Scrypath

Scrypath, the Ecto-native search indexing library, helps Phoenix and Ecto teams add search to existing schemas without hiding the operational work that keeps search in sync.

Public website: sztheory.github.io/scrypath

Installation

Add Scrypath to your dependencies:

def deps do
  [
    {:scrypath, "~> 0.3"}
  ]
end

Start here: follow the Golden path from installation through your first inline Scrypath.search/3.

Choose a route

• Learn the product: JTBD and user flows explains the jobs and adoption path; the guides overview indexes every guide.
• Check support or product boundaries: support and compatibility is the route for release-backed guidance and supported versions. Run mix verify.adopter locally or mix verify.adopter --live with its services; main may contain unreleased changes. Outside-adopter intake routes real-app evidence. Scope reopens only for a concrete production bug, reviewed outside-adopter evidence, or a deliberate strategic product decision, as described in the scope and reopen policy.
• Wire a Phoenix or Ecto app: Getting Started, Phoenix contexts, the Phoenix walkthrough, controllers and JSON, and LiveView show the app boundary. Request-edge search covers browser params and optional Phoenix glue; real-app composition covers reusable policy and metadata.
• Build a search experience: Meilisearch concepts introduces the backend model; related data and reindexing, faceted search with Phoenix LiveView covers Scrypath.search_within_facet/4; multi-index search covers Scrypath.search_many/2, :all expansion, and federation_weight:; per-query tuning distinguishes request-time parameters from index-time settings.
• Choose sync and recover: sync modes and visibility, Meilisearch operations, operator Mix tasks, drift recovery, and common mistakes explain lifecycle, visibility, and repair.
• Try the examples: Phoenix + Meilisearch is the integration walkthrough; the e-commerce demo shows tenant-scoped search, facets, related-data propagation, and operator workflows.
• Maintainer tools: the optional operator UI is available in the checkout and is not part of the Hex package; mix verify.ops_ui checks it. See CONTRIBUTING for the CI and mix verify.* map.

Integration smoke (optional): the Phoenix + Meilisearch example documents its Docker services and env vars. From the repository root, run cd examples/phoenix_meilisearch && ./scripts/smoke.sh; that script lives inside the example.

Scrypath is Meilisearch-first in v1. Its backend seam is internal, not a promised public abstraction, and v1 does not promise public multi-backend parity. Scrypath owns its internal transport dependency; configure backend and sync behavior in your app instead of pinning Req in the base install path. Add Oban only when you choose sync_mode: :oban.

Quick Path

Start with one searchable schema and one Phoenix context that owns both repo persistence and Scrypath orchestration. Declare search metadata with use Scrypath on the Ecto schema, own Scrypath.sync_record/3 after successful repo writes and Scrypath.search/3 from context functions, and keep controllers or LiveView as thin callers into that boundary. For the full copy-paste path - including context module, controller, and IEx check - follow guides/golden-path.md.

defmodule MyApp.Blog.Post do
  use Ecto.Schema

  use Scrypath,
    fields: [:title, :body],
    filterable: [:status],
    sortable: [:inserted_at]

  schema "posts" do
    field :title, :string
    field :body, :string
    field :status, :string
    timestamps()
  end
end

When Scrypath Fits

Scrypath is a good fit when you want:

• search indexing that feels native to Ecto instead of bolted onto a controller or callback maze
• one explicit place to choose between inline, manual, and Oban-backed sync
• repo-backed hydration through the common Scrypath.search/3 path
• first-class backfill and managed reindex workflows when drift or schema changes happen

When It Does Not

Scrypath is not trying to be:

• a Postgres full-text abstraction
• a Phoenix-only library
• a public multi-backend facade in v1
• a callback-heavy "it just stays in sync somehow" runtime

If you want hidden model hooks, implicit repo access, or a library that pretends accepted work means immediate search visibility, this is the wrong tool.

Public Surface

Scrypath keeps one common runtime surface and one explicit backend-specific escape hatch:

• Scrypath for runtime reflection, sync verbs, operator visibility, backfill, managed reindex, and the common search path
• Scrypath.Schema for the declaration contract
• Scrypath.Projection for document projection rules
• Scrypath.Meilisearch for backend-native operations that do not belong on the common path

Backfill and managed reindex now use the same internal operations seam as sync, but that seam stays private. The public backend-native namespace remains Scrypath.Meilisearch.*.

The operator surface also stays on Scrypath.*:

• Scrypath.sync_status/2
• Scrypath.failed_sync_work/2
• Scrypath.retry_sync_work/2
• Scrypath.reconcile_sync/2

For terminal-first operations, the thin mix scrypath.status, mix scrypath.failed, mix scrypath.retry, and mix scrypath.reconcile tasks wrap those same root APIs. They do not create a second operator product surface.

use Scrypath is metadata-only. It validates the declaration and exposes stable __scrypath__/1 reflection keys without generating schema-specific runtime verbs.

Sync modes

Call Scrypath.sync_record/3 after successful repo persistence. Choose :inline for the first-hour path and workflows that can wait on backend work, :oban when durable enqueue and worker throughput matter, or :manual for imports and operator-controlled follow-up. A successful return means work was accepted, or—when inline task waiting applies—completed; neither makes the database and search writes atomic, and accepted work may not yet be visible in search. See sync modes and visibility for the exact return contract, lifecycle, and recovery guidance.

Versioning and upgrades

Scrypath follows semantic versioning for the public API: minor releases can add backwards-compatible capability; major releases signal breaking changes worth a deliberate upgrade read. Patch releases stay focused on fixes and safe doc corrections - see CHANGELOG.md at the repository root for the human-facing release narrative.

The version in root mix.exs (@version) is the source of truth for this checkout; the latest published package is listed on hex.pm/packages/scrypath.

Quality for the packaged artifact is guarded by mix verify.phase11, the always-on gate referenced from docs/releasing.md. That document - not this README - owns the full verify matrix, Release Please flow, and publish checks for maintainers.

Search

The common search path stays small and explicit:

{:ok, result} =
  Scrypath.search(MyApp.Blog.Post, "ecto",
    backend: Scrypath.Meilisearch,
    repo: Repo,
    filter: [status: "published"],
    sort: [desc: :inserted_at],
    page: [number: 2, size: 20],
    preload: [:author]
  )

result.records
result.hits
result.missing_ids
result.page

Hydration is explicit and repo-backed. Scrypath does not infer repos globally or hide stale rows when search hits no longer match the database.

Backfill And Reindex

Scrypath treats repair and rebuild work as first-class operator workflows:

• Scrypath.backfill/2
• Scrypath.reindex/2

Use backfill when the live index contract is still correct and you need to repair missing or stale documents.

Use managed reindex when the contract changed, settings changed, or you no longer trust the live index contents.

{:ok, result} =
  Scrypath.reindex(MyApp.Blog.Post,
    backend: Scrypath.Meilisearch,
    repo: Repo,
    batch_size: 500,
    cutover?: false
  )

result.live_index
result.target_index
result.settings_applied
result.batches
result.documents
result.cutover

cutover?: false leaves the live index untouched while you inspect the rebuilt target.

Drift Detection And Recovery

Detect drift before deciding whether a live-index backfill is enough or whether you need a full rebuild. Common signals are:

• stale search hits whose hydrated records are now missing
• document-count mismatches between the source table and the search index
• failed or discarded sync work
• stale deletes where search still returns records removed from the database
• projection or setting changes that should have rewritten every document

Accepted work is not the same thing as search visibility, and durable enqueue is not the same thing as rebuild completion.

Use Scrypath.sync_status/2 and Scrypath.failed_sync_work/2 when you need to inspect pending, retrying, failed, or last-successful work without reading raw Meilisearch or Oban payloads.

Use Scrypath.reconcile_sync/2 when you need a report-first operator view that combines sync visibility, failed work, and rebuild visibility before you decide on recovery.

Scrypath.reconcile_sync/2 does not heal anything by default. It returns drift signals plus explicit recovery actions so the caller can choose retry, backfill, or reindex deliberately.

Integration smoke (Meilisearch)

CI runs live Meilisearch-backed tests in a dedicated workflow job. Locally you can use Docker Compose (from the repo root):

docker compose up -d
SCRYPATH_MEILISEARCH_URL=http://127.0.0.1:7700 mix verify.meilisearch_smoke
docker compose down

mix verify.meilisearch_smoke --skip-integration exits without contacting Meilisearch (useful for quick task wiring checks only; it does not run the live suites).

Example: Phoenix + Postgres + Meilisearch

For a minimal consumer-shaped setup (Docker Compose with Postgres and Meilisearch on an explicit network, path dependency on this repo, and a scripted smoke test), see examples/phoenix_meilisearch/README.md.

For a richer click-around showcase with a multi-tenant storefront and mounted operator UI, see examples/scrypath_ecommerce/README.md.

Architecture

See ARCHITECTURE.md for the full runtime boundary, sync guarantees, drift model, and managed reindex workflow order.

For operational guides, see Sync Modes and Visibility, Meilisearch Concepts, Meilisearch Operations, Operator Mix Tasks, Operator Support, and Search backend operations - SRE view.