How to Integrate Algolia With Laravel

Imagine having a search bar on your Laravel application that instantly returns relevant results, no matter how large your dataset is. This is achievable with Algolia, a powerful search-as-a-service platform. In this guide, we’ll walk you through integrating Algolia into your Laravel application, step by step.

What is Algolia?

Algolia is a cloud-based service that specializes in providing fast and accurate search results. It’s designed to handle large amounts of data and complex search queries, making it ideal for e-commerce platforms, content management systems, and more.

Why Use Algolia with Laravel?

Laravel is a popular PHP framework for building web applications. While Laravel’s Eloquent ORM is great for database interactions, it can struggle with complex search queries and large datasets. Algolia complements Laravel by providing a robust search solution.

Getting Started

1. Create an Algolia Account:

Visit Algolia’s website (https://www.algolia.com/) and sign up for a free account.
You’ll receive your Application ID, Search API Key, and Admin API Key, which you’ll need later.

2. Install Required Packages: Open your Laravel project’s terminal and run the following command:

1

composer require algolia/algoliasearch-client-php laravel/scout

This will install the necessary packages for Algolia integration.

3. Configure Algolia Credentials: Open your .env file and add the following lines, replacing the placeholders with your actual Algolia credentials:

1
2
3


ALGOLIA_APP_ID=your_app_id
ALGOLIA_SEARCH_KEY=your_search_api_key
ALGOLIA_ADMIN_API_KEY=your_admin_api_key

Making Your Model Searchable

Let’s assume you have a Product model. To make it searchable by Algolia:

Import the Searchable trait:
1

use Laravel\Scout\Searchable;

Implement the toSearchableArray method: This method defines the data you want to index in Algolia.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9


public function toSearchableArray()
{
    return [
        'id' => $this->id,
        'name' => $this->name,
        'description' => $this->description,
        'price' => $this->price, // Add other relevant fields
    ];
}

Indexing Your Data

To index your product data into Algolia:

1

Product::searchable();

This will index all existing products. For large datasets, consider using asynchronous indexing or bulk imports.

Performing Searches

To search for products using Algolia:

1

$products = Product::search('laptop')->get();

This will return a collection of products that match the search term “laptop”.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you’ve successfully integrated Algolia into your Laravel application. Now you can provide users with a fast and efficient search experience. Remember to experiment with Algolia’s features to fine-tune your search results based on your specific needs.