diff --git a/src/search/dto/search-query.dto.ts b/src/search/dto/search-query.dto.ts
new file mode 100644
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/search/dto/search-query.dto.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+import {
+  IsNotEmpty,
+  IsOptional,
+  IsString,
+  IsEnum,
+  IsInt,
+  Min,
+  Max,
+  MaxLength,
+} from "class-validator";
+import { Type } from "class-transformer";
+import { ApiProperty, ApiPropertyOptional } from "@nestjs/swagger";
+
+export enum SearchResourceType {
+  USER = "user",
+  MESSAGE = "message",
+  CONVERSATION = "conversation",
+  ALL = "all",
+}
+
+export class SearchQueryDto {
+  @ApiProperty({
+    description: "Full-text search query string",
+    example: "alice blockchain",
+    maxLength: 256,
+  })
+  @IsNotEmpty()
+  @IsString()
+  @MaxLength(256)
+  q: string;
+
+  @ApiPropertyOptional({
+    description: "Resource type to search within",
+    enum: SearchResourceType,
+    default: SearchResourceType.ALL,
+  })
+  @IsOptional()
+  @IsEnum(SearchResourceType)
+  type?: SearchResourceType = SearchResourceType.ALL;
+
+  @ApiPropertyOptional({
+    description: "Page number (1-based)",
+    example: 1,
+    minimum: 1,
+    default: 1,
+  })
+  @IsOptional()
+  @Type(() => Number)
+  @IsInt()
+  @Min(1)
+  page?: number = 1;
+
+  @ApiPropertyOptional({
+    description: "Results per page (max 50)",
+    example: 20,
+    minimum: 1,
+    maximum: 50,
+    default: 20,
+  })
+  @IsOptional()
+  @Type(() => Number)
+  @IsInt()
+  @Min(1)
+  @Max(50)
+  limit?: number = 20;
+}
diff --git a/src/search/dto/search-result.dto.ts b/src/search/dto/search-result.dto.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a01682ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/search/dto/search-result.dto.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+import { ApiProperty, ApiPropertyOptional } from "@nestjs/swagger";
+
+export class SearchHitDto {
+  @ApiProperty({ description: "Unique resource identifier" })
+  id: string;
+
+  @ApiProperty({
+    description: "Resource type",
+    enum: ["user", "message", "conversation"],
+  })
+  type: "user" | "message" | "conversation";
+
+  @ApiProperty({ description: "Primary display text for the result" })
+  title: string;
+
+  @ApiPropertyOptional({
+    description:
+      "Short highlighted snippet showing where the query matched. Tags <em> and </em> wrap the matching term.",
+  })
+  snippet?: string;
+
+  @ApiProperty({ description: "Full-text relevance score" })
+  score: number;
+
+  @ApiProperty({ description: "Original resource data" })
+  data: Record<string, unknown>;
+
+  @ApiProperty({ description: "When the resource was last modified" })
+  updatedAt: Date;
+}
+
+export class PaginatedSearchResultDto {
+  @ApiProperty({ type: [SearchHitDto] })
+  data: SearchHitDto[];
+
+  @ApiProperty({ description: "Total number of matching records" })
+  total: number;
+
+  @ApiProperty({ description: "Current page number" })
+  page: number;
+
+  @ApiProperty({ description: "Records per page" })
+  limit: number;
+
+  @ApiProperty({ description: "Total pages" })
+  totalPages: number;
+
+  @ApiProperty({ description: "Query that produced this result" })
+  query: string;
+
+  @ApiProperty({ description: "Resource type filter applied" })
+  resourceType: string;
+}
diff --git a/src/search/entities/search-index.entity.ts b/src/search/entities/search-index.entity.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b292d24e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/search/entities/search-index.entity.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+import {
+  Entity,
+  PrimaryGeneratedColumn,
+  Column,
+  Index,
+  CreateDateColumn,
+  UpdateDateColumn,
+} from "typeorm";
+
+/**
+ * Flat denormalized table that mirrors searchable content from all resources.
+ *
+ * The `tsv` column holds a pre-computed PostgreSQL tsvector so that search
+ * queries are a simple index scan instead of an on-the-fly conversion.
+ *
+ * A GIN index is created on `tsv` via a raw migration / synchronize, making
+ * full-text search fast even with millions of rows.
+ */
+@Entity("search_index")
+@Index("IDX_SEARCH_RESOURCE", ["resourceType", "resourceId"], { unique: true })
+export class SearchIndex {
+  @PrimaryGeneratedColumn("uuid")
+  id: string;
+
+  /**
+   * Discriminator for the source table (user | message | conversation).
+   */
+  @Column({ type: "varchar", length: 32 })
+  @Index("IDX_SEARCH_RESOURCE_TYPE")
+  resourceType: "user" | "message" | "conversation";
+
+  /**
+   * PK of the originating row in its own table.
+   */
+  @Column({ type: "uuid" })
+  resourceId: string;
+
+  /**
+   * Concatenated plain text used for pg full-text search.
+   * Stored explicitly so we can rebuild tsv without re-reading source tables.
+   */
+  @Column({ type: "text" })
+  plainText: string;
+
+  /**
+   * Serialized tsvector kept in sync by a trigger *or* by the indexer service.
+   * Stored as text because TypeORM does not natively map `tsvector`.
+   * We cast it at query time: `to_tsvector('english', plain_text)`.
+   */
+  @Column({ type: "text", nullable: true })
+  tsv: string | null;
+
+  /**
+   * Arbitrary JSON bag – title, username, avatarUrl, etc.
+   * Returned alongside the search hit for rendering without a secondary query.
+   */
+  @Column({ type: "jsonb", default: {} })
+  metadata: Record<string, unknown>;
+
+  @CreateDateColumn()
+  createdAt: Date;
+
+  @UpdateDateColumn()
+  updatedAt: Date;
+}
diff --git a/src/search/interfaces/search-indexer.interface.ts b/src/search/interfaces/search-indexer.interface.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5750541e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/search/interfaces/search-indexer.interface.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+/**
+ * Represents one document in the search index table.
+ */
+export interface SearchIndexDocument {
+  resourceType: "user" | "message" | "conversation";
+  resourceId: string;
+  /** Plain text that will be stored for snippet generation */
+  plainText: string;
+  /** Extra metadata stored as JSON (title, sender, etc.) */
+  metadata: Record<string, unknown>;
+}