Build a search index with Lunr in Hugo

Hugo can emit a custom output format: a search.json file with every page. The client downloads the index once and then queries lunr ↗ locally.

The index template ¶

// build the index from the rendered pages
const index = lunr(function () {
  this.ref("uri");
  this.field("title");
  this.field("content");
  for (const doc of request.response) {
    this.add(doc);
    lookup[doc.uri] = doc;
  }
  return 200;
});

Note: the index is rebuilt on every build. With a few hundred posts the file stays under 200 KB.¹

Results are rendered from a <template> cloned per match, with the same summary truncation Hugo itself uses.

Written by a human