Hey Ghost community!
Inspired by A better search for Ghost - and it’s not Algolia (and open source!)
After struggling with the limitations of Ghost’s default search on my own blog, I decided to build something better. I’m excited to share my Ghost-Meilisearch integration that brings lightning-fast, feature-rich search to Ghost blogs.
What does it do?
This integration replaces Ghost’s default search with a Meilisearch-powered solution that delivers:
- Full-content search (not just titles and excerpts)
- Blazing fast results (under 50ms, even for large sites)
- Search-as-you-type functionality
- Typo tolerance (users can misspell words and still find results)
- Dark/light mode support that matches your theme
- Keyboard shortcuts and fully accessible UI
- Real-time index updates via webhooks
Why I built this
We all know Ghost’s built-in search has limitations - it only searches titles, excerpts, authors and tags. For content-rich sites, this means readers often can’t find what they’re looking for even when it exists.
I wanted a solution that would:
- Work with ANY Ghost theme
- Be easy to set up (even for non-developers)
- Deliver a premium search experience
- Stay in sync with content automatically
How to get started
The integration is fully open-source and includes:
- A drop-in search UI component
- A CLI tool for initial content syncing
- A webhook handler for real-time updates
I’ve created detailed documentation for both standard Ghost installations and Ghost(Pro) hosted sites. You can either replace the default search completely or add it via code injection.
Check out the blog post with demo video here: Supercharging Your Ghost Blog with Meilisearch: A Powerful Search Integration
Check out the project on GitHub: GitHub - MFYDev/ghost-meilisearch: Add powerful, lightning-fast search to your Ghost blog with Meilisearch. This integration provides everything you need to create a seamless search experience for your readers.
I’d love to hear your feedback or answer any questions you might have. Has anyone else addressed search limitations in their Ghost sites? What solutions have you tried?