Algolia Local Dev Loop

Overview

Set up a fast, reproducible local development workflow for Algolia. Use separate dev indices, mock the client in tests, and iterate without touching production data.

Prerequisites

• Completed algolia-install-auth setup
• Node.js 18+ with npm/pnpm
• Vitest or Jest for testing

Instructions

Step 1: Environment-Based Index Names

// src/algolia/config.ts
import { algoliasearch } from 'algoliasearch';

const ENV = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development';

// Each environment gets its own index prefix
export function indexName(base: string): string {
  if (ENV === 'production') return base;
  return `${ENV}_${base}`; // e.g., "development_products"
}

export const client = algoliasearch(
  process.env.ALGOLIA_APP_ID!,
  process.env.ALGOLIA_ADMIN_KEY!
);

Step 2: Seed Script for Dev Data

// scripts/seed-algolia.ts
import { client, indexName } from '../src/algolia/config';

const SEED_DATA = [
  { objectID: 'prod-1', name: 'Widget A', category: 'tools', price: 29.99 },
  { objectID: 'prod-2', name: 'Widget B', category: 'tools', price: 49.99 },
  { objectID: 'prod-3', name: 'Gadget C', category: 'electronics', price: 199.99 },
];

async function seed() {
  const idx = indexName('products');

  // replaceAllObjects atomically swaps index content
  const { taskID } = await client.replaceAllObjects({
    indexName: idx,
    objects: SEED_DATA,
  });
  await client.waitForTask({ indexName: idx, taskID });

  // Configure settings for the dev index
  await client.setSettings({
    indexName: idx,
    indexSettings: {
      searchableAttributes: ['name', 'category'],
      attributesForFaceting: ['category', 'filterOnly(price)'],
      customRanking: ['asc(price)'],
    },
  });

  console.log(`Seeded ${SEED_DATA.length} records into ${idx}`);
}

seed().catch(console.error);

{
  "scripts": {
    "seed:algolia": "npx tsx scripts/seed-algolia.ts",
    "dev": "tsx watch src/index.ts",
    "test": "vitest",
    "test:watch": "vitest --watch"
  }
}