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In the quick start tutorial, you learned how to launch Meilisearch and make a search request. This article will teach you how to create a simple front-end interface to search through your dataset. Using instant-meilisearch is the easiest way to build a front-end interface for search. instant-meilisearch is a plugin that establishes communication between a Meilisearch instance and InstantSearch. InstantSearch, an open-source project developed by Algolia, renders all the components needed to start searching.
  1. Create an empty file and name it index.html
  2. Open it in a text editor like Notepad, Sublime Text, or Visual Studio Code
  3. Copy-paste one the code sample below
  4. Open index.html in your browser by double-clicking it in your folder
Here’s what’s happening:
  • The first four lines of the <body> add two container elements: #searchbox and #hits. instant-meilisearch creates the search bar inside #searchbox and lists search results in #hits
  • The first two<script src="…"> tags import libraries needed to run instant-meilisearch
  • The third and final <script> tag is where you customize instant-meilisearch
You should now have a working front-end search interface. Consult instant-meilisearch’s documentation for more information on how to further customize your search interface.