---
title: Build a searchable knowledge base for your content
description: Create a Next.js knowledge base with readable article pages, shareable search, and results drawn from your full content collection.
url: "https://vercel.com/kb/prompts/build-searchable-knowledge-base"
last_updated: 2026-11-07
related_resources:
  "[Add search and pagination in Next.js](https://nextjs.org/learn/dashboard-app/adding-search-and-pagination)": "Keep search and pagination state in URL parameters."
  "[Use Markdown and MDX in Next.js](https://nextjs.org/docs/app/guides/mdx)": "Render content with the framework’s supported Markdown and MDX setup."
---

# Build a searchable knowledge base for your content

Create a Next.js knowledge base with readable article pages, shareable search, and results drawn from your full content collection.

Build a knowledge base that helps readers find an article and return to their search. This prompt focuses on browsing and reading a collection of documentation or support content.

Open an existing Next.js project, or start in an empty workspace. Bring a small set of public articles or use synthetic samples. The coding agent needs access to those files; continuing with an agent does not import them automatically.

You get article routes, URL-based search, and a way to show more matches. The app searches the full permitted collection without adding AI answers or a separate authoring system.

## Agent prompt

```text
Build a Next.js knowledge base with a searchable article listing and readable individual article pages. Start with a small collection of public documentation and keep authoring in files or the project's existing content source.

Read repository instructions and inspect the framework version, package manager, routing, content renderer, UI components, and tests. Preserve existing patterns. If this is an existing-project request and the project is missing, ask me to open or import it. In an empty workspace, create a small Next.js app with synthetic public articles. Confirm the intended content source and whether any articles are private before importing real content; continue with fixtures while access is unresolved.

Define stable slugs, titles, descriptions, and article bodies. Validate missing or duplicate slugs. Reuse an established Markdown or rich-text renderer; treat imported content as data and avoid executing untrusted MDX or HTML. Do not introduce a CMS, AI answers, or a vector database for this task.

Create a listing with a labeled search field, result count, clear action, and show-more pagination. Match normalized title, description, and article text across the entire permitted collection before paginating. Use deterministic ordering and preserve the query in the URL, including reloads and browser back navigation. Reset pagination when the query changes. Handle whitespace-only queries and no results. Choose a search implementation appropriate to corpus size, reusing an existing index if available; do not ship every article body to browsers by default.

Render articles with clear headings, readable code blocks, page metadata, and a route back to the listing. Return a real not-found response for unknown slugs. Use public fixtures by default. If existing content is private, enforce access before listing, indexing, or serving it, and avoid exposing it through public caches or metadata.

Use the existing test tools to verify a match beyond the first page, URL restoration, clearing search, no results, duplicate slugs, and unknown articles. Check keyboard navigation, focus, pending/error states, narrow screens, and long titles. Run the relevant build, type, and lint checks; record limitations if the full content source is unavailable.

Finish with local run steps, how to add an article, actual check results, and the corpus size used for verification. Ask before connecting paid services, importing private data, or deploying.
```

## Related resources

- [Add search and pagination in Next.js](https://nextjs.org/learn/dashboard-app/adding-search-and-pagination): Keep search and pagination state in URL parameters.

- [Use Markdown and MDX in Next.js](https://nextjs.org/docs/app/guides/mdx): Render content with the framework’s supported Markdown and MDX setup.

## Try other prompts

- [Reduce the JavaScript your app sends to browsers](/kb/prompts/reduce-client-javascript): Trim client JavaScript on one Next.js route, measure the difference, and preserve the interactions your users need.

- [Add regression tests for a critical user flow](/kb/prompts/add-critical-flow-regression-tests): Protect a key Next.js user journey with isolated tests for visible outcomes, failure recovery, and relevant access boundaries.

## Reference Architecture

Choose a stack and work through the decisions behind it, with curated documentation, guides, templates, and courses to help you build.

- [Agent stack](/kb/architecture/agents): Build and operate agents with models, tools, and durable workflows.
- [Web applications](/kb/architecture/web): Choose rendering, data, authentication, and caching approaches.
- [Backends](/kb/architecture/backends): Choose a runtime, connect services, and run background work.

[Browse all stacks](/kb/architecture)

## Build with prompts

Build an app, extend an agent, or improve your project with ready-to-use prompts for your coding agent.

[Browse the prompt library](/kb/prompts) · [Read the Markdown index](/kb/prompts.md)