Unify Your Search Mission Across Multiple Data Sources
In essence, federated search is the ability to search across multiple data repositories at once and retrieve a unified set of results. Instead of forcing users to run separate searches in different silos (products vs. blogs vs. help articles, for example), a federated search treats all those sources as part of a single mission control query. The user enters a query once and the system scours all defined sources, aggregating the findings. The result is a cohesive search experience that spans across indices, databases, or even entirely different platforms, delivering everything relevant in one go.
Federated search matters because modern applications often have multiple sources of truth. Imagine an e-commerce site with product listings, user reviews, and a knowledge base of articles – users could search each section separately, but that’s tedious and easy to miss things. A federated approach ensures that if someone searches for “wireless headphones,” they see products (the actual headphones), content (a blog post on choosing wireless headphones), and maybe support FAQs (troubleshooting tips) all at once. This not only saves time, but also reveals connections between content that users might not discover otherwise.
However, implementing federated search broadly can be challenging. Different sources might rank results differently or use distinct schemas, and naive implementations can swamp users with irrelevant data or slow down queries. Searchcraft Cloud’s Federation feature is designed to overcome these challenges. It provides a built-in way to query multiple indices as easily as querying one, handling the heavy lifting of merging results and relevance. Whether you’re a developer integrating via API or a product manager configuring through the Vektron dashboard, Searchcraft makes cross-index search fast, intuitive, and easy to refine as your search needs evolve.
Users get all relevant content with one query. This ensures nothing important is hidden just because it lives in a different index or service.
By unifying results, you eliminate the need for users to repeat searches in multiple places. One search bar becomes the gateway to everything – reducing friction and improving satisfaction.
Rather than maintaining separate search interfaces or code for each data source, your team can maintain a single search experience. This simplicity means less development overhead and fewer places for things to go out of sync. It also boosts engagement and conversion rates – users who find what they need (be it a product or information) quickly are more likely to take action.
Looking for more info? View the docs.
How does Searchcraft handle federated search under the hood?
Searchcraft introduces a first-class entity called a “Federation” to make cross-index search straightforward. A federation is essentially a predefined group of indices that you want to search together. You can think of it as a virtual index that spans multiple datasets. Once a federation is defined, pilots (Searchcraft users) can execute a single search query against that federation, and Searchcraft will return results from all the indices in the group as if they were one big index.
An audio enthusiast e-commerce site may want to created a single search experience that searches across their online store, blog posts, and customer reviews. In this case, they’d create a federation, perhaps titled “GalacticAudiophiles,” and include each unique index.
In traditional search systems, if you wanted to query multiple indices, you might have to specify all those indices in the query each time (or run separate queries and then merge results manually). Searchcraft’s approach is different: you configure the set of indices once and give it a federation name. From then on, your front-end or application simply queries the federation and doesn’t need to worry about which indices are involved – the federation acts as the aggregator. Pilots don’t have to manually list out an array of index names at query time; the heavy lifting is handled behind the scenes by the Searchcraft engine.
When a search request hits a federation endpoint, Searchcraft’s engine fans the query out to all the indices in the federation simultaneously. Each index executes the search internally, finding matches as it normally would. Searchcraft then collects those partial results and merges them into a single, unified results list. Importantly, all the results are ranked together by relevance. This means if a document from Index A is a better match than anything from Index B, it will still rank higher in the combined output – users simply see the best results overall, regardless of source. (If needed, the results can include an indicator of which index each result came from, so you maintain context like “this result is from the Knowledge Base vs. the Product Catalog,” but the key is the user doesn’t have to search them separately.)
Behind the scenes, federated search must reconcile differences between indices. Searchcraft’s engine normalizes the scoring so that results from different indices can be compared meaningfully. It also allows you to configure weight multipliers per index (we’ll cover this in a moment) to fine-tune how much each source contributes to the final ranking. By default, if you change nothing, all included indices are treated equally – you instantly get a broad sweep of content for each query.
Critically, because the federation’s index list is defined on the server side, you can add or remove indices from the federation without changing your query code. Your front-end doesn’t change at all; it’s still just querying the same federation. This updatability is a game-changer: product teams can evolve the search experience (say, start including a new content source) without requiring a deploy or code change in the client application. We’ll explore more of these advantages in Chapter 4, but this is a glimpse of how Searchcraft’s federated search is both powerful and flexible by design.
Looking for more info? View the docs.
Now that we know what a federation is conceptually, how do you create and use one in Searchcraft? The platform is built to accommodate both developers and non-developers, offering multiple ways to set up federated search:
Vektron is Searchcraft’s web dashboard – think of it as the command center for pilots to control their search configuration. Through Vektron’s intuitive interface, you can create a new federation in just a few clicks.
Log into vektron.searchcraft.io and navigate to Federations from the global navigation.
Click the “+” to create a unique name add a new federation to your organization.
Click “Add/Remove Indices” to select which indices you’d like to include in your federation.
Launch your federation to generate access keys and use the code snippets tab to quickly get your SDK configured.
For developers or those who prefer automation and version-control of configuration, Searchcraft provides a robust API to manage federations programmatically. You can create, update, or delete federations with simple RESTful endpoints.
Example_
Whether using Vektron’s intuitive UI or the API for full automation, Searchcraft offers flexibility for all teams. Adjust field rankings and multipliers as your content and user behavior evolve to ensure the right content is always surfaced first.
For the federation you’d do:
The query parameters or JSON body for search remain the same format as any Searchcraft search; the only difference is the path, indicating you want to search through the federation. Searchcraft will then return a unified results JSON (or XML, etc., depending on your integration) that contains hits from all included indices. From your application’s perspective, it’s just one result set to render.
Implementation Advice_
Give your federations clear, meaningful names, since these names will be used in API calls and possibly logged or shown in analytics. For instance, names like “global_search”, “unified_search”, or “all_content” are self-explanatory. In a multi-environment setup (like dev, staging, prod), you might namespace them or use organization IDs under the hood, but the idea is to keep it clear what each federation is for. Also, consider the default weights when setting up – if you know one source should generally be less prominent, you can set a lower weight from the start. And remember, you can adjust these anytime. If you’re using the API, you might even integrate federation management into your deployment scripts or admin tools, but with Vektron available, a lot of teams will prefer the convenience of tweaking settings live in the dashboard.
By offering both a no-code UI and a full API, Searchcraft ensures that both product teams and developers can collaborate on federated search configurations. A product manager might use Vektron to quickly add a new index to the federation after a content expansion, while a developer might incorporate federation setup into infrastructure-as-code for reproducibility. In either case, the outcome is the same – the federation is ready to serve queries, and your users can start searching across all intended content sources immediately.
Looking for more info? View the docs.
Chapter 3
Federated search is a powerful capability, but to use it effectively, it’s important to be mindful of potential pitfalls. Simply throwing every index you have into a federation and calling it a day could lead to suboptimal results. Searchcraft’s Federation feature gives you a lot of control, but with great power comes great responsibility. Let’s explore a couple of key challenges and how to address them:
Over-Federation: More Isn’t Always Better
It might be tempting to create one federation that includes every index in your organization, giving the ultimate “search everything” experience. But consider whether that truly serves your users’ needs. If a query spans too broad a set of content, the results could become noisy or confusing. For example, imagine an online store that federates search across product listings, blog articles, internal company news, and technical documentation all at once. A user searching for “smartphone” might get a product page for the latest phone (good), a marketing blog post about smartphone trends (maybe okay), an internal news bulletin about the company’s phone launch (irrelevant to a shopper), and a developer documentation page about smartphone API integration (completely out of context!). The user’s intent was likely just to find a product, but over-federation dumped a kitchen sink of results. Moreover, querying a large number of indices indiscriminately can add unnecessary load and slow down the response – every additional index is another search operation under the hood.
Context Matters: Not All Sources are Equal
Each index in a federation may have different content characteristics, and that context can affect search relevancy. Without guidance, a large or richly keyword-dense index could dominate the rankings, pushing down results from a smaller but perhaps crucial index. Conversely, a very important index might get overshadowed by lots of trivial matches from another source. For instance, suppose you federate an index of FAQs with an index of user-generated forum posts. A query like “account password reset” might find dozens of loosely relevant hits in the forums (users mentioning account issues in various contexts), and only a couple of matches in the curated FAQ (perhaps a specific “How do I reset my password?” article). If all sources are weighted equally, the top results might be community forum threads (which might or might not have the correct answer), while the official FAQ entry – which likely has the precise solution – could be buried lower. The user might see a long list of chatter before the actual helpful answer. In this case, the context (official answer vs. community discussion) matters a lot.
Tip_
Keep federations focused on related content. You can certainly have a broad “All” search if your use case calls for it (and Searchcraft can handle it), but often it’s wise to group indices by user intent or content type.
Tip_
Leverage weight multipliers to balance relevance across indices. In Searchcraft, you have the ability to assign a weight to each index within a federation. Use this to reflect the importance or trustworthiness of each source.
Finally, always consider performance implications in extreme cases. Searchcraft is built for speed, and querying multiple indices in parallel is usually very fast, especially when those indices are within the Searchcraft ecosystem. But if an index is extremely large or complex be mindful of query times. The vast majority of use cases will remain well under acceptable latency, but it’s wise to test your federated searches under load. Ensure that the user experience remains quick. Often, by trimming any truly unnecessary sources (as noted in avoiding over-federation) and by using the platform’s built-in optimizations, you’ll keep things running smoothly. In short, plan your federations with both relevance and performance in mind – Searchcraft provides the tools, but it’s up to the pilot to chart the optimal course.
Looking for more info? View the docs.
Chapter 4
Mastering Federated Search
Federated search, when done right, can transform your application’s search from a basic lookup tool into an intelligent, all-knowing assistant for your users. It’s the difference between making users search four times in different places versus guiding them to what they want with one query. Mastering this feature means you’re giving your users a superpower: the ability to explore everything your platform offers effortlessly. Here, let’s highlight what makes Searchcraft’s approach to federated search particularly empowering, and how you can harness it to the fullest.
In many systems, changing what a search covers (for example, adding a new data source) might require front-end changes or even architectural overhauls. With Searchcraft, the federation definitions live in the backend configuration. This means your team can add or remove indices in a federation on the fly – without touching the front-end code at all. For product teams, this is a big win: you can react to new content or changing priorities immediately. Imagine you launch a new content section (say, a video library) and want it searchable; just include its index in the relevant federation via the dashboard. Instantly, that content is part of the user’s search results. No app update, no waiting for the next release cycle. Your search evolves as your content evolves, seamlessly.
From a front-end developer’s perspective, federated search in Searchcraft is a dream to integrate. You don’t need complex logic to loop through multiple indices or combine API calls. You simply point your search function at one endpoint (the federation endpoint) just like you would for a single index. The query syntax remains the same as any single-index search, which keeps your code clean and easy to maintain. This not only reduces potential bugs (fewer moving parts) but also makes the intent clear – one search call, one response. Under the hood, the complexity is handled by Searchcraft, so your codebase stays light.
One of the standout features of Searchcraft’s Federation is the ability to assign different weights to each index. This essentially lets you prioritize indices in terms of relevance.
Why is this a big deal?
Consider a scenario: your company has a primary product catalog index and a secondary index of third-party marketplace listings. You want both to appear in search so users see all options, but you’d prefer your own products to show up first when relevant. By giving your product index a higher weight multiplier (say 2.0) and the marketplace index a standard weight (1.0), Searchcraft will naturally rank your products higher when relevance is comparable.
The user still sees both, but the ordering subtly favors your business priorities. This weighting mechanism is much more elegant (and maintainable) than trying to boost or bury results via hacky keyword tricks or separate searches. It’s built-in relevancy tuning.
Searchcraft’s federated search empowers teams to build a smarter, faster, and more flexible search experience. Product managers gain agility to respond to content changes or strategic shifts (no engineers required for tweaks), and developers are happy because they can implement a complex multi-index search feature with minimal code and headache.
To recap, federated search is a vital capability in any advanced search toolkit, enabling truly unified search journeys. Searchcraft takes this capability and elevates it: by offering ease of setup, real-time configurability, and fine-grained control, it removes the typical trade-offs. You don’t have to sacrifice performance or relevance for the sake of completeness – you can have it all, an engine that searches broadly and smartly at the same time. As a pilot steering your application’s search, Federation is like having a warp drive that connects multiple worlds of data at your command. Use it wisely, tune it well, and your users will feel like the search bar is magically reading their minds across your entire digital universe.
Looking for more info? View the docs.
Next Lesson
Searchcraft is looking for Beta Pilots to sign up for early access to the next generation of search.
Engineered for modern needs, Searchcraft enables businesses to implement robust, high-performance search functionality into any digital application within minutes. Ditch archaic, bloated earthbound systems like Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, and Algolia. Travel at light-speed to the next frontier in search tools with Searchcraft.