FVN.li Documentation Help

Meilisearch Commands Overview

Meilisearch commands manage the search indexing system for FVN.li. These commands handle initial setup, maintenance reindexing, and index configuration.

Available Commands

When to Use

Initial Setup

Use meilisearch:setup when:

  • Setting up a new environment

  • Migrating from PostgreSQL full-text search to Meilisearch

  • Rebuilding indexes from scratch

Maintenance

Use meilisearch:reindex when:

  • Search results seem outdated or incorrect

  • After making changes to index configuration

  • Recovering from index corruption

  • Performing periodic maintenance

Configuration Updates

Use scout:sync-index-settings when:

  • Updating searchable attributes

  • Changing filterable or sortable fields

  • Modifying ranking rules

  • Updating stop words or synonyms

Automatic Indexing

Important: Normal operations use automatic indexing via Eloquent observers. Manual reindexing is only needed for:

  • Initial setup

  • Maintenance and troubleshooting

  • Configuration changes

  • Bulk data migrations

The following operations trigger automatic indexing:

  • Creating new games

  • Updating game information

  • Adding or updating dialogue texts

  • Creating or updating reviews

  • Modifying tags

Search Indexes

FVN.li maintains the following Meilisearch indexes:

Games Index

  • Primary Key: id

  • Searchable Fields: title, description, author

  • Filterable Fields: tags, languages, platforms, content_flags, rating, release_date

  • Sortable Fields: rating, release_date, created_at

Dialogue Index

  • Primary Key: id

  • Searchable Fields: text, character_name

  • Filterable Fields: game_id, language, character_id

  • Sortable Fields: created_at

Reviews Index

  • Primary Key: id

  • Searchable Fields: content, title

  • Filterable Fields: game_id, rating, user_id

  • Sortable Fields: rating, created_at

Tags Index

  • Primary Key: id

  • Searchable Fields: name, description

  • Filterable Fields: category, usage_count

  • Sortable Fields: usage_count, name

Performance Considerations

Index Size

  • Games: ~10,000 documents

  • Dialogue: ~1,000,000+ documents

  • Reviews: ~50,000 documents

  • Tags: ~500 documents

Reindexing Time

  • Full reindex: 5-15 minutes depending on data volume

  • Partial reindex: 1-5 minutes

  • Individual updates: Near-instant via observers

Resource Usage

  • Meilisearch uses RAM for indexing

  • Ensure adequate memory during reindexing

  • Consider running during low-traffic periods

Troubleshooting

Connection Issues

If you see "Cannot connect to Meilisearch":

  1. Check that Meilisearch is running: ddev describe

  2. Verify the MEILISEARCH_HOST in .env

  3. Check Meilisearch logs: ddev logs -s meilisearch

If search is slow:

  1. Check index health

  2. Verify filterable/sortable fields are properly configured

  3. Consider reducing searchable fields

  4. Check Meilisearch resource allocation

Missing Results

If search results are missing:

  1. Run meilisearch:reindex to rebuild indexes

  2. Check that automatic indexing is working

  3. Verify model observers are registered

  4. Check Meilisearch logs for errors

Best Practices

  1. Initial Setup: Always run meilisearch:setup on new environments

  2. Configuration Changes: Run scout:sync-index-settings after modifying search configuration

  3. Maintenance: Schedule periodic reindexing (monthly or quarterly)

  4. Monitoring: Monitor search performance and index health

  5. Backups: Meilisearch data is derived from PostgreSQL, so database backups are sufficient

Last modified: 13 October 2025
ratings:recalculatemeilisearch:setup