docsearch/packages/website/docs/record-extractor.md

title	description
Record Extractor	Configure the DocSearch record extractor for Algolia Crawler records.

Introduction

:::info

This page documents the helpers.docsearch method. See the Algolia Crawler documentation for information about the Algolia Crawler.

:::

Set the recordExtractor parameter on an action to extract each page. Its function returns the data to index as an array of JSON objects.

The helpers are functions for extracting content and generating Algolia records.

Useful links

• Extracting records with the Algolia Crawler
• recordExtractor parameters

Usage

The most common way to use the DocSearch helper is to return its result to the recordExtractor function.

recordExtractor: ({ helpers }) => {
  return helpers.docsearch({
    recordProps: {
      lvl0: {
        selectors: "header h1",
      },
      lvl1: "article h2",
      lvl2: "article h3",
      lvl3: "article h4",
      lvl4: "article h5",
      lvl5: "article h6",
      content: "main p, main li",
    },
  });
},

Manipulate the DOM with Cheerio

The Cheerio instance ($) allows you to manipulate the DOM:

recordExtractor: ({ $, helpers }) => {
  // Removing DOM elements we don't want to crawl
  $(".my-warning-message").remove();

  return helpers.docsearch({
    recordProps: {
      lvl0: {
        selectors: "header h1",
      },
      lvl1: "article h2",
      lvl2: "article h3",
      lvl3: "article h4",
      lvl4: "article h5",
      lvl5: "article h6",
      content: "main p, main li",
    },
  });
},

Provide fallback selectors

Fallback selectors can be useful when retrieving content that might not exist in some pages:

recordExtractor: ({ $, helpers }) => {
  return helpers.docsearch({
    recordProps: {
      // `.exists h1` will be selected if `.exists-probably h1` does not exists.
      lvl0: {
        selectors: [".exists-probably h1", ".exists h1"],
      },
      lvl1: "article h2",
      lvl2: "article h3",
      lvl3: "article h4",
      lvl4: "article h5",
      lvl5: "article h6",
      // `.exists p, .exists li` will be selected.
      content: [
        ".does-not-exists p, .does-not-exists li",
        ".exists p, .exists li",
      ],
    },
  });
},

Provide raw text (defaultValue)

Only the lvl0 and custom variables selectors support this option

You might want to structure your search results differently than your website, or provide a defaultValue to a potentially non-existent selector:

recordExtractor: ({ $, helpers }) => {
  return helpers.docsearch({
    recordProps: {
      lvl0: {
        // It also supports the fallback DOM selectors syntax!
        selectors: ".exists-probably h1",
        defaultValue: "myRawTextIfDoesNotExists",
      },
      lvl1: "article h2",
      lvl2: "article h3",
      lvl3: "article h4",
      lvl4: "article h5",
      lvl5: "article h6",
      content: "main p, main li",
      // The variables below can be used to filter your search
      language: {
        // It also supports the fallback DOM selectors syntax!
        selectors: ".exists-probably .language",
        // Since custom variables are used for filtering, we allow sending
        // multiple raw values
        defaultValue: ["en", "en-US"],
      },
    },
  });
},

Indexing content for faceting

These selectors also support defaultValue and fallback selectors

To index content for frontend filters, such as version or language, define custom variables in recordProps. The helper adds them to each matching Algolia record:

recordExtractor: ({ helpers }) => {
  return helpers.docsearch({
    recordProps: {
      lvl0: {
        selectors: "header h1",
      },
      lvl1: "article h2",
      lvl2: "article h3",
      lvl3: "article h4",
      lvl4: "article h5",
      lvl5: "article h6",
      content: "main p, main li",
      // The variables below can be used to filter your search
      foo: ".bar",
      language: {
        // It also supports the fallback DOM selectors syntax!
        selectors: ".does-not-exists",
        // Since custom variables are used for filtering, we allow sending
        // multiple raw values
        defaultValue: ["en", "en-US"],
      },
      version: {
        // You can send raw values without `selectors`
        defaultValue: ["latest", "stable"],
      },
    },
  });
},

The version, language, and foo attributes are then available in your records:

{
  "foo": "valueFromBarSelector",
  "language": ["en", "en-US"],
  "version": ["latest", "stable"]
}

Add every filter attribute to the index's attributesForFaceting, then expose up to five of them with the v5 facets option. If you display one with resultBadgeKey, also add that attribute to attributesToRetrieve; see the resultBadgeKey reference.

V5 result breadcrumbs use the hierarchy.lvl0 through hierarchy.lvl6 values generated from your selectors. Keep the heading levels ordered and include the hierarchy attributes in attributesToRetrieve.

Boost search results with pageRank

This parameter allows you to boost records using a custom ranking attribute built from the current pathsToMatch. Pages with highest pageRank will be returned before pages with a lower pageRank. The default value is 0 and you can pass any numeric value as a string, including negative values.

Search results are sorted by weight (desc), so you can have both boosted and non boosted results. The weight of each result will be computed for a given query based on multiple factors: match level, position, etc. and the pageRank value will be added to this final weight. The pageRank on its own may not be enough to influence the results of your query depending on how your overall ranking is set up. If changing the pageRank value doesn't influence your search results enough, even with large values, move weight.pageRank higher in the Ranking and Sorting page for your index.

You can view the computed weight directly from the Algolia dashboard (dashboard.algolia.com->search->perform a search->mouse hover over the "ranking criteria" icon bottom right of each record). That will give you an idea of what pageRank value is acceptable for your case.

{
  indexName: "YOUR_INDEX_NAME",
  pathsToMatch: ["https://YOUR_WEBSITE_URL/api/**"],
  recordExtractor: ({ $, helpers, url }) => {
    const isDocPage = /\/[\w-]+\/docs\//.test(url.pathname);
    const isBlogPage = /\/[\w-]+\/blog\//.test(url.pathname);
    return helpers.docsearch({
      recordProps: {
        lvl0: {
          selectors: "header h1",
        },
        lvl1: "article h2",
        lvl2: "article h3",
        lvl3: "article h4",
        lvl4: "article h5",
        lvl5: "article h6",
        content: "article p, article li",
        pageRank: isDocPage ? "-2000" : isBlogPage ? "-1000" : "0",
      },
    });
  },
},

Reduce the number of records

If you encounter the Extractors returned too many records error when your page outputs more than 750 records, the aggregateContent option helps you reduce the number of records at the content level of the extractor.

{
  indexName: "YOUR_INDEX_NAME",
  pathsToMatch: ["https://YOUR_WEBSITE_URL/api/**"],
  recordExtractor: ({ $, helpers }) => {
    return helpers.docsearch({
      recordProps: {
        lvl0: {
          selectors: "header h1",
        },
        lvl1: "article h2",
        lvl2: "article h3",
        lvl3: "article h4",
        lvl4: "article h5",
        lvl5: "article h6",
        content: "article p, article li",
      },
      aggregateContent: true,
    });
  },
},

Reduce the record size

If you encounter the Records extracted are too big error, your records or source page might contain too much information. The recordVersion option reduces record size by removing fields used only by the DocSearch v2 UI.

{
  indexName: "YOUR_INDEX_NAME",
  pathsToMatch: ["https://YOUR_WEBSITE_URL/api/**"],
  recordExtractor: ({ $, helpers }) => {
    return helpers.docsearch({
      recordProps: {
        lvl0: {
          selectors: "header h1",
        },
        lvl1: "article h2",
        lvl2: "article h3",
        lvl3: "article h4",
        lvl4: "article h5",
        lvl5: "article h6",
        content: "article p, article li",
      },
      recordVersion: "v3",
    });
  },
},

recordProps API Reference

lvl0

type: Lvl0 | required

type Lvl0 = {
  selectors: string | string[];
  defaultValue?: string;
};

lvl1, content

type: string | string[] | required

lvl2, lvl3, lvl4, lvl5, lvl6

type: string | string[] | optional

pageRank

type: number | optional

See the live example

Custom variables

type: string | string[] | CustomVariable | optional

type CustomVariable =
  | {
      defaultValue: string | string[];
    }
  | {
      selectors: string | string[];
      defaultValue?: string | string[];
    };

Define custom variables in recordProps. You can use them with v5 facets and per-index filters.

helpers.docsearch API Reference

aggregateContent

type: boolean | default: true | optional

This option groups the Algolia records created at the content level of the selector into a single record for its matching heading.

recordVersion

type: 'v3' | 'v2' | default: v2 | optional

This option selects the crawler record schema. It doesn't select the DocSearch UI package version. Set it to v3 to remove fields used only by the DocSearch v2 UI. The v3 value is also the current record schema for DocSearch v5 frontends.

indexHeadings

type: boolean | { from: number, to: number } | default: true | optional

This option tells the crawler if the headings (lvlX) should be indexed.

• When false, only records for the content level will be created.
• When from, to is provided, only records for the lvlX to lvlY will be created.