Implement Search & Categories

Nosto Search uses product and user behavior data from the Nosto Platform, so if you are implementing Nosto Search, first of all, you need to implement Nosto Platform to your website.

Your search engine will be ready after the Nosto representative enables the Search module for your account. Then you will need to integrate Nosto Search to the website.

Implementation methods

Search Templates Starter

For developers who prefer a modern, local development workflow, the Search Templates Starter provides a complete Preact-based project. This approach offers full source code control with Git, a local development environment with hot reloading, and a component library with pre-built, customizable search components. It's ideal for teams that want maximum flexibility and integration with their existing development practices.

Using Search Templates Starter

Search Templates

By using a pre-built template that can be customized to fully match a website's design using built-in code editor directly in https://my.nosto.com/. In the code editor, you can fully customize the pre-built template's JavaScript, HTML, and CSS code. Changes to the template can be implemented either by client’s developers or Nosto team. Frontend integration uses Preact and JSX templates and renders search results page dynamically in website’s frontend, so no additional integration is needed to the backend. When using Nosto services, no development is needed from the client.

Using Search Templates

API

API integration - a robust Search GraphQL API allows to implement Nosto Search into any website or app and gives complete flexibility for developers to build frontend and backend features.

Using the API

JavaScript Library

For frontend integrations you can also use our JavaScript library. This library wraps the Search GraphQL API and provides its functionality in a programmatic way.

Using the JavaScript Library

Compare implementations

	Search Templates Starter	Search Templates	API	JavaScript Library
Can be implemented by Nosto team	Yes	Yes	No	No
Expected time to launch live	2-4 weeks*	1-3 weeks*	4-8 weeks	3-6 weeks
Headless compatible	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Fully customizable frontend	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Customized and managed only in Nosto dashboard	No	Yes	No	No
Suitable for complex use cases	Yes	Sometimes	Yes	Yes
Merchandising rules applied automatically**	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Analytics	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Segmentation	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Individual personalization (affinities)	Yes	Yes	Yes***	Yes
A/B testing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
SPA suitable	Yes	Limited****	Yes	Yes

* This estimation is based on the merchant's team building the templates. When Nosto's frontend team builds templates via the Code Editor, this can take longer due to overall bandwidth from the team.

** Matching merchandising rules are applied automatically based on requested search queries, categories, and segments, without the need to request them in API requests.

*** Full functionality is only possible as a hybrid solution in combination with the JavaScript library for affinity retrieval.

**** Using search templates with SPAs comes with challenges related to routing and dynamic content injection that tend to be solvable, but are more technically involved. We highly recommend using the JavaScript library instead.

Search Templates vs. Search Templates Starter

Feature	Search Templates	Search Templates Starter
Development Environment	In-browser code editor in the Nosto Admin UI	Local development with your preferred IDE
Version Control	Managed within the Nosto platform	Full source code control with Git
Workflow	Edit and preview directly in the browser	Local development with nosto-cli for uploads
Best For	Quick setup and users comfortable with an online editor	Developers wanting a modern, local workflow

If you are a developer who prefers a modern, local development workflow with full version control (Git), we strongly recommend using the Search Templates Starter. It offers the most flexibility and integrates seamlessly with professional development practices.

If you are looking for a faster, more straightforward setup and are comfortable using an in-browser code editor, Search Templates are a great alternative.

For use cases that require deep backend integration, or if you're building for a non-web platform (e.g., native mobile apps), the API or JavaScript Library integrations provide the necessary control and access to the raw search data.