Global Search

Activating Global Search

• Click the search bar in the top navigation
• Press Ctrl+K (or Cmd+K on macOS) from anywhere in WorkDesk
• Click the search icon in the top bar

Search Behavior

React Component Implementation

import { useState, useCallback } from 'react';
import { useDebouncedCallback } from 'use-debounce';
import { useSearchStore } from '../stores/searchStore';

function GlobalSearch() {
  const [query, setQuery] = useState('');
  const { results, setResults, isLoading, setLoading } = useSearchStore();

  const search = useDebouncedCallback(async (q: string) => {
    if (q.length < 2) { setResults(null); return; }
    setLoading(true);
    try {
      const data = await api.get(`/workdesk/search?q=${encodeURIComponent(q)}&limit=5`);
      setResults(data);
    } finally {
      setLoading(false);
    }
  }, 300);

  const handleChange = (e: React.ChangeEvent<HTMLInputElement>) => {
    setQuery(e.target.value);
    search(e.target.value);
  };

  return (
    <div className="global-search">
      <input
        type="text"
        placeholder="Search tasks, workflows, notifications..."
        value={query}
        onChange={handleChange}
      />
      {isLoading && <Spinner />}
      {results && <SearchResults results={results} query={query} />}
    </div>
  );
}

Result Navigation

Clicking a search result navigates directly to that item:

• Task result → opens the task detail page: /workdesk/inbox/task/{taskId}
• Execution result → opens the execution in Observer Panel: /workdesk/history/{executionId}
• Notification result → navigates to the linkedUrl from the notification payload

Scoped Search

Global search can be scoped to a single section by appending a section parameter. This is useful when you know the result is in a specific section:

// Scope to tasks only
GET /api/workdesk/search?q=budget+review&section=tasks

// Scope to history only
GET /api/workdesk/search?q=payroll&section=history

// All sections (default)
GET /api/workdesk/search?q=budget+review