Index schema
Since December 31, 2023, apps can’t modify the code of Shopify themes. For more information, see The Asset API resource in the Shopify documentation. As an alternative, the Algolia AI Search and Discovery app comes with Shopify App Embed and App Blocks to integrate Autocomplete and InstantSearch. To get started, see Quickstart and Algolia configuration.
Algolia transforms and stores your Shopify data in a format that’s optimal for your search experience.
Products and variants
Algolia stores variants, not products,
in an index PREFIX_products
. The default prefix is shopify
.
Variants are stored as independent records.
For products without variants, the product attributes are first transformed into a schema that parallels the structure of the variant’s schema and then uploaded.
The Algolia AI Search & Discovery app only supports indexing products in the “Online Store” sales channel.
Product variant schema
Algolia stores your product variants in the following format:
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{
objectID, // Variant id (unique identifier also used by Algolia)
sku,
barcode,
id, // Product id
title, // Name of the product
variant_title, // Name of the variant
product_type,
vendor,
handle, // URL handle for the product
tags,
named_tags: { // Key value association from tags like this: "key:value" (See Named tags section)
<TAG_KEY>
},
named_tags_names: [
<TAG_KEY> // Array of keys from named_tags
],
body_html_safe, // Description (without HTML, truncated to 2,000 characters)
compare_at_price, // Initial price
price, // Actual (optionally discounted) price
price_ratio,
price_range,
variants_count, // Total count of the variants of the related product
variants_min_price, // Min price of all the variants of the related product (only relevant with distinct enabled)
variants_max_price, // Max price of all the variants of the related product (only relevant with distinct enabled)
variants_compare_at_price_min // Min compare_at_price of all the variants of the related product
variants_compare_at_price_max // Max compare_at_price of all the variants of the related product
option1, // Variant option 1
option2, // Variant option 2
option3, // Variant option 3
options: { // Hash containing the option `names: value`
<OPTION_NAME>
},
option_names, // Array containing the option names, in order
requires_shipping,
taxable,
grams,
weight, // Weight with its original unit
image,
product_image,
inventory_quantity, // Number of available items in the inventory
position, // Position of the variant in the list of products
template_suffix,
meta: { // Metafields (See Metafields section)
namespace1: {
key1,
key2
},
},
created_at,
updated_at,
published_at,
recently_ordered_count, // How much have recently been ordered : useful for ranking
inventory_available,
inventory_policy, // Whether customers are allowed to place an order for the product variant when it's out of stock
collections: [
'collection-1-handle', // Array of product collection handles
// ...
],
collection_ids: [
123456,
// ... // Array of product collection IDs
],
locations_inventory: {
key1: value1, // Object with location_id:quantity - location_id is auto-generated
key2: value2
},
variants_inventory_count, // Total inventory count of all variants for a product
_tags: [], // Array of internal tags. Please do not modify.
}
The image
attribute uses the variant’s image if it exists,
otherwise it uses the first image of the associated product.
Retrievable attributes
By default, when performing a search, users can view results with the matching records and records data for each indexed attribute. This process occurs regardless of whether you display the information in your user interface.
This approach lets you fully take advantage of Algolia’s ready to use Autocomplete, InstantSearch, and Recommend features and gives you the necessary resources to further customize the experience. For example, you can use this information to create experiences that encourage your users to “buy now” when inventory is below a certain amount.
If you want to turn off public visibility of specific attributes, you can make them unretrievable.
The quickest way to configure this is by going to Algolia’s dashboard > Search > Configuration > Search Behavior > Retrieved Attributes > Unretrievable attributes > Add an attribute.
You can also access the configuration in app with:
- Quickstart Checklist - For all new users, this is done via step 4 of the checklist. Existing users can access this by clicking the “Quick Start” button on the top right hand corner of the Algolia app.
- App Admin - Under the Search Options tab > Additional settings > Retrieved attributes
Setting certain attributes as unretrievable will impact your search if you are using one of our ready to use frontend components.
Attribute(s) Name | Impact of Setting as Unretrievable |
---|---|
objectID | This will always be retrieved as the integration requires this as a unique identifier for each record. |
id | InstantSearch’s hit template will not have a data-product-id. This can also affect Pixel functionality. |
handle | Users will be unable to navigate to the product detail page (PDP). |
title, product_type, vendor | This will not be included in the hits template and this information will not display in search results. |
variant_title | This will not be included in the hits template. It will only affect InstantSearch and Autocomplete if there is more than one product variant. |
compare_at_price | Discounts and strikethrough pricing cannot be displayed. |
price, price_ratio | The value will show as “NaN” on search results. |
variants_min_price, variants_max_price | With distinct enabled, the minimum and/or maximum price will not be displayed on InstantSearch results. |
image | “No image” will be displayed on InstantSearch and Autocomplete. |
product_image | “No image” will be displayed on Recommend. |
inventory_quantity, inventory_policy | These fields are used in combination to control when an item can be added to the user’s cart. If both inventory_policy and inventory_quantity are unretrievable, then the item is marked out of stock.If only inventory_policy is unretrievable and inventory_quantity > 0, then the item can be added to the user’s cart.If inventory_quantity <= 0, then the item is marked out of stock.If only inventory_quantity is unretrievable and the product or variant’s inventory is tracked, then it is marked out of stock.If it is not tracked, then it can be added to cart |
Example: Setting the attribute “vendor” as unretrievable:
Retrievable | Unretrievable |
---|---|
![]() |
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When “vendor” is set to be retrievable and the attribute is included in the results display. | When “vendor” is set as unretrievable, it is no longer retrieved and is removed from display. |
Also note that:
- Default Attributes Set to Unretrieved - Algolia’s Shopify integration may automatically set certain attributes to unretrievable, such as
recently_ordered_count
,variants_inventory_count
,locations_inventory
, andinventory_quantity
. - Facets - if an attribute is set as both an unretrievable and as a facet, that attribute’s data for the matching record will not be retrieved. However, facet information, such as counts, will be.
- Additional indices - The attributes listed above only apply to product indices. If you have other indices, such as pages, blogs, or collections, review their attributes and configure their retrievability in the Algolia dashboard.
Before going live, review which attributes are indexed, configure your desired settings, and test your search to ensure the correct attributes are returned and that search performs according to your needs. In addition, follow all implementation checklist items to ensure an optimal experience for your customers.
Recently ordered count
The recently ordered count attribute represents all orders since the last full reindex. Initially, it doesn’t exist when the index is first created. It gets added when you sell products. For example, if a customer buys two blue t-shirts in size S, the value of this attribute increases by two.
The recently ordered count attribute is used for the Most Popular sort order.
The recently_ordered_count
attribute is reset during a full reindex.
Therefore, it’s a count of all orders since the last reindex, not since the beginning.
The recently_ordered_count
attribute is preserved during real-time indexing.
Searchable attributes for products
By default, these attributes are searchable.
They’re ranked in order of relevance—for example, results with a match in the vendor
attribute rank before results with a match in the title
attribute:
unordered(vendor)
unordered(title)
unordered(variant_title)
product_type
unordered(tags)
unordered(handle)
sku
barcode
unordered(body_html_safe)
Show products instead of variants
To only show the most relevant variant instead of all variants in your search results:
- Go to the Shopify admin and go to the Algolia AI Search & Discovery app.
- On the Search options tab, in the Variants section, select Show products instead of variants.
Remove products from search results
Products are indexed if they:
- Have the “Active” status and are published to a sales channel
- Don’t have a publishing date in the future
- Don’t include
algolia-ignore
in their list of tags - Don’t include
[hidden]
in their title
To hide a product from the search results—for example, a product that’s not released yet, you can make one of these changes:
- Add
algolia-ignore
to the product’s list of tags - Add
[hidden]
to its title - Set the status to “Draft”
- Archive the product
Remove variants from search results
To remove a variant from the search results add [hidden]
to the variant’s name.
The position of the string [hidden]
in the title doesn’t matter.
For example, if you want to hide a variant “blue” from the search results,
change its title to blue [hidden]
or [hidden] blue
.
Collections
If you enabled Collection pages,
Algolia stores your collections in a dedicated index PREFIX_collections
. The default prefix is shopify
.
The relationship between products and collections is stored in the product records,
in the collection_ids
and collections
attributes.
The Algolia AI Search & Discovery app only supports indexing collections in the “Online Store” sales channel.
Collections schema
Algolia stores your collections in the following format:
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{
objectID, // Collection id (in Shopify and Algolia)
title,
handle, // URL handle
body_html, // Description (with HTML, truncated to 2,000 characters)
body_html_safe, // Description (without HTML, truncated to 2,000 characters)
image,
products_count, // Product count in the collection (not updated in real time)
template_suffix,
meta: { // Metafields (See Metafields section)
namespace1: {
key1,
key2
},
},
updated_at
}
Searchable attributes for collections
The following attributes are searchable.
They’re ranked in order of relevance—for example, results with a match in the title
attribute rank before results with a match in the handle
attribute:
title
handle
unordered(body_html_safe)
Remove collections from search results
Collections are indexed if they:
- Are published to a sales channel
- Don’t have a publishing date in the future
- Have at least one product
- Don’t include
[hidden]
in their title
To remove a collection from the search results, you can:
- Exclude it from the “Online Store” sales channel
- Add
[hidden]
to the collection title
Hiding a collection from search results won’t hide the products within the collection.
Blogs
If you select Index blog posts (on the Indexing tab of the Algolia AI Search & Discovery app), Algolia stores your Shopify blog posts in a dedicated index PREFIX_articles
.
The default prefix is shopify
.
Blogs schema
Algolia stores your blogs in the following format:
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{
_tags: [
blog_id,
],
author: {
name,
objectID,
},
blog: {
commentable,
created_at,
feedburner,
feedburner_location,
handle,
objectID,
title,
updated_at
},
body_html,
body_html_safe,
created_at,
handle,
image,
meta,
named_tags: {},
objectID,
published_at,
tags: [],
title,
updated_at,
}
Searchable attributes for blogs
By default, these attributes are searchable.
They’re ranked in order of relevance—for example, results with a match in the title
attribute rank before results with a match in the handle
attribute:
title
handle
tags
blog.title
blog.handle
unordered(author.name)
unordered(body_html_safe)
Remove blog posts from search results
To remove a blog post from the search results:
- Add
algolia-ignore
to its list of tags - Add
[hidden]
to its title
Remove entire blogs from search results
Blog posts belong to blogs.
To remove all articles from a blog from the search results,
add [hidden]
to the blog name.
Pages
If you select Index pages (on the Indexing tab of the Algolia AI Search & Discovery app), Algolia stores your Shopify blog posts in a dedicated index PREFIX_pages
.
The default prefix is shopify
.
Pages schema
Algolia stores your pages in the following format:
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{
author,
body_html,
body_html_safe,
created_at,
handle,
meta,
objectID,
published_at,
shop_id,
template_suffix,
title,
updated_at,
}
Searchable attributes for pages
By default, these attributes are searchable.
They’re ranked in order of relevance—for example, results with a match in the author
attribute rank before results with a match in the body_html
attribute:
author
body_html
title
Remove pages from search results
To remove a page from the search results,
add [hidden]
to its title.
To hide the [hidden]
phrase on your page,
replace {{ page.title }}
with {{ page.title | replace: "[hidden]", "" }}
.
For more information, see replace