Meilisearch Advanced Query provides a fluent, expressive API for building Meilisearch filter expressions in Laravel — the same filters you'd otherwise write by hand when customising Scout engine searches.

It handles compound conditions, nested groups, range queries, geo filters, and Meilisearch-specific operators, keeping your code readable as queries grow in complexity.

[!WARNING] v3 contains breaking changes. If you are upgrading from v2, see the upgrade guide.

Requirements

• PHP 8.3+
• Laravel 12 or 13
• Laravel Scout 11+
• Meilisearch PHP SDK 1.16+

Installation

composer require chr15k/laravel-meilisearch-advanced-query

The service provider is registered automatically via Laravel's package discovery.

Usage

Building a filter string

Use the Query facade (or resolve MeilisearchAdvancedQuery from the container directly) to build a filter string without touching Scout at all:

use Chr15k\MeilisearchAdvancedQuery\Facades\Query;
use Chr15k\MeilisearchAdvancedQuery\Enums\Operator;

$filter = Query::where('status', Operator::EQ, 'active')
    ->whereIn('role', ['admin', 'editor'])
    ->whereBetween('login_count', 10, 500)
    ->compile();

// "status = 'active' AND role IN ['admin', 'editor'] AND login_count 10 TO 500"

Running a Scout search

Chain forModel() on the query builder to hand off to Scout. This returns a Scout Builder instance that you can continue to chain as normal:

use Chr15k\MeilisearchAdvancedQuery\Facades\Query;
use Chr15k\MeilisearchAdvancedQuery\Enums\Operator;
use App\Models\Product;

$results = Query::where('status', Operator::EQ, 'active')
    ->whereIn('category', ['boots', 'shoes'])
    ->forModel(Product::class)
    ->search('leather')
    ->paginate(20);

Sorting

Pass a sort expression (or array of expressions) to search():

Query::where('status', Operator::EQ, 'active')
    ->forModel(Product::class)
    ->search('leather', sort: ['price:asc', 'name:desc']);

For Meilisearch's sort syntax, see the sorting documentation.

The Query Facade

The Query facade proxies to a fresh MeilisearchAdvancedQuery instance on each call, so there is no shared state between requests.

use Chr15k\MeilisearchAdvancedQuery\Facades\Query;

You can also resolve the builder from the container directly if you prefer:

use Chr15k\MeilisearchAdvancedQuery\MeilisearchAdvancedQuery;

$query = app(MeilisearchAdvancedQuery::class);

Builder Methods

where(field, operator, value, boolean)

The primary method. Operator defaults to Operator::EQ. Boolean defaults to AND.

Query::where('name', Operator::EQ, 'Chris')->compile();
// "name = 'Chris'"

Query::where('count', Operator::GTE, 10)->compile();
// "count >= 10"

Query::where('verified', Operator::EQ, true)->compile();
// "verified = true"

orWhere(field, operator, value)

Identical to where() but joins with OR.

Query::where('name', Operator::EQ, 'Chris')
    ->orWhere('name', Operator::EQ, 'Bob')
    ->compile();
// "name = 'Chris' OR name = 'Bob'"

whereNot(field, value) / orWhereNot(field, value)

Negates a field equality check.

Query::whereNot('name', 'Chris')->compile();
// "NOT name = 'Chris'"

Query::where('verified', Operator::EQ, true)
    ->orWhereNot('name', 'Chris')
    ->compile();
// "verified = true OR NOT name = 'Chris'"

whereIn(field, values) / orWhereIn(field, values)

Matches any value in the given array.

Query::whereIn('role', ['admin', 'editor'])->compile();
// "role IN ['admin', 'editor']"

Query::where('verified', Operator::EQ, true)
    ->orWhereIn('role', ['admin', 'editor'])
    ->compile();
// "verified = true OR role IN ['admin', 'editor']"

whereNotIn(field, values) / orWhereNotIn(field, values)

Excludes any value in the given array.

Query::whereNotIn('status', ['banned', 'suspended'])->compile();
// "status NOT IN ['banned', 'suspended']"

whereBetween(field, from, to) / orWhereBetween(field, from, to)

Range filter using Meilisearch's TO operator.

Query::whereBetween('price', 10, 100)->compile();
// "price 10 TO 100"

whereExists(field) / orWhereExists(field)

Matches documents where the field exists.

Query::whereExists('verified_at')->compile();
// "verified_at EXISTS"

whereIsNull(field) / orWhereIsNull(field)

Matches documents where the field is null.

Query::whereIsNull('deleted_at')->compile();
// "deleted_at IS NULL"

whereIsEmpty(field) / orWhereIsEmpty(field)

Matches documents where the field is empty.

Query::whereIsEmpty('tags')->compile();
// "tags IS EMPTY"

whereRaw(query) / orWhereRaw(query)

Passes a raw filter string through the compiler unchanged. Useful for filter expressions the builder does not yet support natively.

Query::whereRaw("name = 'Chris' OR name = 'Bob'")->compile();
// "name = 'Chris' OR name = 'Bob'"

Query::whereRaw("name = 'Chris'")
    ->orWhereRaw("name = 'Bob'")
    ->compile();
// "name = 'Chris' OR name = 'Bob'"

Geo filters

whereGeoRadius(lat, lng, distanceInMeters) / orWhereGeoRadius

Query::where('active', Operator::EQ, true)
    ->whereGeoRadius(48.8566, 2.3522, 1000)
    ->compile();
// "active = true AND _geoRadius(48.8566, 2.3522, 1000)"

whereGeoBoundingBox(lat1, lng1, lat2, lng2) / orWhereGeoBoundingBox

Query::where('active', Operator::EQ, true)
    ->whereGeoBoundingBox(48.8566, 2.3522, 48.9, 2.4)
    ->compile();
// "active = true AND _geoBoundingBox([48.8566, 2.3522], [48.9, 2.4])"

Nested / Grouped Queries

Pass a closure to where() or orWhere() to create a parenthesised group:

Query::where(fn ($q) => $q
    ->where('name', Operator::EQ, 'Chris')
    ->orWhere('name', Operator::EQ, 'Bob')
)
->where('verified', Operator::EQ, true)
->compile();
// "(name = 'Chris' OR name = 'Bob') AND verified = true"

Groups can be nested to any depth:

Query::where(fn ($q) => $q
    ->where('count', Operator::GTE, 10)
    ->where('count', Operator::LTE, 100)
    ->orWhere(fn ($sub) => $sub
        ->where('name', Operator::EQ, 'Chris')
        ->orWhereIsEmpty('name')
        ->orWhereIsNull('email')
    )
)
->orWhere('name', Operator::EQ, 'Bob')
->compile();
// "(count >= 10 AND count <= 100 OR (name = 'Chris' OR name IS EMPTY OR email IS NULL)) OR name = 'Bob'"

Supported Operators

See the Meilisearch filter expression reference for full documentation on each operator.

Advanced: Using ScoutAdapter Directly

forModel() is a convenience wrapper around ScoutAdapter. If you need more control — for example, to swap in a custom compiler — you can instantiate ScoutAdapter directly:

use Chr15k\MeilisearchAdvancedQuery\Adapters\ScoutAdapter;
use Chr15k\MeilisearchAdvancedQuery\Facades\Query;
use App\Models\Product;

$adapter = ScoutAdapter::for(
    Product::class,
    Query::where('status', Operator::EQ, 'active'),
);

$results = $adapter->search('leather', sort: ['price:asc']);

ScoutAdapter validates at instantiation that the given class exists, is an Eloquent model, and uses the Searchable trait — throwing InvalidArgumentException if any check fails.

Debugging

Call compile() at any point in the chain to get the raw filter string without executing a search:

Query::where(fn ($q) => $q
    ->whereIn('role', ['admin', 'editor'])
    ->orWhereIsEmpty('verified_at')
)
->orWhere('email', Operator::EQ, 'chris@example.com')
->compile();

// "(role IN ['admin', 'editor'] OR verified_at IS EMPTY) OR email = 'chris@example.com'"

Architecture

The package is structured around four concerns:

• Nodes — immutable, typed value objects representing a single filter clause (ComparisonNode, InNode, NotInNode, BetweenNode, GroupNode, RawNode)
• Compiler — walks the node tree and produces a Meilisearch filter string (MeilisearchCompiler)
• Query builder — fluent API that constructs the node tree (MeilisearchAdvancedQuery)
• Scout adapter — bridges the compiled filter string to a Scout Builder (ScoutAdapter)

The Compiler and Query contracts are independently extensible — you can implement your own compiler (for a different search engine's filter syntax) or your own query builder without touching the rest of the package.

Running Tests

composer test

Individual checks:

composer test:types   # PHPStan static analysis
composer test:lint    # Laravel Pint
composer test:unit    # Pest (with coverage)

Resources

• Building Advanced Meilisearch Queries in Laravel — a practical walkthrough of the package with real-world examples

License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.