Algolia
Hosted search-as-a-service platform delivering real-time, full-text search for apps and websites
Sonic
Fast, lightweight, schema-less search backend returning IDs in microseconds
Sonic delivers ultra‑fast, low‑resource search with schema‑less indexing, typo correction, auto‑completion, and Unicode support, returning identifier tuples for external data retrieval.
Overview
Overview
Sonic is a high‑performance search engine designed for developers who need instant lookup without the overhead of full‑text platforms. It indexes plain terms and maps them to external identifiers, leaving document storage to your own database. Queries are answered in microseconds while the server consumes roughly 30 MB of RAM and a minimal CPU budget, making it suitable for modest cloud instances.
Core capabilities
The engine organizes terms into collections and buckets, enabling per‑user or per‑tenant isolation. Built‑in typo correction and real‑time auto‑completion improve user experience, and full Unicode handling covers over 80 major languages. Interaction occurs via the lightweight Sonic Channel protocol, with client libraries available for many languages. Deployment options include Debian packages, Cargo installation, Docker images, or building from source.
Typical deployment
A typical setup runs Sonic on a single‑vCPU VM, connects it to an existing relational or NoSQL store, and uses the identifier results to fetch full records. This pattern is used by services like Crisp to power chat, help‑desk, and contact search at massive scale.
Highlights
Microsecond query latency with ~30 MB RAM usage
Schema‑less identifier indexing for external data retrieval
Built‑in typo correction and real‑time auto‑completion
Full Unicode support for 80+ languages
Pros
- Ultra‑fast response time
- Minimal resource footprint
- Simple, lightweight protocol
- Easy integration via multiple client libraries
Considerations
- Only returns IDs; no document storage
- Limited to keyword‑style search, no advanced relevance scoring
- Requires external database for result enrichment
- Pre‑built packages target 64‑bit Debian 12 only
Managed products teams compare with
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Fit guide
Great for
- Real‑time search in chat or help‑desk applications
- Low‑cost micro‑service deployments on small VMs
- Multi‑tenant SaaS platforms needing per‑user buckets
- Projects that need typo‑tolerant autocomplete
Not ideal when
- Complex full‑text relevance ranking
- Large‑scale analytics that store documents in the index
- Environments without Rust toolchain for custom builds
- Windows servers without Docker or source compilation
How teams use it
Chat message lookup
Instantly retrieve message IDs matching user queries, enabling fast conversation search.
Help‑desk article search
Provide agents with relevant article suggestions as they type, improving support efficiency.
Multi‑tenant SaaS isolation
Create a separate bucket per tenant, keeping each customer's index independent and secure.
Mobile app autocomplete
Deliver snappy word suggestions with minimal backend resources, enhancing user experience.
Tech snapshot
Rust98%
Shell1%
JavaScript1%
Dockerfile1%
Frequently asked questions
How does Sonic store data?
It stores only term‑to‑identifier mappings; full documents remain in your external database.
What languages are supported?
Full Unicode handling for over 80 of the most spoken languages, with automatic stop‑word removal.
How can I integrate Sonic with my application?
Use the lightweight Sonic Channel protocol via client libraries available for many programming languages.
What are the hardware requirements?
Typical deployments run on ~30 MB RAM and a low‑CPU footprint, often on a 1‑vCPU cloud instance.
Can I run Sonic on Windows?
Official binaries target 64‑bit Debian/Ubuntu; on Windows you need to compile from source or use the Docker image.
Project at a glance
Active- Stars
- 21,104
- Watchers
- 21,104
- Forks
- 611
LicenseMPL-2.0
Repo age6 years old
Last commit4 weeks ago
Primary languageRust
Last synced 3 hours ago