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.

Installation

Add Scrypath to your dependencies:

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

Start here: for the canonical first-hour path from dependencies through a working Scrypath.search/3 with inline sync, follow guides/golden-path.md.

For symptom-style “why is search wrong?” debugging grounded in shipped tests, see guides/common-mistakes.md.

Sync authority: sync semantics, sync modes (:inline, :oban, :manual), eventual consistency, and operator lifecycle recovery language are defined in guides/sync-modes-and-visibility.md—that file is the single authority for those topics; this README does not restate the guide body.

Operator UI (maintainers): the optional Phoenix shell lives under scrypath_ops/README.md; the OPSUI persona, JTBD, and nav mapping live under scrypath_ops/docs/operator-ia.md in the repository checkout. From the repository root, mix verify.opsui runs the same checks against scrypath_ops/ that the scrypath-ops CI job exercises; see CONTRIBUTING.md for the CI ↔ mix verify.* matrix and job names.

Integration smoke (optional): the repo ships examples/phoenix_meilisearch with Docker Compose and env vars documented there (including how it relates to CI—see CONTRIBUTING.md for GitHub job names ↔ mix verify.* tasks). From the clone root, run cd examples/phoenix_meilisearch && ./scripts/smoke.sh (the example's ./scripts/smoke.sh exists only under that directory, not at the repository root).

Scrypath v1 publicly targets Meilisearch first. The backend seam is internal, and v1 does not promise public multi-backend parity. Scrypath owns its internal transport dependency. Configure backend and sync behavior in your app code instead of pinning Req directly in the base install path. If you want queued sync, add Oban as an optional production integration 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 proof—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.

Phoenix Wayfinding

If you are wiring Scrypath into a Phoenix app, read these next:

Guides overview (table of contents for all guides)
Getting Started
Phoenix Walkthrough
Phoenix Contexts
Phoenix Controllers and JSON
Phoenix LiveView
Scrypath.search_within_facet/4 — facet-scoped full-text search from LiveView-style catalogs (Faceted search with Phoenix LiveView)
Multi-index search — for Scrypath.search_many/2, :all expansion, federation_weight:, and merged ordering semantics, treat that guide as canonical beyond this bullet list.
For request-time Meilisearch search parameters (filters, ranking score knobs, pagination, and related call options) versus index-time settings declared on the schema, read the canonical Per-query tuning pipeline spec next to the index-focused relevance guide.
Sync Modes and Visibility
Operator Mix Tasks

The walkthrough uses one context-owned search flow and carries that same boundary through controllers and LiveView.

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.*:

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 sync after successful repo persistence. Scrypath is explicit about what each mode means:

Mode	What Scrypath does before returning	What it does not mean
`:inline`	waits for terminal backend task success before returning	database and search writes are not atomic
`:manual`	returns accepted backend work immediately	the document may not be searchable yet
`:oban`	returns durable enqueue acceptance only	the backend write has not happened yet, and the document may not be searchable

Successful Scrypath.sync_record/3 (and related) calls return a map that includes :status :accepted when work was queued or accepted but may not be searchable yet, and :status :completed when the :inline Meilisearch wait path finished—see guides/sync-modes-and-visibility.md for the full contract.

Accepted work is not the same thing as search visibility.

sync_mode: :oban means durable enqueue accepted, not search visibility completed.

Choosing a mode: :inline is enough for many local workflows and small apps when you want the caller to observe terminal backend success immediately. Move to :oban when durable enqueue and worker throughput matter more than immediate search visibility in the same process. Use :manual for migrations, bulk imports, or operator-controlled batched follow-up where you want an explicit next step instead of automatic queue progression.

The full contract—lifecycle states, Phoenix implications, recovery language, and what “success” in a controller or LiveView really means—lives in guides/sync-modes-and-visibility.md. Treat that guide as the authority; keep README as the compact decision surface.

If this README and the sync guide disagree, treat guides/sync-modes-and-visibility.md as the source of truth for semantics.

The monospace lifecycle line below matches the Operator lifecycle section in that guide.

All three modes share one operator-facing lifecycle:

requested -> enqueued -> processing -> backend_accepted -> completed | retrying | discarded

In practice, retries, discarded jobs, stale deletes, and drift are normal operational realities. They are not edge cases to hide with optimistic wording.

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:

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.

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, Operator Mix Tasks, Operator Support, and Search backend operations — SRE view.

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