Search

Alpha’s search functionality is powered by Pagefind. You can learn more about it on the official website or experience it directly by using the search feature on this site.

Enable Search

To enable search, (disabled by default):

1. Set pagefind_enabled = true in /config/_default/params.toml.
   (This enables the search button and Alpha’s JavaScript required for the search functionality.)
2. Add Pagefind to your build.

Add Pagefind to Your Build

Integrate Pagefind directly into your build command to simplify setup.

If you deploy your site using services like Vercel, Netlify, or Cloudflare Pages, update your build command in the respective platform settings to:

hugo --gc --minify && npx pagefind --site "public"

This command builds your Hugo site, then runs Pagefind to generate the searchable index.

You can find platform specific instructions in the Deployment documentation pages.

If you’re building your site locally or testing search before deployment, run the same command in your terminal:

hugo --gc --minify && npx pagefind --site "public"

Note: You must have Node.js installedon your local system.

How it works

Pagefind is installed in Hugo’s public/ folder (Hugo’s default output directory). It scans the generated HTML and builds a lightweight search index from your site’s content.

• Every time you build your site with the above command, Pagefind updates the search index automatically.
• New content will only appear in search after you rebuild your site with the above command.

In essence, Pagefind is a static search library, just like Hugo is a static site generator.
The same principles apply: You must build to update!.