Make search term minimum length configurable
- Dominant language
- PHP
- Stars
- 6.7k
- Forks
- 883
- Avg merge
- 15h 16m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 73
Description
### Current Behavior
From discuss: https://discuss.flarum.org/d/39713
The built-in search currently enforces a minimum search term length of `3`. This works fine for general searches, but a fixed limit can be too restrictive for some languages and use cases, particularly CJK searches.
It would be useful to make the minimum search term length configurable rather than hard-coding it.
### Steps to Reproduce
Searching CJK character like `中文` will show no result as it is only 2 character.
### Expected Behavior
Allow the search term minimum length to be configurable either in admin panel or in `config.php`.
### Screenshots
_No response_
### Environment
- Flarum version: x.y.z
- Website URL: http://example.com
- Webserver: [e.g. apache, nginx]
- Hosting environment: [e.g. shared, vps]
- PHP version: x.y.z
- Database: [e.g. MySQL 8.4.11, MariaDB 10.11.2, PostgreSQL 16.1, SQLite 3.45]
- Browser: [e.g. chrome 67, safari 11]
### Output of `php flarum info`
```
Output of "php flarum info", run this in terminal in your Flarum directory.
```
### Possible Solution
_No response_
### Additional Context
_No response_
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start by locating the built-in search logic that hard-codes the minimum length at 3, then inspect how Flarum exposes configuration through config.php and the admin panel. Done means administrators can configure the minimum term length and CJK searches such as 中文 can return results; verify the existing search behavior and relevant tests after the change.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- php
- Domain
- search
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Active
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 55/100