· John Dummy · 2 min read
Privacy-First Static Search
How our search functionality works without leaking private post metadata.
Search on a blog often involves a trade-off between user experience and privacy, especially when some content is restricted. We’ve implemented a Privacy-First Static Search that ensures your secrets stay secret.
The Core Concept
Most static site search engines work by generating a JSON index of all posts and loading it into the browser. If not handled carefully, this index can include titles and excerpts of private posts, even if the user isn’t logged in.
How We Solve It
- Build-Time Filtering: The search index is generated during the build process. We’ve modified the index generator to explicitly filter out any post that is not marked as
public. - No Metadata Leakage: Even if someone inspects the
search.jsonfile in their browser Network tab, they will only see the public-facing content. Restricted post titles, tags, and summaries are absent. - Local-Only Drafts: Posts marked as
draft: trueare completely excluded from the search index.
Search Technology
We use Fuse.js, a powerful, lightweight fuzzy-search library that runs locally in your browser. This means:
- No external tracking: Your search queries never leave your browser.
- Blazing speed: Search results appear instantly as you type.
- Fuzzy matching: It gracefully handles typos and partial matches.
Future Roadmap
Currently, authenticated users (like “Friends” or “Family”) only see public results in the search. A future improvement will involve serving protected search indexes via Cloudflare Access, allowing logged-in users to search across all content they have permission to see.
