Deliver an ultra-responsive search experience to your visitors — no page reloads, no jQuery, no lag. Init Live Search is a modern, lightweight, and fully accessible live search solution for WordPress — now with native Block Editor (Gutenberg) blocks and Abilities API support (WordPress 6.9+), an optional MySQL FULLTEXT search index, optional Meilisearch integration, tag-aware matching, SEO metadata support, ACF integration, WooCommerce product filters, and customizable UI presets.

It replaces the default <input name="s"> with a clean, intuitive search modal powered entirely by the WordPress REST API. Everything loads in real-time — with zero disruption to browsing flow.

Perfect for content-heavy blogs, WooCommerce stores, or even headless sites. Every interaction is fast, fluid, and designed to work across devices.

Want typo-tolerant, sub-50ms relevance ranking on top of that? Connect your own self-hosted or cloud Meilisearch instance in a few clicks — Init Live Search will automatically prefer it for search, and just as automatically fall back to the built-in database search if it’s ever unreachable. Your visitors never see a broken search box.

Prefer working entirely in the Block Editor? Three dynamic blocks — Live Search Box, Related Posts, and AI Related Posts — live under their own Init Live Search category in the block inserter, each with a live server-side preview as you configure it, and each sharing the exact same rendering code as its shortcode counterpart. For AI agents and automated tools, two read-only abilities (search and related posts) are also exposed through the standard WordPress Abilities API on WordPress 6.9+.

It also brings AI-powered related posts and an advanced keyword generator — giving your visitors smarter ways to discover content.

This plugin is part of the Init Plugin Suite — a collection of minimalist, fast, and developer-focused tools for WordPress.

GitHub repository: https://github.com/brokensmile2103/init-live-search

What’s New in Version 2.0.0

Abilities API support (WordPress 6.9+): search and related-posts exposed as two read-only, discoverable abilities (init-live-search/search-posts, init-live-search/get-related-posts) — optional and fully backward-compatible on older WordPress versions
Block Editor (Gutenberg) support: three new blocks — Live Search Box, Related Posts, AI Related Posts — under their own block category, each with a live editor preview and sharing the same rendering code as their shortcode counterparts
Requires at least raised from 5.9 to 6.9 to support the Abilities API. Requires PHP remains 7.4

What’s New in Version 1.8.x & 1.9.x

Optional FULLTEXT Search Index (1.9.5): opt-in MySQL FULLTEXT-indexed table for Title/Excerpt/Content, replacing slow LIKE '%term%' scans on large sites. Off by default, auto-builds in the background via WP-Cron once enabled (no SSH/WP-CLI needed), with wp init-live-search fulltext-reindex available for a manual/faster build. See “FULLTEXT Search Index” below for details.
Optional Meilisearch Integration: connect your own Meilisearch server (self-hosted or cloud) as the primary search engine
- Typo-tolerant, relevance-ranked, sub-50ms search results straight from Meilisearch
- Automatic, transparent fallback to the local database search whenever Meilisearch is disabled, unreachable, or misconfigured — search availability is never compromised
- New Meilisearch settings tab: Host URL, Index Name, Search Key, Admin/Indexing Key, request timeout, one-click “Test Connection”, and (1.9.5) a one-click “Reindex Now” button for sites without WP-CLI/SSH access
- Posts are synced automatically on publish/update/trash/delete (non-blocking — won’t slow down the editor)
- WP-CLI command wp init-live-search meili-reindex for bulk-indexing or rebuilding the entire index
- Sensitive indexing key can be defined via the INIT_LIVE_SEARCH_MEILI_ADMIN_KEY constant in wp-config.php instead of the database, for extra security
AI-Powered Related Posts: brand new [init_live_search_related_ai] shortcode
- Uses multi-signal scoring (tags, series, title bigrams, same_keyword via ACF, category, views, comments, freshness)
- Shares templates with [init_live_search_related_posts] (no extra styling needed)
- Fully filterable via new developer hooks: ai_candidates, ai_signals, ai_weights, ai_score
Advanced Keyword Generator: upgraded algorithm for admin keyword suggestions
- Replaced TF-IDF with BM25 term weighting
- Added NPMI (fixed probability base) and Log-Likelihood Ratio (Dunning) for collocation strength
- Generates bigrams and trigrams for richer, more specific keyword suggestions
- Cross-document frequency penalty down-ranks phrases that are too generic across the site
- MMR (Maximal Marginal Relevance) selection ensures diverse, non-redundant final keywords
- Title-only source: clean signal, no excerpt noise, works reliably across all site types
- Unicode-safe, locale-aware stop words (Vietnamese & English), and soft fallback mode
404 Smart Redirect
- Added “Auto Redirect 404 to Best Match” mode driven by Init Live Search scoring
- Fully respects “Post Types to Include” settings
- Uses unified resolver + filters for extensible post-type handling
- Safety checks to avoid loops, invalid targets, and cross-type mismatches
Developer Filters Expansion
- New filters added for AI related posts and keyword signals
- Complete list now includes over 20 filters (*_fallback, *_post_ids, *_results, *_weights, *_commands, etc.)
- Developers can hook into candidate pools, signal scores, and schema output with fine-grained control
Performance Optimizations
- Smarter candidate pooling for related posts (recent + context-based)
- Pre-cached scoring loop for AI signals to minimize queries
- Safer regex handling in keyword processing to avoid PCRE errors
- Reduced memory footprint in bigram statistics without sacrificing accuracy
Backward Compatible Enhancements
- [init_live_search_related_posts] and [init_live_search_related_ai] now share the same rendering pipeline
- Existing templates, schema, and CSS continue to work without modification
- Auto insert related posts still works and can be switched to AI mode via shortcode override

Features

Packed with everything a modern live search needs — and more:

Live search via REST API (no admin-ajax, no jQuery)
NEW: Block Editor (Gutenberg) blocks — Live Search Box, Related Posts, and AI Related Posts — under their own block category, each with a live server-side preview in the editor
NEW: Abilities API support (WordPress 6.9+) — search and related posts exposed as discoverable, executable abilities via wp_get_abilities() and the wp-abilities/v1 REST namespace
NEW: Optional MySQL FULLTEXT search index — faster Title/Excerpt/Content matching than LIKE queries on the built-in database search, auto-builds in the background
NEW: Optional Meilisearch integration — typo-tolerant, relevance-ranked external search with automatic fallback to local DB search
Smart tag-aware search mode (title + tag match)
SEO metadata support: Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO, SEOPress, TSF
ACF field matching and customizable filters
Synonym expansion with fallback scoring logic
Slash commands: /recent, /popular, /tag, /id, /sku, /price, /coupon, etc.
WooCommerce support: search by product, SKU, brand, attribute, variation, coupon
Clean modal UI with keyboard navigation (↑ ↓ Enter Esc)
Optional voice input (SpeechRecognition)
Tooltip Quick Search (select text to trigger)
Favorites system via heart icon or /fav commands
Infinite scroll and smart category filter (no extra API)
Deep linking: ?modal=search&term=...
New [init_live_search] shortcode: insert input or icon anywhere
UI presets: default, fullscreen, topbar — with full CSS override
Local caching + analytics (CSV export, no personal data)
Developer-ready: custom slash commands, REST filters, JS hooks

Dark Mode Support

Enable dark mode for the modal by either:

Adding the dark class:

document.querySelector(‘#ils-modal’)?.classList.add(‘dark’);
Or using a global config:

window.InitPluginSuiteLiveSearchConfig = { theme: ‘dark’ };

Options: dark, light, auto

Admin Settings

Choose post types to include in search
Enable an optional MySQL FULLTEXT search index for faster Title/Excerpt/Content matching, with automatic background indexing
Connect an optional Meilisearch server (Host, Index, Search/Admin keys, timeout, one-click connection test, one-click Reindex Now)
Configure modal triggers (input focus, triple click, Ctrl+/)
Enable slash commands (e.g. /recent, /tag, /id)
Enable support for + and - keyword operators (must-have, must-not-have)
Set default slash command to run on modal open (only if slash is enabled)
Set debounce time and max results
Choose search mode (title-only, tag-aware, full content)
Define custom ACF fields to include in search (optional)
Enable Search in SEO Metadata (Yoast, Rank Math, etc.)
Toggle excerpt display below each result (1-line contextual snippet)
Toggle fallback logic (bigram/trim)
Enable synonym expansion and manage synonym mappings (JSON editor)
Enable Search Analytics to log queries (no personal data stored)
Set max words for tooltip search
Enable voice input (SpeechRecognition API)
Enable result caching (localStorage)
Choose frontend UI style (default, fullscreen, or topbar)
Allow theme override via init-live-search/style.css
Automatically insert related posts after content or comments (optional)
Option to disable all built-in CSS completely
Add default UTM parameter to result links
Define or auto-generate keyword suggestions

FULLTEXT Search Index (Optional)

The built-in database search normally uses LIKE '%term%' queries, which can’t use a regular index and get slow on sites with a large number of posts. Tick FULLTEXT Search Index (Settings Init Live Search General) to sync Title/Excerpt/Content into a dedicated indexed table (your wp_posts table is untouched) and match with MySQL’s MATCH() AGAINST() instead.

Once enabled, the index builds itself automatically in the background via WP-Cron — no SSH/WP-CLI needed — or you can speed things up with wp init-live-search fulltext-reindex. If your server doesn’t support FULLTEXT, or the index isn’t built yet, the plugin simply keeps using the standard LIKE-based search — nothing ever breaks. Tag search, SEO metadata, ACF fields, synonyms, and the +/- operators all keep working the same either way.

Meilisearch Integration (Optional)

Init Live Search works great out of the box with zero setup — the built-in database search handles everything by default. But if you want faster, typo-tolerant, relevance-ranked search at scale, you can connect your own Meilisearch instance in a few minutes.

How it works:

Install and run Meilisearch yourself — self-hosted (a small VPS is plenty for most blogs) or via Meilisearch Cloud. This plugin does not host or manage a server for you.
Go to Settings Init Live Search Meilisearch, enter your Host URL, Index Name, and a search-only API key, then enable the integration.
Index your existing published content either by running wp init-live-search meili-reindex via WP-CLI, or by clicking the “Reindex Now” button right on the Meilisearch settings tab (handy if you don’t have WP-CLI/SSH access) — it runs in the background (~200 posts every 5 seconds) with a live progress status.
That’s it — search requests are now answered by Meilisearch. New, updated, and deleted posts stay in sync automatically.

Built for safety, not lock-in:

If Meilisearch is disabled, unconfigured, or fails to respond (timeout, wrong key, server down), the plugin automatically and silently falls back to the local database search — visitors never see a broken search box.
Reindexing (via the button or WP-CLI) is always manual-only, and auto-stops with a clear error after 3 consecutive failed batches instead of retrying forever.
Your sensitive indexing key can live in wp-config.php (INIT_LIVE_SEARCH_MEILI_ADMIN_KEY) instead of the database.
Turn it off any time — nothing about your site’s core search behavior depends on Meilisearch being present.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Arrow Up / Down — navigate between results
Arrow Right — add selected result to favorites (if not already added)
Arrow Left — remove selected result from favorites
Enter — open selected result or submit
Escape — close modal and reset state
Slash (/) — start a command instantly (e.g., /recent, /id 123)

Developer Reference: Shortcodes, Filters, and Hooks

Shortcodes

[init_live_search]
Display a search icon or input anywhere that opens the Init Live Search modal.

Attributes:
– type: icon (default) or input – choose between a clickable icon or a search box
– placeholder: (optional) text inside the input if type="input"
– label: (optional) adds a label next to the icon if type="icon"
– class: (optional) add custom classes like dark, my-style, etc.
– stroke_width: (optional) set the stroke width for the search icon (default: 1)
– radius: (optional) override the border radius of the input form (default: 9999px from CSS; only applied if value differs)

[init_live_search_related_posts]
Display a list of related posts (static HTML) based on post title or keyword, optimized for SEO and fully themable.

Attributes:
– id: (optional) the post ID to find related posts for (defaults to current post)
– count: (optional) number of posts to display (default: 5)
– keyword: (optional) override the keyword used for finding related posts
– template: (optional) layout template to use — default, grid, classic, compact, thumbright
– css: 1 (default) or 0 – disable default CSS if you want to fully style it yourself
– schema: 1 (default) or 0 – disable JSON-LD ItemList output for SEO schema

[init_live_search_related_ai]
Display a list of AI-powered related posts using multi-signal scoring (tags, series, title bigrams, same_keyword via ACF, category, views, comments, freshness).
Uses the same templates as [init_live_search_related_posts], so no extra styling is required.

Attributes:
– id: (optional) the post ID to find related posts for (defaults to current post)
– count: (optional) number of posts to display (default: 5)
– post_type: (optional) restrict results to one or more post types (default: post)
– template: (optional) layout template to use — default, grid, classic, compact, thumbright
– css: 1 (default) or 0 – disable default CSS if you want to fully style it yourself
– schema: 1 (default) or 0 – disable JSON-LD ItemList output for SEO schema

Filters for Developers

Init Live Search includes many filters to help developers customize behavior and output at various stages of the search flow.

Full documentation (with code samples & advanced usage): Using Filters in Init Live Search

Popular filters

init_plugin_suite_live_search_enable_fallback
Enable or disable fallback logic when few results are found.

init_plugin_suite_live_search_post_ids
Customize the array of post IDs returned from the query.

init_plugin_suite_live_search_result_item
Modify each result item before it’s sent in the response.

init_plugin_suite_live_search_results
Filter the final array of results before being returned.

init_plugin_suite_live_search_query_args
Modify WP_Query arguments for different commands.

init_plugin_suite_live_search_ai_weights
Adjust AI scoring weights for related posts.

(…and more in the full docs)

REST API Endpoints

Fully documented, lightweight, and API-first endpoints. Ideal for headless or decoupled builds.
All endpoints are under namespace: initlise/v1

Full documentation (with examples & parameters): REST API Endpoints in Init Live Search

Popular endpoints

/search?term=example
Standard search query (uses plugin settings like post types, search mode, fallback…).

/id/{id}
Fetch a post by ID (returns permalink).

/recent
Fetch the most recent posts.

/tax?taxonomy=category&term=slug-or-id
Fetch posts by taxonomy (category, tag, or custom).

/related?title=page-title&exclude=ID
Fetch posts related to the current page title.

/product?...
Fetch WooCommerce products with flexible query parameters.