AI Search for TYPO3

Overview

TYPO3 runs the big sites: councils, universities, hospitals, agencies. They hold hundreds of pages, and visitors know what they need but not what the page is called, so they give up on the search box. The AI Search Bar answers what they mean: type "when are you open at the weekend" and it finds your Opening hours page, even though none of those words is in its title.

The extension puts the bar on your site without any code. We read your pages ourselves, so there is no API key to create and nothing to paste.

Requirements

• TYPO3 12.4, 13.4 or 14.
• PHP 8.1 or newer.
• A server that can make outgoing HTTPS requests. Most hosts allow this.

Installing the Extension

With Composer

composer require asyntai/typo3-ai-search

Then run vendor/bin/typo3 extension:setup, or open the Extension Manager once so TYPO3 creates the extension's database table.

From the Extension Repository

1. In your TYPO3 backend, open Admin Tools, then Extensions.
2. Choose Get Extensions and search for asyntai_search.
3. Press Import and Install.

Connecting Your Site

1. Open Admin Tools, then Asyntai AI Search.
2. Press Connect Asyntai. A window opens where you sign in or create a free account.
3. Wait a few minutes while we read your site. The module tells you when the bar is live.

The module is for administrators only. A TYPO3 installation with several sites connects its first site; the address is shown on the module before you press Connect.

Choosing Where the Bar Appears

There is one setting, Where the bar goes, with two answers.

In place of my site search box

The bar finds the search box your site already shows, hides it, and takes exactly the same place. Nothing in your templates has to be edited. If a visitor presses Enter without picking a result, your usual search page still opens, so nothing they already know stops working.

This works with the search forms of indexed_search, ke_search, the Solr extension and any hand-built form. A site whose layout shows no search box has nothing to replace, and the module says so. Use the content element instead.

Only where I place it

Two ways to place the bar:

• Add the Asyntai AI Search bar content element to a page. It is in the Special group when you create a new content element.
• Put <div data-asyntai-search></div> anywhere in your own Fluid layout, for example in the header partial. The extension already loads the script on every page.

Your site styles the container, so the bar sits in the layout like anything else you put there.

The Other Settings

• Search box to replace. Leave it empty and we find the box ourselves. Fill in a CSS selector only if we pick the wrong one, for example .header form.search.
• Placeholder text. Leave it empty and each visitor sees it in their own language.
• Accent colour. A hex colour such as #0b5c3a. Leave it empty to use the colour set in your Asyntai dashboard.

Trying It Before Your Visitors Do

The module has a Try your search bar button. It opens your real search bar, on your real content, in a new tab. Searches you run there do not count against your monthly allowance.

Plans and Limits

A site connected through this extension runs the bar on any plan, including the free one. Your monthly reply allowance still applies, and searches and chat replies share it. The module shows how much of the month is left.

When the allowance runs out, the bar removes itself and your site's own search box comes straight back. Your visitors keep being able to search. They are never left typing into a box that answers nothing.

The extension checks this in the background, on ordinary visitor traffic, so it does not need the TYPO3 scheduler. The bar comes back by itself when your allowance resets.

What the Bar Searches

Your pages, as we read them from your site: content elements, news records, anything a visitor can open. If you run a shop on TYPO3, its product pages are read the same way, because they are pages on your site.

Caching

The bar is added to each page after TYPO3 has rendered it, outside the page cache. Connecting, disconnecting and changing a setting take effect at once, with no cache to clear.

If Something Does Not Work

• No bar appears. Open the module and read the line under the coloured dot. It says exactly why the bar is off.
• It says your site has no search box. Add the Asyntai AI Search bar content element, or the data-asyntai-search container, and set Where the bar goes to Only where I place it.
• Could not reach Asyntai. Your server cannot make outgoing HTTPS requests. Ask your host to allow them.
• The bar replaced the wrong element. Fill in Search box to replace with a CSS selector for the right one.
• TYPO3 signed you out during the connect step. Log in again and press Connect once more.
• The module is missing. It is under Admin Tools and only administrators see it. In Composer mode, run vendor/bin/typo3 extension:setup after installing.

Disconnecting

Press Disconnect this site in the module. The bar stops at once and your usual search takes over. Uninstalling the extension removes the module and the content element; its one database table, tx_asyntaisearch_state, can be dropped from Admin Tools, then Maintenance, then Analyze Database Structure.

Using the Chatbot as Well

This extension adds the search bar only. To add the chat assistant too, install our separate TYPO3 chatbot extension. The two work side by side on the same pages and share the same knowledge base.