AI Search Setup

The docs site uses Starlight’s default Pagefind search out of the box.

To enable AI search, configure Algolia DocSearch (and optionally Ask AI).

1) Install dependencies

The site already includes the plugin dependency:

npm install @astrojs/starlight-docsearch

2) Configure environment variables

Set these variables before running npm run dev or npm run build:

export ALGOLIA_APP_ID="your_app_id"
export ALGOLIA_SEARCH_API_KEY="your_search_api_key"
export ALGOLIA_INDEX_NAME="your_index_name"

Optional (enables Ask AI UI in DocSearch):

export ALGOLIA_ASK_AI_ASSISTANT_ID="your_assistant_id"

3) Start the docs site

npm run dev

When all required Algolia variables are present, Starlight switches from Pagefind to DocSearch.

If variables are missing, the site automatically falls back to Pagefind.

4) Verify

• Open the search modal (Cmd+K / Ctrl+K).
• Confirm results are coming from Algolia index content.
• If ALGOLIA_ASK_AI_ASSISTANT_ID is set, confirm Ask AI appears in the search UI.

Notes

• Required for DocSearch: ALGOLIA_APP_ID, ALGOLIA_SEARCH_API_KEY, ALGOLIA_INDEX_NAME
• Optional for Ask AI: ALGOLIA_ASK_AI_ASSISTANT_ID
• No secrets are committed in the repository; use environment variables locally and in CI.