Facet Type Search

Facet Type: Search

🚧 Planned for v0.5 (beta).

Free-text search scoped to the current result set.

what it is

A debounced text input that filters the result set by matching against configured post fields (title, content, excerpt, SKU, etc.). Plays nicely with other facets — search refines what the facets have already narrowed.

when to use it

• Product search within a category page
• "Find within these results" UX
• Long catalogs where browsing isn't enough
• Sites that already have full-text indexed content

when not to use it

• As your only search (use a real search plugin like Relevanssi or SearchWP for site-wide search)
• Tiny catalogs (< 20 items) where browsing is faster
• Exact-match SKU lookups → use Dropdown with a SKU source

configuration

{
  "name": "product_search",
  "type": "search",
  "label": "Search",
  "source": "post:title,excerpt,content",
  "behavior": {
    "debounce_ms": 300,
    "min_chars": 2,
    "match": "fuzzy",
    "logic": "all_words"
  },
  "ui": {
    "placeholder": "Search products...",
    "icon": "search",
    "instant": true,
    "clear_button": true
  }
}

options

Field	Values	Default	What
source	comma-separated post fields	"post:title"	Fields to search across
behavior.debounce_ms	int	300	Ms to wait after typing stops before querying
behavior.min_chars	int	2	Don't query until this many chars typed
behavior.match	"exact" | "prefix" | "fuzzy"	"prefix"	Matching strategy
behavior.logic	"any_word" | "all_words" | "phrase"	"all_words"	Multi-word handling
ui.placeholder	string	""	Input placeholder
ui.icon	string | null	"search"	Icon name (lucide) or null
ui.instant	bool	true	Update as user types (vs. on Enter)
ui.clear_button	bool	true	Show "x" to clear

post field sources

source value	What it searches
post:title	Post title
post:content	Post body
post:excerpt	Post excerpt
post:all	Title + content + excerpt
meta:<key>	A specific meta field (e.g. SKU)
taxonomy:<slug>	Term names in a taxonomy

Combine with commas: "post:title,meta:_sku,taxonomy:product_tag"

URL state

?_hof_product_search=organic+cotton

URL-encoded space (+ or %20). Phrases (with logic: "phrase") preserve word order.

planned PHP filters

apply_filters( 'hof_facet_search_query', $query, $facet );
apply_filters( 'hof_facet_search_fields', $fields, $facet );
apply_filters( 'hof_facet_search_min_chars', $min, $facet );
apply_filters( 'hof_facet_search_match_strategy', $strategy, $facet );

// Hook into the actual search SQL
apply_filters( 'hof_facet_search_sql_where', $where, $query, $facet );

examples

Standard Woo product search:

{ "name": "search", "type": "search",
  "source": "post:title,post:excerpt,meta:_sku",
  "behavior": { "logic": "all_words", "match": "prefix" } }

Exact phrase search across content:

{ "name": "exact", "type": "search", "source": "post:all",
  "behavior": { "match": "exact", "logic": "phrase", "min_chars": 3 } }

see also

• Core Concepts — how search interacts with the index
• Dropdown — with searchable mode for picking from known options