Config option to disable search

[bradystroud]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
The search functionality does not work for our content. It hits the GitHub API limit after 2 searches. see https://answers.netlify.com/t/cms-search-hitting-github-api-limit/39124

Describe the solution you'd like

1. A configuration option to disable search entirely so our users don't hit the API limit
   This should be pretty easy to implement
2. Search that doesn't hit the API limit
   This could be a bit more difficult

[erezrokah]

Hi @bradystroud, this would make a very good first contribution.

The code that renders the search box is here:
https://github.com/netlify/netlify-cms/blob/2d672834f80da385542dd8ef56dc949f082a50cf/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/CollectionSearch.js#L194

Regarding the search itself - the CMS does cache those entries after the initial search. However if it needs to search 2500 it makes sense it will reach the limit when nothing is cached.

[bradystroud]

Hi @erezrokah,
Currently, the search queries every item in the collection. Why can't it just use the search endpoint?https://docs.github.com/en/rest/reference/search#search-code

[erezrokah]

Hi @bradystroud, that's a very good point.
The search in the CMS works a bit different - it reads the files, deserializes the content (e.g. parses the markdown/json/yaml/toml files) into the CMS collections representation (based on the configuration) and search in specific fields:
https://github.com/netlify/netlify-cms/blob/bac132e7f6699fb8c3287c3becb2cc66f09d36a3/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/backend.ts#L592

Using the search API might give good results too pending:

1. It should work in a similar for all backends (GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure, etc)
2. Searching the whole content of files still give good results (it might actually give better ones)
3. We can limit the search per collection using the search API

[erezrokah]

More context,
You should be able to access the config state here:
https://github.com/netlify/netlify-cms/blob/bac132e7f6699fb8c3287c3becb2cc66f09d36a3/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/Collection.js#L151

then pass it to the Sidebar component as a prop here:
https://github.com/netlify/netlify-cms/blob/bac132e7f6699fb8c3287c3becb2cc66f09d36a3/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/Collection.js#L111

Finally conditionally render the CollectionSearch here:
https://github.com/netlify/netlify-cms/blob/bac132e7f6699fb8c3287c3becb2cc66f09d36a3/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/components/Collection/Sidebar.js#L111

[bradystroud]

Hey @erezrokah,

Please review #5509

Thanks :)

[bradystroud]

1. A configuration option to disable search entirely so our users don't hit the API limit

Done - The config option to disable search is now available.
https://www.netlifycms.org/docs/configuration-options/#search

I am leaving this issue open as further investigation is needed to see if it's possible to have search that doesn't make requests for every entry.
See #5501 (comment) for details on a potential solution to this.

Thanks,

-Brady

[erezrokah]

I am leaving this issue open as further investigation is needed to see if it's possible to have search that doesn't make requests for every entry.
See #5501 (comment) for details on a potential solution to this.

Do you mind opening a new issue for that? I'd rather keep things separate so it's easier to track and follow
Closing this issue as resolved.

[bradystroud]

I am leaving this issue open as further investigation is needed to see if it's possible to have search that doesn't make requests for every entry.
See #5501 (comment) for details on a potential solution to this.

Do you mind opening a new issue for that? I'd rather keep things separate so it's easier to track and follow
Closing this issue as resolved.

See #5549