How the Find Bar works with the Search API
The Find Bar is your gateway to exploring all of Magnolia’s content, acting like a smart, user-friendly interface that connects directly to the Magnolia Search API.
Just as a website or app can pull in content from a backend system, the Find Bar fetches and displays search results from the Search API in a way that’s easy to navigate.
This powerful connection lets you search across apps like Pages, Assets, and Tours, delivering results that are relevant and organized.
Searching made simple
When you type a search term like kyoto into the Find Bar without applying filters, it sends a request to the Search API to find matching content across Magnolia’s apps.
Think of it as casting a wide net to catch all relevant items, including:
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Pages and page content
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Assets (like images or videos)
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Tags (marketing or content-related)
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User personas
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Tours and stories
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Administrative tools and configurations
The Find Bar then takes the API’s response and presents it in a clear, popup list showing details like the app name, content name, status, and last updated date.
Example in action
For instance, searching for kyoto triggers a request to the Search API, which looks something like this:
https://<your-magnolia-site>/.rest/v0/search?filters[q][$eq]=kyoto&filters[appId][$in]=categories-app,configuration,content-tags,dam,groovy,jcr-browser-app,marketing-tags,pages,pages-app,password-manager,personas-app,segmentation-app,stories,toursThis request tells the Search API to:
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Search for content exactly matching
kyoto(filters[q][$eq]=kyoto). -
Look across a range of apps, like Pages, Assets, Tours, and more (listed in
filters[appId][$in]).
The API might respond with something like this:
{
"items": [
{
"score": 0,
"resultId": -2140359779,
"description": "",
"sys": {
"path": "/magnolia-travels/Kyoto",
"createdAt": "2015-01-29T08:46:15.575+01:00",
"updatedBy": "superuser",
"createdBy": "superuser",
"appId": "tours",
"name": "Kyoto",
"id": "b475f27e-2929-427b-9517-815118a3b36e",
"nodeType": "mgnl:content",
"status": "MODIFIED",
"updatedAt": "2025-02-21T17:29:26.474+01:00"
}
}
]
}The Find Bar simplifies this response into a result row in its popup list, showing:
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App: Tours
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Name: Kyoto
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Status: Modified
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Last Updated: Feb 21, 2025
This makes it easy for you to spot and select the content you need without worrying about the technical details behind the scenes.
Why this matters
The Find Bar’s connection to the Search API ensures fast, accurate searches across all your content. It works like a modern app pulling data from a backend, but it’s designed with authors in mind—simple to use, visually clear, and packed with features like filters and sorting to refine your results.
Your Magnolia administrator can even customize how the Search API delivers results to better fit your workflow.
| Try searching for a specific term or path in the Find Bar to see how quickly it pulls up relevant content from across Magnolia’s apps! |