Facets are used to filter search results by a specific field value. For example, you can use facets to filter search results by category, price, or brand.

Facet types

There are two types of facets:

String Based Facets

These facets are used to filter search results by a string field value. For example, you can use a string based facet to filter search results by category, brand, or color.

You can read more about string based facets in the String Based Facets guide.

Numeric based Facets

These facets are used to filter search results by a numeric field value. For example, you can use a range based facet to filter search results by price or rating.

You can read more about string based facets in the String Based Facets guide.

Filtering

Facet attributes can also be used to filter search results. For example, you can use a facet attribute in filters.

<InstantSearch indexName="imdb_movies" searchClient={searchClient}>
  <Configure filters="price:[* TO 90]" />
  <NumericMenu attribute="price" />
</InstantSearch>

Read more about filtering in the Filtering guide.

Facet Ordering and Display

With the DynamicWidgets widget, you can order and conditionally display facets based on query rules. For example, you can display a facet based on a set of conditions.

For example, brand and categories are two facets being displayed.

<InstantSearch indexName="products" searchClient={searchClient}>
  <DynamicWidgets>
    <RefinementList attribute="brand" />
    <RefinementList attribute="categories" />
  </DynamicWidgets>
</InstantSearch>

You want to hide the categories facet only when the search user types in star in the search box.

{
  "search_settings": {
    "query_rules": [
      {
        "id": "1",
        "conditions": [
          [
            {
              "context": "query",
              "match_type": "prefix",
              "value": "star"
            }
          ]
        ],
        "actions": [
          {
            "action": "RenderFacetsOrder",
            "facetAttributesOrder": ["categories"] // only display categories facet
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}
 

for more information about query rules, see the Query Rules guide.