.
function getCategorySlug(name) {
return name
.split(' ')
.map(encodeURIComponent)
.join('+');
}
// Returns a name from the category slug.
// The "+" are replaced by spaces and other
// characters are decoded.
function getCategoryName(slug) {
return slug
.split('+')
.map(decodeURIComponent)
.join(' ');
}
const routing = {
router: historyRouter({
windowTitle({ category, query }) {
const queryTitle = query ? `Results for "${query}"` : 'Search';
if (category) {
return `${category} – ${queryTitle}`;
}
return queryTitle;
},
createURL({ qsModule, routeState, location }) {
const urlParts = location.href.match(/^(.*?)\/search/);
const baseUrl = `${urlParts ? urlParts[1] : ''}/`;
const categoryPath = routeState.category
? `${getCategorySlug(routeState.category)}/`
: '';
const queryParameters = {};
if (routeState.query) {
queryParameters.query = encodeURIComponent(routeState.query);
}
if (routeState.page !== 1) {
queryParameters.page = routeState.page;
}
if (routeState.brands) {
queryParameters.brands = routeState.brands.map(encodeURIComponent);
}
const queryString = qsModule.stringify(queryParameters, {
addQueryPrefix: true,
arrayFormat: 'repeat',
});
return `${baseUrl}search/${categoryPath}${queryString}`;
},
parseURL({ qsModule, location }) {
const pathnameMatches = location.pathname.match(/search\/(.*?)\/?$/);
const category = getCategoryName(
(pathnameMatches && pathnameMatches[1]) || ''
);
const { query = '', page, brands = [] } = qsModule.parse(
location.search.slice(1)
);
// `qs` does not return an array when there's a single value.
const allBrands = Array.isArray(brands)
? brands
: [brands].filter(Boolean);
return {
query: decodeURIComponent(query),
page,
brands: allBrands.map(decodeURIComponent),
category,
};
},
}),
stateMapping: {
stateToRoute(uiState) {
const indexUiState = uiState['instant_search'] || {};
return {
query: indexUiState.query,
page: indexUiState.page,
brands: indexUiState.refinementList && indexUiState.refinementList.brand,
category: indexUiState.menu && indexUiState.menu.categories
};
},
routeToState(routeState) {
return {
instant_search: {
query: routeState.query,
page: routeState.page,
menu: {
categories: routeState.category
},
refinementList: {
brand: routeState.brands
},
},
};
},
},
},
};
You’re now using the history router to explicitly set options on the default router mechanism used in the first example. The router
and stateMapping
options are used to map uiState
to routeState
, and vice versa.
Using the routing
option as an object, configure:
windowTitle
: a method to map therouteState
object returned fromstateToRoute
to the window title.createURL
: a method called every time you need to create a URL. This should be done when:- You want to synchronize the
routeState
to the browser URL, - You want to render
a
tags in themenu
widget, - You call
createURL
in one of your connectors’ rendering methods.
- You want to synchronize the
parseURL
: a method called every time users load or reload the page, or click the browser’s back or next buttons.
Making URLs more discoverable
In real-life applications, you might want to make specific categories easier to access by associating them with readable and memorable URLs.
Given the dataset, you can make some categories more discoverable:
- “Cameras and camcorders” →
/Cameras
- “Car electronics and GPS” →
/Cars
In this example, whenever users visit https://example.org/search/Cameras
, it pre-selects the “Cameras and camcorders” filter.
This is achieved with a dictionary:
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// Step 1. Add the dictionaries to convert the names and the slugs
const encodedCategories = {
Cameras: 'Cameras and camcorders',
Cars: 'Car electronics and GPS',
Phones: 'Phones',
TV: 'TV and home theater',
};
const decodedCategories = Object.keys(encodedCategories).reduce((acc, key) => {
const newKey = encodedCategories[key];
const newValue = key;
return {
...acc,
[newKey]: newValue,
};
}, {});
// Step 2. Update the getters to use the encoded/decoded values
function getCategorySlug(name) {
const encodedName = decodedCategories[name] || name;
return encodedName
.split(' ')
.map(encodeURIComponent)
.join('+');
}
function getCategoryName(slug) {
const decodedSlug = encodedCategories[slug] || slug;
return decodedSlug
.split('+')
.map(decodeURIComponent)
.join(' ');
}
You can build these dictionaries from your Algolia records.
With such a solution, you have full control over what categories are discoverable from the URL.
About SEO
For your search results to be part of a public search engine’s results, you must be selective. Trying to index too many search results pages could be considered spam.
To do that, create a robots.txt
and host it at https://example.org/robots.txt
.
Here’s an example based on the URL scheme you created.
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User-agent: *
Allow: /search/Audio/
Allow: /search/Phones/
Disallow: /search/
Allow: *
Combining with Vue router
The previous examples were using the InstantSearch router. This is fine in almost all of the use cases, but if you plan on using Vue Router too, and also plan on reading the URL with Vue Router in the search page to show something outside of the InstantSearch life cycle, you can choose to synchronize with Vue Router. This isn’t necessary if you are using Vue Router and aren’t planning to read from the URL.
Instead of using historyRouter
, a new one is written from scratch. The router
key expects an object with the following keys as values:
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const routing = {
router: {
read() {
/* Read from the URL and return a routeState */
},
write(routeState) {
/* Write to the URL */
},
createURL(routeState) {
/* Return a URL as a string */
},
onUpdate(callback) {
/* Call this callback whenever the URL changes externally */
},
dispose() {
/* Remove any listeners */
},
},
};
For simplicity, in this example, a stateMapping
won’t be completed. The default configuration of Vue Router doesn’t allow deeply nested URLs, so that must be implemented first in main.js
:
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import qs from 'qs';
const router = new Router({
routes: [
// ...
],
// set custom query resolver
parseQuery(query) {
return qs.parse(query);
},
stringifyQuery(query) {
const result = qs.stringify(query);
return result ? `?${result}` : '';
},
});
Fill in the router
key on the routing
object in the data
function:
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const vueRouter = this.$router; /* get this from Vue Router */
const routing = {
router: {
read() {
return vueRouter.currentRoute.query;
},
write(routeState) {
vueRouter.push({
query: routeState,
});
},
createURL(routeState) {
return vueRouter.resolve({
query: routeState,
}).href;
},
onUpdate(cb) {
if (typeof window === 'undefined') return;
this._removeAfterEach = vueRouter.afterEach(() => {
cb(this.read());
});
this._onPopState = () => {
cb(this.read());
};
window.addEventListener('popstate', this._onPopState);
},
dispose() {
if (typeof window === 'undefined') {
return;
}
if (this._onPopState) {
window.removeEventListener('popstate', this._onPopState);
}
if (this._removeAfterEach) {
this._removeAfterEach();
}
},
},
};
Unrelated URL parameters are removed from the URL
Applies to Vue InstantSearch v2 and later.
If you enable InstantSearch routing, only the parameters coming from widgets are included in the URL. To keep other parameters unrelated to InstantSearch, add them when implementing createURL
.
For example, to keep all URL parameters that start with “utm_”, use the following code:
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history({
// ... other options
parseURL({ qsModule, location }) {
return qsModule.parse(location.search.slice(1));
},
createURL({ qsModule, location, routeState }) {
const { origin, pathname, hash } = location;
const queriesFromUrl = qsModule.parse(location.search.slice(1));
// Get all parameters from the URL that are not in the InstantSearch state and that start with "utm_"
const utmQueries = Object.fromEntries(
Object.entries(queriesFromUrl).filter(
([key]) =>
!Object.keys(routeState).includes(key) &&
// Add here a condition to keep the parameters you want, for example starting with "utm_"
key.startsWith('utm_')
)
);
// Create query string with InstantSearch state and other parameters
const queryString = qsModule.stringify(
{
...routeState,
...utmQueries,
},
{
addQueryPrefix: true,
arrayFormat: 'repeat',
}
);
return `${origin}${pathname}${queryString}${hash}`;
},
});
Combining with Nuxt.js
To enable routing in a Nuxt app, you can’t use the createServerRootMixin
factory as a mixin as usual, because you need to access Vue Router which is only available on the component instance.
Here’s the workaround:
- Use
createServerRootMixin
indata
, sothis.$router
is available. - Create an InstantSearch router that wraps Vue Router.
- Set up
provide
as the root mixin would otherwise do. - Set up
findResultsState
inserverPrefetch
. - Call
hydrate
inbeforeMount
.
First, set up a custom renderToString
function.
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<template>
<ais-instant-search-ssr>
<!-- add the other components here -->
</ais-instant-search-ssr>
</template>
<script>
import {
AisInstantSearchSsr,
createServerRootMixin,
} from 'vue-instantsearch/vue3/es';
import { liteClient as algoliasearch } from 'algoliasearch/lite';
import _renderToString from 'vue-server-renderer/basic';
function renderToString(app) {
return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
_renderToString(app, (err, res) => {
if (err) reject(err);
resolve(res);
});
});
}
const searchClient = algoliasearch(
'latency',
'6be0576ff61c053d5f9a3225e2a90f76'
);
</script>
Wrap the Vue router for usage with Vue InstantSearch.
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<script>
// ...
function nuxtRouter(vueRouter) {
return {
read() {
return vueRouter.currentRoute.query;
},
write(routeState) {
// Only push a new entry if the URL changed (avoid duplicated entries in the history)
if (this.createURL(routeState) === this.createURL(this.read())) {
return;
}
vueRouter.push({
query: routeState,
});
},
createURL(routeState) {
return vueRouter.resolve({
query: routeState,
}).href;
},
onUpdate(cb) {
if (typeof window === 'undefined') return;
this._removeAfterEach = vueRouter.afterEach(() => {
cb(this.read());
});
this._onPopState = () => {
cb(this.read());
};
window.addEventListener('popstate', this._onPopState);
},
dispose() {
if (typeof window === 'undefined') {
return;
}
if (this._onPopState) {
window.removeEventListener('popstate', this._onPopState);
}
if (this._removeAfterEach) {
this._removeAfterEach();
}
},
};
}
export default {
data() {
// Create it in `data` to access the Vue Router
const mixin = createServerRootMixin({
searchClient,
indexName: 'instant_search',
routing: {
router: nuxtRouter(this.$router),
},
});
return {
...mixin.data(),
};
},
provide() {
return {
// Provide the InstantSearch instance for SSR
$_ais_ssrInstantSearchInstance: this.instantsearch,
};
},
serverPrefetch() {
return this.instantsearch
.findResultsState({ component: this, renderToString })
.then((algoliaState) => {
this.$ssrContext.nuxt.algoliaState = algoliaState;
});
},
beforeMount() {
const results =
(this.$nuxt.context && this.$nuxt.context.nuxtState.algoliaState) ||
window.__NUXT__.algoliaState;
this.instantsearch.hydrate(results);
// Remove the SSR state so it can't be applied again by mistake
delete this.$nuxt.context.nuxtState.algoliaState;
delete window.__NUXT__.algoliaState;
},
components: {
AisInstantSearchSsr,
// Add your other components here
},
};
</script>
As in Vue Router, you must set up Nuxt to write deep query strings. In Nuxt, you do this in nuxt.config.js
:
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// nuxt.config.js
module.exports = {
router: {
parseQuery(queryString) {
return require('qs').parse(queryString);
},
stringifyQuery(object) {
var queryString = require('qs').stringify(object);
return queryString ? '?' + queryString : '';
},
},
};
Group facet values
Applies to Vue InstantSearch v1 and later.
If you want to group, for example, “turquoise”, “ocean” and “sky” under “blue”, the recommended solution is to group them at indexing time. You can either add the group name as a separate attribute to globally filter on, or add both values in an array to make both the group and the individual value show up in the list.
For example, with the following dataset:
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[
{
"objectID": "1",
"color": "turquoise"
},
{
"objectID": "2",
"color": "ocean"
},
{
"objectID": "3",
"color": "sky"
}
]
You could create an additional attribute and use it for faceting:
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[
{
"objectID": "1",
"color": "turquoise",
"colorGroup": "blue"
},
{
"objectID": "2",
"color": "ocean",
"colorGroup": "blue"
},
{
"objectID": "3",
"color": "sky",
"colorGroup": "blue"
}
]
Or you could list the individual colors and their groups so you can use them both for faceting:
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[
{
"objectID": "1",
"color": [
"turquoise",
"blue"
]
},
{
"objectID": "2",
"color": [
"ocean",
"blue"
]
},
{
"objectID": "3",
"color": [
"sky",
"blue"
]
}
]