Search Options

Helios supports two search providers: SimpleSearch (built-in) and YetiSearch Pro (advanced). This guide covers configuration and features for both.

Choosing a Search Provider

Configure your search provider in user/config/themes/helios.yaml:

search:
  enabled: true
  provider: simplesearch    # or 'yetisearch-pro'
  keyboard_shortcut: true   # Enable Cmd+K / Ctrl+K
  placeholder: 'Search documentation...'
  min_chars: 2

SimpleSearch

SimpleSearch is the default Grav search plugin. It performs real-time searches through your content without requiring an index.

Installation

bin/gpm install simplesearch

Configuration

Create or edit user/config/plugins/simplesearch.yaml:

enabled: true
built_in_css: false           # Helios provides its own styling
built_in_js: false            # Helios handles the search UI
display_button: false
min_query_length: 2
route: /search
template: simplesearch_results
filters:
  category: docs              # Only search pages with this taxonomy
search_content: rendered      # 'rendered' or 'raw'

Excluding Pages from SimpleSearch

To exclude a page from SimpleSearch results, add to the page frontmatter:

simplesearch:
  process: false

Or exclude pages by taxonomy in the plugin config:

filters:
  category: docs
ignore_taxonomy:
  category: internal

YetiSearch Pro

YetiSearch Pro is an advanced local search engine with fuzzy matching, chunked indexing, and relevance scoring.

Installation

YetiSearch Pro is a premium plugin. Once installed, enable it:

# user/config/plugins/yetisearch-pro.yaml
enabled: true

engine:
  storage_dir: 'user://data/yetisearch-pro'
  index_prefix: 'docs_'

indexes:
  pages:
    strategy: per_language    # or 'single'
    options:
      fuzzy: true
      typo_tolerance: 2

Then configure Helios to use it:

# user/config/themes/helios.yaml
search:
  provider: yetisearch-pro

Indexing Content

YetiSearch Pro requires content to be indexed before searching. Use the CLI to build the index:

bin/plugin yetisearch-pro index --index pages

bin/plugin yetisearch-pro index --index pages --flush

bin/plugin yetisearch-pro index --index pages --lang v3 --flush

Realtime Indexing

YetiSearch Pro can automatically update the index when pages are saved in the Admin panel:

# user/config/plugins/yetisearch-pro.yaml
_yetisearch_indexing:
  realtime: true              # Auto-index on page save
  smart_indexing: true        # Skip unchanged documents

Admin Dashboard

YetiSearch Pro provides an admin dashboard for monitoring index status and triggering reindexing. Access it via Admin > YetiSearch Pro.

From the dashboard you can:

• View index statistics (document count, size, last updated)
• Trigger manual reindexing
• Clear and rebuild indexes
• Browse indexed documents

Excluding Content from YetiSearch Pro

YetiSearch Pro provides flexible options for excluding content from the search index.

Page-Level Exclusion

To completely exclude a page from the search index, add to the page frontmatter:

yetisearch:
  ignore: true

Alternatively, use the toggle syntax:

yetisearch:
  index-page: false

Both achieve the same result. Use whichever feels more intuitive.

Excluding Child Pages

To prevent all child pages of a section from being indexed:

yetisearch:
  index-children: false

This is useful for excluding entire sections like internal notes or draft content.

Content-Level Exclusion

To exclude specific content within a page while indexing the rest, use the [yetisearch=ignore] shortcode:

This paragraph will be indexed and searchable.

[yetisearch=ignore]
This content will NOT appear in search results.
Use this for sensitive information, admin notes,
or content that shouldn't be discoverable via search.
[/yetisearch]

This paragraph will also be indexed.

The excluded content still renders normally on the page—it's only hidden from search results.

Admin UI

You can also control indexing via the Admin panel. Edit any page and look for the Search Controls tab to toggle indexing options.

Search Query Tuning (YetiSearch Pro)

YetiSearch Pro supports advanced query configuration for fine-tuning relevance:

indexes:
  pages:
    query_defaults:
      per_page: 10
      fields: [title, headers, content, excerpt, tags]
      boost:
        title: 5.0           # Boost title matches
        headers: 3.0         # Boost header matches
        tags: 2.5            # Boost tag matches
        excerpt: 2.0
        content: 1.0

Fuzzy Search

Enable fuzzy matching to find results even with typos:

indexes:
  pages:
    options:
      fuzzy: true
      typo_tolerance: 2      # Allow up to 2 character mistakes

CLI Query Testing (YetiSearch Pro)

Test searches directly from the command line:

bin/plugin yetisearch-pro query --q "installation guide" --index pages

bin/plugin yetisearch-pro query --q "configration" --fuzzy --index pages

bin/plugin yetisearch-pro query --q "theme" --index pages --raw

Comparison

Troubleshooting

Search not returning results

SimpleSearch:

• Check that pages have the correct taxonomy (e.g., category: docs)
• Verify search_content is set to rendered if using shortcodes

YetiSearch Pro:

• Ensure the index has been built: bin/plugin yetisearch-pro index --index pages
• Check that pages aren't excluded via yetisearch.ignore: true
• Verify the index exists in user/data/yetisearch-pro/

YetiSearch Pro index out of date

Rebuild the index after major content changes:

bin/plugin yetisearch-pro index --index pages --flush

Or enable realtime indexing for automatic updates.

Keyboard shortcut not working

Ensure keyboard shortcuts are enabled in the theme config:

search:
  keyboard_shortcut: true

The shortcut is Cmd+K (Mac) or Ctrl+K (Windows/Linux).