Alynt Enhanced Search WP Registry grade A. No security issues foundWP RegistryNo security issues foundOpen the reportA

A minimalistic, AJAX-powered search plugin for WordPress featuring a responsive grid layout, content-type filtering, and WooCommerce product integration.

Features

• AJAX-powered search — Live results without page reloads
• Responsive grid layout — Configurable 1–5 column grid with CSS custom properties
• Content-type filtering — Toggle pills to filter between all results and products
• WooCommerce integration — Display product results alongside standard post types; filters to in-stock products only
• Featured images — Optional thumbnails for general posts and/or products
• Excerpt display — Configurable excerpt length per result card
• Full color customization — 26 color settings for every UI element, editable via color pickers in the admin
• Custom CSS field — Inject additional styles without editing files
• Search result caching — Transient-based cache (30 seconds) to reduce database load
• Custom search template — Plugin-provided template overrides the active theme's search template
• Shortcode support — Render a search trigger button or icon anywhere with [alynt_es_search]

Requirements

• WordPress: 6.0 or later
• PHP: 7.4 or later
• WooCommerce: Optional. Install to enable product search and filtering.

Installation

1. Upload the alynt-enhanced-search folder to /wp-content/plugins/
2. Activate the plugin through Plugins > Installed Plugins in the WordPress admin
3. Configure settings under Settings > Enhanced Search

Usage

Search Page

The plugin automatically replaces the active theme's search results template (search.php) with its own AJAX-powered template. Navigate to your site's search results page (e.g. /?s=query) to see it in action.

Shortcode

Use the shortcode to add a search trigger anywhere:

[alynt_es_search]
[alynt_es_search type="icon"]
[alynt_es_search type="button" text="Find something" class="my-custom-class"]

Attributes:

Clicking the button or icon takes the user to the WordPress search results page.

Configuration

Navigate to Settings > Enhanced Search in the WordPress admin.

General

Display

Colors

26 color settings control every visual element of the search UI, including the search form, result cards, toggle pills, category badges, and pagination. Each field accepts a 6-digit hex color code.

Custom CSS

A textarea field for injecting additional CSS. Input is sanitized via wp_strip_all_tags().

For a full settings reference see docs/SETTINGS.md.

FAQ

Does this plugin replace my theme's search template? Yes. The plugin hooks into template_include to serve its own template on all is_search() pages.

Does it work without WooCommerce? Yes. WooCommerce integration is optional. If WooCommerce is not active, product-specific features (product toggle pill, product image settings) are hidden automatically.

How long are search results cached? Results are cached as WordPress transients for 30 seconds. The cache is cleared on plugin deactivation and uninstall.

Can I override the search template from my theme? The current version always uses the plugin's bundled template. Custom template override support may be added in a future release.

How do I clear the search cache manually? Deactivate and reactivate the plugin, or delete the plugin and reinstall it — both operations clear the cache.

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for the full version history.

License

GPL v2 or later — https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html