# Documentation search engine **URL:** \ **Category:** Project Discussions\ **Tags:** documentation, dawgs-meeting\ **Created:** [January 25, 2025, 1:51am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/documentation-search-engine/39823 "2025-01-25T01:51:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hyperreal](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/hyperreal/32/7304_2.png) [@hyperreal](https://forum.ansible.com/u/hyperreal)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2025, 1:51am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/documentation-search-engine/39823/1 "2025-01-25T01:51:25Z")
I noticed today that the Ansible Documentation search engine gives less-than-optimal results. For example, I used to search for ‘ansible.builtin.file’ and the first result would be the ansible.builtin.file module. But now I get a list like as shown in the screenshot. I have to scroll quite a ways down the page to find the module I’m looking for. When I finally do find the module, I click to view its documentation, and every search term is highlighted in yellow on the page. Maybe I’m not using the search engine correctly? Is there documentation on how to use it? I’d file a bug, but I don’t know where to file the bug report to. I’m also not entirely sure this is actually a bug and not a pebcak. The new search engine has a sort of “AI feel” to it, but honestly I don’t know how it’s developed. The yellow highlighting indicates that the search query was split by words. When I wrap the search query in quotes, I get basically the same list of results. The quotes have no effect. ![2025-01-24-174125](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/2X/8/8e667d6bf67583158838a030fc57428b9eb787ba.png) ---
**Author:** ![felixfontein](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/felixfontein/32/7530_2.png) [@felixfontein](https://forum.ansible.com/u/felixfontein)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2025, 9:17am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/documentation-search-engine/39823/2 "2025-01-25T09:17:41Z")
My guess is that this is related to [Switching search on docs to OpenSearch](https://forum.ansible.com/t/10885). ---
**Author:** ![samccann](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/samccann/32/18_2.png) [@samccann](https://forum.ansible.com/u/samccann)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 6:15pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/documentation-search-engine/39823/3 "2025-01-27T18:15:06Z")
Yes, this is the OpenSearch search engine we use now. The older search was proprietary and costs $$. We are now on the free option for community documentation. I don’t know how to improve it, to be honest, but open to suggestions or alternatives. ---
**Author:** ![hyperreal](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/hyperreal/32/7304_2.png) [@hyperreal](https://forum.ansible.com/u/hyperreal)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2025, 7:44pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/documentation-search-engine/39823/4 "2025-01-27T19:44:39Z")
Thank you for verifying. I’m glad it’s not AI-powered and that you’ve chosen a FOSS option. I think I just have to read the documentation for OpenSearch and figure out how to use it effectively. Odd that it isn’t intuitive by default though. I would expect wrapping the search query in quotes would search for the literal string on any search engine. ---
**Author:** ![oranod](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/oranod/32/1434_2.png) [@oranod](https://forum.ansible.com/u/oranod)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 3:14pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/documentation-search-engine/39823/5 "2025-01-28T15:14:52Z")
You might find the search on ReadTheDocs to provide better results. [https://ansible.readthedocs.io/projects/ansible/latest/](https://ansible.readthedocs.io/projects/ansible/latest/) This also lets you search subprojects that build with Sphinx. Select the fly out menu in the lower right of the page to access search. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/2X/8/87557f8779c7aa0d626361c78a3f10ae15bb846f.png) Please do note that the content is the same on `ansible.readthedocs.io` as it is on `docs.ansible.com`. However the Ansible package docs and core docs on ReadTheDocs remain somewhat “experimental” for the time being. You should always consult `docs.ansible.com` as the official content for those two doc sets. Also, if you do find the search on ReadTheDocs more efficient or useful, please let us know! That would be interesting feedback. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![samccann](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/samccann/32/18_2.png) [@samccann](https://forum.ansible.com/u/samccann)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 3:36pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/documentation-search-engine/39823/6 "2025-01-28T15:36:24Z")
Search results for me are identical. I thought this was controlled by sphinx using OpenSearch, not by readthedocs? ---
**Author:** ![oranod](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/oranod/32/1434_2.png) [@oranod](https://forum.ansible.com/u/oranod)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 3:43pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/documentation-search-engine/39823/7 "2025-01-28T15:43:13Z")
The search box in the left nav uses OpenSearch and is independent of the hosting platform. The search box in the RTD fly out menu uses ElasticSearch: [Server side search — Read the Docs user documentation](https://docs.readthedocs.com/platform/stable/server-side-search/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![samccann](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/samccann/32/18_2.png) [@samccann](https://forum.ansible.com/u/samccann)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 4:02pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/documentation-search-engine/39823/8 "2025-01-28T16:02:36Z")
ooOOOOooo! thanks for that! I’ll try banging on it and see how it goes! ---
**Author:** ![hyperreal](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/hyperreal/32/7304_2.png) [@hyperreal](https://forum.ansible.com/u/hyperreal)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 7:12pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/documentation-search-engine/39823/9 "2025-01-28T19:12:18Z")
Thank you! The fly-out menu on RTD is more useful when I want to find a module by searching its literal name, like “ansible.builtin.file”. The first result is exactly what I want. ---
**Author:** ![juntobunto111](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@juntobunto111](https://forum.ansible.com/u/juntobunto111)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 12:13am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/documentation-search-engine/39823/10 "2025-05-28T00:13:52Z")
> [@hyperreal](#): > > I noticed today that the Ansible Documentation search engine gives less-than-optimal results. For example, I used to search for ‘ansible.builtin.file’ and the first result would be the ansible.builtin.file module. But now I get a list like as shown in the screenshot. I have to scroll quite a ways down the page to find the module I’m looking for. When I finally do find the module, I click to view its documentation, and every search term is highlighted in yellow on the page. Maybe I’m not using the search engine correctly? Is there documentation on how to use it? I’d file a bug, but I don’t know where to file the bug report to. I’m also not entirely sure this is actually a bug and not a pebcak. The new search engine has a sort of “AI feel” to it, but honestly I don’t know how it’s developed. Honestly, I’ve started leaning on tools like [Overchat AI](https://overchat.ai/) for quicker, context-aware answers. It integrates with documentation sources and gives you direct, clear summaries—way faster than combing through dozens of search results. Worth trying if you’re tired of keyword-hunting on official pages. > > The yellow highlighting indicates that the search query was split by words. When I wrap the search query in quotes, I get basically the same list of results. The quotes have no effect. You’re definitely not alone in noticing this—Ansible’s new documentation search has become noticeably less effective for direct module lookups. I’ve run into the same issue when searching for specific modules like `ansible.builtin.copy` or `ansible.builtin.template`. It used to be much quicker to get straight to the official documentation page, but now it often feels like wading through semi-relevant results. The yellow highlighting and the splitting of search terms seem to confirm that the engine is breaking down queries rather than matching full strings. And like you said, using quotation marks doesn’t help much, which is frustrating for more precise queries. At this point, it’s unclear if this behavior is by design or a limitation of the current implementation. If the search engine does indeed have an “AI feel,” it might be prioritizing contextual matching over exact identifiers, which sounds helpful in theory but ends up being a step back for people who already know exactly what they’re looking for. ---
**Author:** ![samccann](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/samccann/32/18_2.png) [@samccann](https://forum.ansible.com/u/samccann)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 3:11pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/documentation-search-engine/39823/11 "2025-06-03T15:11:07Z")
Hi folks - We are in the process of migrating the Ansible community documentation to ReadTheDocs, which has a better search experience than we currently have. While this isn’t publicly available yet, I did a quick test on ansible.builtin.file and yep, the results are MUCH improved! ---
**Author:** ![oranod](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/oranod/32/1434_2.png) [@oranod](https://forum.ansible.com/u/oranod)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 3:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/documentation-search-engine/39823/12 "2025-06-03T15:40:30Z")
Just to note, everything is publicly available and ready on [Ansible Documentation — Ansible Community Documentation](https://ansible.readthedocs.io/projects/ansible/latest/) Search is available from the fly out widget in the lower right: ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/2X/a/a0f77f3e72703e98e910c7dc05c28becf54903d4.png)