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The sortBy widget provides a dropdown selector to let users change the sorting of search results. It can switch between different indices or sorting strategies.

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Usage

const sortBy = instantsearch.widgets.sortBy({
  container: '#sort-by',
  items: [
    { label: 'Relevance', value: 'products' },
    { label: 'Price (asc)', value: 'products_price_asc' },
    { label: 'Price (desc)', value: 'products_price_desc' },
  ],
});

search.addWidget(sortBy);

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Examples

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Basic Sort By

instantsearch.widgets.sortBy({
  container: '#sort-by',
  items: [
    { label: 'Featured', value: 'products' },
    { label: 'Price: Low to High', value: 'products_price_asc' },
    { label: 'Price: High to Low', value: 'products_price_desc' },
    { label: 'Newest First', value: 'products_date_desc' },
  ],
});

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With Transform Items

instantsearch.widgets.sortBy({
  container: '#sort-by',
  items: [
    { label: 'Relevance', value: 'products' },
    { label: 'Price Ascending', value: 'products_price_asc' },
    { label: 'Price Descending', value: 'products_price_desc' },
  ],
  transformItems: (items) =>
    items.map((item) => ({
      ...item,
      label: `Sort by: ${item.label}`,
    })),
});

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Using Sorting Strategies (Composition Mode)

instantsearch.widgets.sortBy({
  container: '#sort-by',
  items: [
    { label: 'Relevance', strategy: 'relevance' },
    { label: 'Price: Low to High', strategy: 'price_asc' },
    { label: 'Price: High to Low', strategy: 'price_desc' },
  ],
});

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Options

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container
string | HTMLElement
required
CSS Selector or HTMLElement to insert the widget.
​
items
array
required
Array of objects defining the different sorting options.Each item can be:Index-based (traditional mode):
  • label (string, required): Display label
  • value (string, required): Name of the index to use
Strategy-based (composition mode):
  • label (string, required): Display label
  • strategy (string, required): Name of the sorting strategy
​
transformItems
function
Function to transform the items before rendering.
(items: object[]) => object[]
​
cssClasses
object
CSS classes to add to the widget elements.

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HTML Output

<div class="ais-SortBy">
  <select class="ais-SortBy-select" aria-label="Sort results by">
    <option class="ais-SortBy-option" value="products" selected>
      Relevance
    </option>
    <option class="ais-SortBy-option" value="products_price_asc">
      Price (asc)
    </option>
    <option class="ais-SortBy-option" value="products_price_desc">
      Price (desc)
    </option>
  </select>
</div>

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Index-Based Sorting

Traditional approach using replica indices: 
instantsearch.widgets.sortBy({
  container: '#sort-by',
  items: [
    { label: 'Relevance', value: 'products' },
    { label: 'Price (Low)', value: 'products_price_asc' },
    { label: 'Price (High)', value: 'products_price_desc' },
  ],
});
Requires creating replica indices in Algolia dashboard with different ranking formulas.

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Strategy-Based Sorting

Modern approach using composition mode (Algolia Composable UI): 
instantsearch.widgets.sortBy({
  container: '#sort-by',
  items: [
    { label: 'Relevance', strategy: 'default' },
    { label: 'Price: Low to High', strategy: 'price_asc' },
    { label: 'Price: High to Low', strategy: 'price_desc' },
    { label: 'Rating', strategy: 'rating_desc' },
  ],
});
Strategy-based sorting is only available when using composition mode. Check your Algolia plan for availability.

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Setting Up Replica Indices

To use index-based sorting, create replica indices:
  1. Go to your Algolia dashboard
  2. Select your index
  3. Go to “Replicas” tab
  4. Create replicas with custom ranking:
    • products_price_asc: Sort by price ascending
    • products_price_desc: Sort by price descending
    • products_date_desc: Sort by date descending

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Default Selection

The first item in the array is selected by default, or you can specify the initial index: 
const search = instantsearch({
  indexName: 'products_price_asc', // Start with price sorting
  searchClient,
});

instantsearch.widgets.sortBy({
  container: '#sort-by',
  items: [
    { label: 'Relevance', value: 'products' },
    { label: 'Price (asc)', value: 'products_price_asc' },
  ],
});

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Custom Styling

.ais-SortBy-select {
  padding: 8px 32px 8px 12px;
  border: 1px solid #ddd;
  border-radius: 4px;
  font-size: 14px;
  background-image: url('data:image/svg+xml;...');
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-position: right 8px center;
}

.ais-SortBy-select:focus {
  outline: none;
  border-color: #3a96cf;
}