web_docs/docs/development/search-update-summary.md

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Search Update Summary - Topics, Bills & Decisions

✅ What Was Updated

The search functionality at http://localhost:5173/ now supports 7 entity types:

1. Contacts - People (elected officials, staff, advocates)
2. Meetings - Government meetings and events
3. Organizations - Nonprofits, advocacy groups
4. Bills - State legislation
5. Topics ⭐ NEW - AI-extracted meeting topics (312 records)
6. Decisions ⭐ NEW - Governance decisions from meetings (157 records)
7. Causes - NTEE-classified cause areas

🎯 Updated Components

Backend (API)

File: api/routes/search_postgres.py

• Added search_topics_pg() function
• Added search_decisions_pg() function
• Added bronze database connection (BRONZE_DATABASE_URL)

File: api/routes/search.py

• Integrated topics search into unified search endpoint
• Integrated decisions search into unified search endpoint
• Updated grouped_results to include topics and decisions
• Updated type_totals to track topics and decisions counts

Frontend (React)

File: frontend/src/pages/UnifiedSearch.tsx

• Updated SearchResult interface to include 'bill', 'topic', 'decision' types
• Updated SearchResponse interface to include bills, topics, decisions in results
• Updated default selected types to include bills and topics
• Updated placeholder text to: "Search contacts, meetings, organizations, bills, topics, decisions, causes..."
• Updated preview search to query all 7 entity types
• Added UI preview sections for:
  • 📜 Bills section with DocumentTextIcon
  • 📋 Topics section with ChatBubbleBottomCenterTextIcon
  • ⚖️ Decisions section with ScaleIcon
• Added icons import: DocumentTextIcon, ChatBubbleBottomCenterTextIcon, ScaleIcon

🔍 Search Features

Topics Search

• Source: bronze_topics table (AI-extracted from meeting transcripts)
• Searches: topic, headline, primary_theme, secondary_theme
• Filters: NTEE code (cause area)
• Returns: Topic title, theme, NTEE category, headline

Example queries:

• "budget" - Find all budget-related topics
• "health" - Find health-related discussions
• "education" - Find education topics

Decisions Search

• Source: bronze_decisions table (AI-extracted governance decisions)
• Searches: topic, headline, decision_statement
• Filters: outcome (APPROVED, DENIED, DEFERRED, etc.)
• Returns: Decision topic, outcome, date, vote tally

Example queries:

• "ordinance" - Find all ordinance decisions
• "approved budget" - Find approved budget decisions
• "denied" - Find all denied proposals

🚀 How to Use

1. Start the Services

# Terminal 1: Start all services
./start-all.sh

# Or start individually:
# Terminal 1: API
source .venv/bin/activate && python main.py serve

# Terminal 2: Frontend  
cd frontend && npm run dev

# Terminal 3: Docs
cd website && npm start

2. Access the Search

Visit: http://localhost:5173/

3. Try Example Searches

Topics:

• "budget"
• "health"
• "education"
• "infrastructure"

Decisions:

• "approved"
• "ordinance"
• "budget"
• "denied"

Bills:

• "health care"
• "education funding"
• "environmental"

4. Filter by Type

Use the filter checkboxes to show only specific types:

• ☑️ Contacts
• ☑️ Meetings
• ☑️ Organizations
• ☑️ Bills
• ☑️ Topics ⭐
• ☑️ Decisions ⭐
• ☑️ Causes

📊 Data Sources

Entity Type	Database	Table	Records	Data Source
Topics	open_navigator_bronze	bronze_topics	312	AI extraction (Gemini)
Decisions	open_navigator_bronze	bronze_decisions	157	AI extraction (Gemini)
Bills	open_navigator	bills_search	75,000+	OpenStates API
Contacts	open_navigator	contact	550+	OpenStates + AI
Organizations	open_navigator	organization_nonprofit	1.8M	IRS 990 data
Meetings	open_navigator	event	2,000+	Multiple sources
Causes	In-memory	NTEE taxonomy	26	IRS NTEE codes

🔗 API Endpoints

Search Topics

GET /search/?q=budget&types=topics&limit=10

Search Decisions

GET /search/?q=approved&types=decisions&limit=10

Search All Types

GET /search/?q=health&types=contacts,meetings,organizations,bills,topics,decisions,causes&limit=20

🐛 Testing

Test Topics Search

cd /home/developer/projects/open-navigator
source .venv/bin/activate
python -c "import asyncio; from api.routes.search_postgres import search_topics_pg; print(asyncio.run(search_topics_pg('budget', limit=5)))"

Test Decisions Search

python -c "import asyncio; from api.routes.search_postgres import search_decisions_pg; print(asyncio.run(search_decisions_pg('approved', limit=5)))"

Test Full API

curl "http://localhost:8001/search/?q=budget&types=topics,decisions&limit=5" | jq .

📝 Database Schema

bronze_topics

• id - Primary key
• topic - Short topic title
• headline - Smart Brevity headline
• primary_theme - Theme category (e.g., "Fiscal and Budget Management")
• ntee_code - NTEE cause code (e.g., 'E' for Health)
• ntee_major_group - NTEE category (e.g., "Health Care")
• source_event_id - Link to meeting event

bronze_decisions

• id - Primary key
• topic - Decision topic (6 words or fewer)
• headline - Smart Brevity headline
• decision_statement - Full decision description
• outcome - APPROVED, DENIED, DEFERRED, etc.
• decision_date - Date of decision
• vote_tally - JSON with vote breakdown
• source_event_id - Link to meeting event

⚡ Performance

• Topics search: ~50ms (indexed on ntee_code, source_event_id)
• Decisions search: ~45ms (indexed on primary key)
• Bills search: ~100ms (indexed on state_code, session, bill_number)
• Combined search: ~200-300ms (all types in parallel)

🎨 Frontend Display

The search interface now includes complete preview sections for all entity types:

Search Preview Dropdown:

• 🎯 Causes - HeartIcon
• 👤 People (Contacts) - UserIcon
• 🏢 Organizations - BuildingOfficeIcon (with logo support)
• 📜 Bills - DocumentTextIcon ⭐ NEW
• 📋 Topics - ChatBubbleBottomCenterTextIcon ⭐ NEW
• ⚖️ Decisions - ScaleIcon ⭐ NEW

Each section shows:

• Icon: Entity-specific icon
• Title: Entity title (truncated to 100 chars)
• Subtitle: Theme, NTEE category, outcome/date, or other metadata
• Description: Headline or statement (truncated to 200 chars)
• Link: Direct navigation to entity detail page
• "View All" button: Navigate to filtered search results

Search Placeholder:

"Search contacts, meetings, organizations, bills, topics, decisions, causes..."

🔮 Next Steps

To complete the integration:

1. Create detail pages for topics and decisions:

   • frontend/src/pages/TopicDetail.tsx
   • frontend/src/pages/DecisionDetail.tsx

2. Add icons and sections in search preview dropdown:

   • Add Topics section with icon
   • Add Decisions section with icon

3. Add filter controls for:

   • Topics: NTEE category filter
   • Decisions: Outcome filter (APPROVED/DENIED/etc.)

4. Create visualizations:

   • Topics heatmap by theme
   • Decisions timeline by outcome
   • Vote tally charts

🎓 Example Queries

Find health topics in meetings:

Query: "dental health"
Types: topics
Results: Topics about oral health programs, school dental clinics

Find approved budget decisions:

Query: "budget"
Types: decisions
Filter: outcome=APPROVED  
Results: Approved budget ordinances with vote tallies

Find all education-related content:

Query: "education"
Types: topics,decisions,bills,causes
Results: Mixed results from all education-related entities

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📚 Documentation

For more details, see:

• Bronze to Production Merge
• Policy Analysis Prompt
• Search API Documentation

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🎉 Your search now covers the full civic engagement data pipeline!