Improve community search with focused, paginated results (#73)

* Add focused community search and result pagination

* Keep the search showcase in one README section

Author: drewmt

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ All notable project changes will be documented here.
 
 ### Added
 
+- Focused community search with navigable Posts, Spaces, People and Topics
+  filters, bounded previous/next pagination, deterministic ordering, per-page
+  visibility enforcement, responsive category navigation and recoverable empty
+  states without a new search service or database migration.
 - A privacy-safe Community Onboarding journey for newly verified members, with
   four outcome-based steps, existing-policy Space and People suggestions,
   invitation-aware entry, an optional dismissal preference, personal-export

README.md

@@ -133,6 +133,33 @@ instead of treating dark mode as a simple color inversion.
 
 ![Lineweb Social native dark mode across laptop and mobile profile highlights](docs/mockups/readme-dark.webp)
 
+### Find the conversation beyond the first few results
+
+Start with a community-wide overview, then focus on Posts, Spaces, People or
+Topics. Shareable search URLs, previous/next pages and a swipeable mobile
+category rail help members reach older matches. Every page reapplies current
+visibility and safety rules, with no separate search service to configure.
+
+![Community search with focused categories and visible topic counts](docs/screenshots/search-desktop.jpg)
+
+<table>
+  <tr>
+    <td width="72%" valign="top">
+      <img src="docs/screenshots/search-dark-desktop.jpg" alt="Community search in dark mode" />
+    </td>
+    <td width="28%" valign="top">
+      <img src="docs/screenshots/search-mobile.jpg" alt="Focused People search with a swipeable category rail on mobile" />
+    </td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td align="center"><sub>The same search experience in dark mode</sub></td>
+    <td align="center"><sub>Focused discovery on mobile</sub></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+See the [community search contract](docs/community-search.md) for ordering,
+privacy and pagination boundaries.
+
 ### Timely Stories without surveillance mechanics
 
 Members can share a short thought, one private normalized image, or both inside
@@ -420,21 +447,6 @@ operations rather than the browser.
   </tr>
 </table>
 
-<table>
-  <tr>
-    <td width="68%">
-      <img src="docs/screenshots/search-desktop.jpg" alt="Lineweb Social policy-filtered global search on desktop" />
-    </td>
-    <td width="32%">
-      <img src="docs/screenshots/search-mobile.jpg" alt="Lineweb Social policy-filtered global search on mobile" />
-    </td>
-  </tr>
-  <tr>
-    <td align="center"><sub>Grouped search across visible community content</sub></td>
-    <td align="center"><sub>Focused mobile discovery</sub></td>
-  </tr>
-</table>
-
 <table>
   <tr>
     <td width="68%">
@@ -569,7 +581,7 @@ makes the final decision.
 | Profiles            | Editable member identity, headlines, author-curated three-post highlights, real chronological activity, public/shared/private visibility, and discovery opt-out.                                                                                                      |
 | Spaces              | Public/private/hidden communities, searchable directory, join/leave rules, account-specific and limited-use shareable invitations, roles, ownership transfer, member removal, bounded curated highlights, and official events with private RSVPs.                      |
 | Publishing          | Focused composer, author-only drafts, private four-image WebP galleries with per-image alt text and swipe navigation, bounded private-first polls, 24-hour Space Stories with no viewer tracking, chronological posts, privacy-safe quote posts and reposts, comments, permanent conversations, and author controls. |
-| Discovery           | Policy-filtered search across posts, Spaces, and People; Unicode hashtags; chronological topic trails; and privacy-aware Following.                                                                                                                                   |
+| Discovery           | Policy-filtered search across posts, Spaces, People and Topics, focused category filters, navigable result pages, Unicode hashtags, chronological topic trails and privacy-aware Following. |
 | Interactions        | Typed Like, Celebrate, and Insightful reactions, private Saved Posts, follows, mentions, one-level direct replies, same-Space quote/repost actions, comments, copy links, and conversation shortcuts.                                                                 |
 | Messaging           | Canonical one-to-one conversations, participant-only history, unread state, block-aware delivery, and responsive inbox/thread views.                                                                                                                                  |
 | Trust and safety    | Mute, mutual block, Safety recovery, post/comment reporting, Space moderation queues, Direct Message reporting, and audited decisions.                                                                                                                                |

app/Community/CommunitySearch.php

@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ final class CommunitySearch
 
     public const int RESULT_LIMIT = 8;
 
+    public const int MAX_PAGE = 1000;
+
     public function __construct(private readonly VisiblePostQuery $visiblePosts) {}
 
     /**
@@ -25,33 +27,36 @@ public function __construct(private readonly VisiblePostQuery $visiblePosts) {}
      *     topics: list<array{name: string, url: string, visiblePostCount: int}>
      * }
      */
-    public function search(User $viewer, string $query): array
+    public function search(User $viewer, string $query, string $type = 'all', int $page = 1): array
     {
         if (mb_strlen($query) < self::MINIMUM_QUERY_LENGTH) {
             return $this->emptyResults();
         }
 
         $pattern = "%{$query}%";
+        $limit = self::RESULT_LIMIT + ($type === 'all' ? 0 : 1);
+        $offset = $type === 'all' ? 0 : ($page - 1) * self::RESULT_LIMIT;
         $topicQuery = ltrim($query, '#');
         $visiblePostIds = $this->visiblePosts
             ->forSearch($viewer)
             ->select('posts.id');
 
-        $posts = $this->visiblePosts
+        $posts = in_array($type, ['all', 'posts'], true) ? $this->visiblePosts
             ->forSearch($viewer)
             ->whereLike('posts.body', $pattern)
             ->latest('posts.published_at')
             ->latest('posts.id')
-            ->limit(self::RESULT_LIMIT)
-            ->get();
+            ->offset($offset)
+            ->limit($limit)
+            ->get() : collect();
 
         $visibleAuthorIds = User::query()
             ->visibleTo($viewer)
             ->whereKey($posts->pluck('user_id')->unique())
             ->pluck('id')
             ->all();
 
-        $spaces = Space::query()
+        $spaces = in_array($type, ['all', 'spaces'], true) ? Space::query()
             ->discoverableBy($viewer)
             ->where(function (Builder $spaces) use ($pattern): void {
                 $spaces
@@ -64,10 +69,12 @@ public function search(User $viewer, string $query): array
             ])
             ->withCount('members')
             ->orderBy('name')
-            ->limit(self::RESULT_LIMIT)
-            ->get();
+            ->orderBy('id')
+            ->offset($offset)
+            ->limit($limit)
+            ->get() : collect();
 
-        $people = User::query()
+        $people = in_array($type, ['all', 'people'], true) ? User::query()
             ->discoverableBy($viewer)
             ->whereKeyNot($viewer->getKey())
             ->where(function (Builder $people) use ($pattern): void {
@@ -88,10 +95,12 @@ public function search(User $viewer, string $query): array
                     ),
             ])
             ->orderBy('name')
-            ->limit(self::RESULT_LIMIT)
-            ->get();
+            ->orderBy('id')
+            ->offset($offset)
+            ->limit($limit)
+            ->get() : collect();
 
-        $topics = mb_strlen($topicQuery) >= self::MINIMUM_QUERY_LENGTH
+        $topics = in_array($type, ['all', 'topics'], true) && mb_strlen($topicQuery) >= self::MINIMUM_QUERY_LENGTH
             ? Topic::query()
                 ->whereLike('topics.name', "%{$topicQuery}%")
                 ->whereHas(
@@ -105,7 +114,9 @@ public function search(User $viewer, string $query): array
                 ])
                 ->orderByDesc('visible_posts_count')
                 ->orderBy('name')
-                ->limit(self::RESULT_LIMIT)
+                ->orderBy('id')
+                ->offset($offset)
+                ->limit($limit)
                 ->get()
             : collect();
 

app/Http/Controllers/SearchController.php

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 use App\Community\CommunitySearch;
 use App\Http\Requests\SearchRequest;
 use App\Models\User;
+use Illuminate\Pagination\Paginator;
 use Illuminate\Support\Str;
 use Inertia\Inertia;
 use Inertia\Response;
@@ -17,11 +18,32 @@ public function __invoke(SearchRequest $request, CommunitySearch $search): Respo
         $viewer = $request->user();
         $value = $request->validated('q');
         $query = Str::squish(is_string($value) ? $value : '');
+        /** @var 'all'|'posts'|'spaces'|'people'|'topics' $type */
+        $type = $request->string('type')->toString() ?: 'all';
+        $page = $type === 'all' ? 1 : max(1, $request->integer('page', 1));
+        $results = $search->search($viewer, $query, $type, $page);
+        $pagination = null;
+
+        if ($type !== 'all' && mb_strlen($query) >= CommunitySearch::MINIMUM_QUERY_LENGTH) {
+            $paginator = new Paginator($results[$type], CommunitySearch::RESULT_LIMIT, $page, [
+                'path' => route('search'),
+                'query' => ['q' => $query, 'type' => $type],
+            ]);
+            $results[$type] = $paginator->items();
+            $pagination = [
+                'currentPage' => $page,
+                'previousUrl' => $paginator->previousPageUrl(),
+                'nextUrl' => $page < CommunitySearch::MAX_PAGE ? $paginator->nextPageUrl() : null,
+                'limitReached' => $page === CommunitySearch::MAX_PAGE && $paginator->hasMorePages(),
+            ];
+        }
 
         return Inertia::render('search/index', [
             'query' => $query,
+            'type' => $type,
             'minimumQueryLength' => CommunitySearch::MINIMUM_QUERY_LENGTH,
-            'results' => $search->search($viewer, $query),
+            'results' => $results,
+            'pagination' => $pagination,
         ]);
     }
 }

app/Http/Requests/SearchRequest.php

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 namespace App\Http\Requests;
 
+use App\Community\CommunitySearch;
 use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;
 
 class SearchRequest extends FormRequest
@@ -18,6 +19,8 @@ public function rules(): array
     {
         return [
             'q' => ['nullable', 'string', 'max:100'],
+            'type' => ['nullable', 'string', 'in:all,posts,spaces,people,topics'],
+            'page' => ['nullable', 'integer', 'min:1', 'max:'.CommunitySearch::MAX_PAGE],
         ];
     }
 }

docs/community-search.md

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+# Community search
+
+Verified, active members can search currently accessible posts, Spaces, people
+and topics at `/search`. The existing member throttle applies to every page.
+
+## Overview and focused results
+
+- `q` accepts at most 100 characters and is whitespace-normalized. Queries shorter
+  than two Unicode characters show a starting state without pagination.
+- `type` is one of `all`, `posts`, `spaces`, `people` or `topics`. The default
+  overview shows up to eight matches per category. A category link opens its
+  focused results without searching unrelated categories.
+- Focused views show eight results per page, with previous/next links that keep
+  the normalized query and category in the URL. Changing category or submitting
+  a new query starts at page one. Browser back/forward restores the matching
+  query and view. No client-side search-history store is introduced.
+- Pagination fetches one additional policy-filtered record to determine whether
+  a next page exists. It does not run a global result-count query.
+- `page` must be an integer from 1 through 1000. At the bounded browsing limit,
+  members are prompted to narrow their query. The overview ignores `page`.
+- Posts remain ordered by publication time and ID descending. Spaces and people
+  sort by name then ID. Topics sort by currently visible post count, name and ID.
+  Results are not a frozen snapshot: membership, moderation, blocking and newly
+  published content may change what appears between page requests.
+
+## Visibility and privacy
+
+Every page applies the existing post, Space, discovery and relationship policies
+before its offset and limit. Drafts, hidden content, inaccessible Spaces and
+blocked authors cannot fill slots or leak through pagination. Topic counts
+include only posts the current member can see. People retain the existing
+discovery opt-out and profile visibility rules; muting does not itself hide a
+person from the People directory.
+
+Payloads remain explicit presentation fields, not serialized member records.
+No email address, moderation detail or global private-content count is added.
+Search terms are present in navigable URLs, so normal browser history and
+operator access-log policies still apply. No search analytics or retention
+system is introduced by this feature.
+
+The mobile category rail scrolls within its container, the active link uses
+`aria-current`, and pagination controls have explicit labels and disabled
+states. Empty later pages keep a route back to page one when content or access
+changes. No external search service, schema migration or API v1 change is needed.