fix: prioritize exact matches in Algolia search

[anilloutombam]

🔗 Linked issue

Fixes #2978

🧭 Context

The search page showed “Relevance” as the selected sort option, but an exact package-name match did not always appear first in the initial Algolia results.

📚 Description

I fixed the search UI so that an exact package-name match is placed at the top of the Algolia results when sorting by relevance. The result is also filtered from its previous position to avoid duplicates.

I added a regression test to cover this behavior.

Before

Screen.Recording.2026-07-31.at.3.41.32.PM.mov

After

Screen.Recording.2026-07-31.at.3.42.22.PM.mov

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[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes

  • Package searches now recognise exact package-name matches more reliably.
  • Exact matches appear at the top of suggestions, with duplicate results removed.
  • Search results now retain complete package details for improved display and selection.

• Tests

  • Added coverage confirming exact matches are identified and prioritised ahead of other suggestions.

Walkthrough

Algolia package searches now retrieve full hit data, detect exact package-name matches, place exact matches first, remove duplicates, and validate this behaviour with searchWithSuggestions tests.

Changes

Algolia exact-match search

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Exact match detection and result ordering app/composables/npm/useAlgoliaSearch.ts, test/nuxt/composables/use-algolia-search.spec.ts	The existence check retrieves full Algolia attributes and requires an exact package-name match. An exact match is converted to a search result, placed first, and removed from duplicate results. Tests verify detection and ordering.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The changes address issue #2978 by placing an exact package-name match first and removing duplicate results.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	The changes are limited to Algolia search behaviour and its regression test, which match the linked issue objectives.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and concisely describes the main change: prioritising exact matches in Algolia search.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description explains the search-order issue, the exact-match fix, duplicate removal, and the regression test.

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests

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[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ All tests successful. No failed tests found.

📢 Thoughts on this report? Let us know!

[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 2

🧹 Nitpick comments (1)

test/nuxt/composables/use-algolia-search.spec.ts (1)

36-54: 📐 Maintainability & Code Quality | 🔵 Trivial | ⚡ Quick win

Cover duplicate removal and the non-match path.

The main mock contains only otherHit, so the duplicate-removal filter is never executed. A regression that removes this filter would still pass. Include exactHit in the main hits and assert that it appears once. Add a case where the returned hit has a different name; assert packageExists is false and the hit is not promoted.

Proposed test adjustment

       results: [
-        { hits: [otherHit], nbHits: 2 },
+        { hits: [otherHit, exactHit], nbHits: 2 },
         { hits: [exactHit], nbHits: 1 },
       ],

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

In `@test/nuxt/composables/use-algolia-search.spec.ts` around lines 36 - 54, The
useAlgoliaSearch test must exercise duplicate removal and the non-match
behavior. Update the existing mock data and assertions around
searchWithSuggestions to include exactHit in the main hits, verify it appears
only once, and add a separate case with a hit whose name differs from
checkPackage that asserts packageExists is false and the hit is not promoted.

Source: Coding guidelines

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

Inline comments:
In `@app/composables/npm/useAlgoliaSearch.ts`:
- Around line 373-380: Use the verified exact-name predicate from packageExists
when deciding whether to promote exactHit in the searchResult.objects ordering.
Update the exactHit promotion condition so only a hit whose name matches
checks?.checkPackage is passed to hitToSearchResult; leave unverified hits in
their existing order.
- Line 372: Update the exactHit assignment in the Algolia search flow to safely
handle responses without a hits array by falling back to an empty array before
accessing the first element. Preserve the existing behavior of selecting the
first hit when hits is present.

---

Nitpick comments:
In `@test/nuxt/composables/use-algolia-search.spec.ts`:
- Around line 36-54: The useAlgoliaSearch test must exercise duplicate removal
and the non-match behavior. Update the existing mock data and assertions around
searchWithSuggestions to include exactHit in the main hits, verify it appears
only once, and add a separate case with a hit whose name differs from
checkPackage that asserts packageExists is false and the hit is not promoted.

🪄 Autofix (Beta)

Fix all unresolved CodeRabbit comments on this PR:

• Push a commit to this branch (recommended)
• Create a new PR with the fixes

---

ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Path: .coderabbit.yaml

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro Plus

Run ID: 8cdc02ef-7174-4856-b9fd-616d575b6f85

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between d727566 and fb8b8fd.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• app/composables/npm/useAlgoliaSearch.ts
• test/nuxt/composables/use-algolia-search.spec.ts

[ghostdevv]

just occurred to me, in your before video when you change the dropdown from Relevance then back again it seems to work - is this an issue with the logic somewhere else?

[anilloutombam]

just occurred to me, in your before video when you change the dropdown from Relevance then back again it seems to work - is this an issue with the logic somewhere else?

Good catch. The issue is still present on the initial search. Relevance only fetches a small set of results, so the exact package may not be included. Switching to Downloads/wk fetches a larger set for client-side sorting, which includes the exact package. When switching back, the existing logic can then move it to the top.

My change uses the exact-package lookup that is already part of the Algolia request, so the exact match can appear first on the initial relevance search without fetching the larger set.

[github-actions]

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