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Installation & Setup

When to Use

Use this when installing Search API and creating your first server and index.

Decision

Step Action Where
1 Uninstall core Search module drush pm:uninstall search
2 Create a server /admin/config/search/search-api/add-server
3 Create an index /admin/config/search/search-api/add-index
4 Select datasources Index edit form — usually "Content" (nodes)
5 Add fields to index Index → Fields tab
6 Configure processors Index → Processors tab
7 Create a "Search index" view mode /admin/structure/types/manage/{type}/display
8 Index content drush sapi-i
9 Create a View Select the search index as data source
10 Add facets (optional) /admin/config/search/facets/add-facet

Pattern

# Core Search API (includes database backend)
composer require drupal/search_api
drush en search_api search_api_db

# For Solr (production):
composer require drupal/search_api_solr
drush en search_api_solr

# Common companions:
composer require drupal/facets drupal/search_api_autocomplete
drush en facets search_api_autocomplete

Drush commands:

Command Purpose
drush sapi-l List all indexes
drush sapi-i Index all items
drush sapi-i --batch-size=50 Index with specific batch size
drush sapi-r Mark all items for reindexing
drush sapi-c Clear all indexed data
drush sapi-rt Rebuild tracking information
drush sapi-s View index status

Common Mistakes

  • Wrong: Not uninstalling core Search → Right: Running both wastes resources. drush pm:uninstall search.
  • Wrong: Forgetting to index after adding fields or changing processors → Right: Always reindex after configuration changes.
  • Wrong: Not creating a search view mode → Right: The default "Full content" view mode indexes too much. Create a dedicated view mode.

See Also