Site Search - Release Notes (March 5, 2026)

Updated

Highlights

This release introduces Sandbox Apps on plans that include Sandbox App support, so teams can test safely without using production request and item limits. It also adds updates for crawler sharing, profile copy behavior, and Search Preview experiences.

  • Clear split between Production and Sandbox Apps: Use Production Apps for live search experiences and Sandbox Apps for QA, staging, and validation workflows.
  • Environment-specific usage and limits: In Subscription, Production and Sandbox totals appear separately for sandbox-enabled accounts. Request and item alerts are based on Production usage.
  • Crawler output reuse across Apps: You can configure one crawler in a primary App and send crawl output to additional associated Apps.
  • Profile copy and navigation usability updates: Copying a profile now keeps each configuration in its original Published or Save Draft state, and the Optimizations list in the left navigation is now alphabetized.
  • Smart Answers in Search Preview: Smart Answers can now appear in Search Preview when your account includes Smart Answers and the selected profile has Smart Answers enabled.

Added

This release adds App setup updates, crawler sharing across multiple Apps, and Smart Answers in Search Preview. These additions focus on safer testing workflows and clearer environment behavior.

Sandbox Environment in App Creation

Accounts with Sandbox Apps can create Apps as Production or Sandbox, and that choice sets which limits apply to the App. Accounts that don't use Sandbox Apps continue to use legacy environment labels, including Development, QA, UAT, and Staging.

  • Required at creation: Choose Production or Sandbox when you create the App.
  • API value: Use sandbox when creating a Sandbox App through the API.
Create App screen with Production and Sandbox environment options.

Sandbox App Capacity, Limits, and Enforcement

By default, each Production App includes 3 Sandbox Apps, and add-ons can expand this limit where available. This feature is available on select SearchStax plans, and access depends on your plan and how it was purchased.

If you're unsure whether your plan includes this feature, contact your account representative or SearchStax Support. Sandbox limits for sandbox-enabled accounts include:

  • Sandbox App capacity: 3 Sandbox Apps per Production App by default.
  • Sandbox App add-ons: Available in account-level packs of 10.
  • Requests: 10,000 per Sandbox App per month.
  • Rate limit: 5 requests per second maximum.
  • Content items: same as the Production App cap or up to 1M items, whichever is less.
  • Analytics retention: 30 days.

Service terms for Sandbox Apps are different from production terms. Sandbox Apps don't include SLA or uptime commitments.

When you reach a limit in either environment, App creation is blocked for that environment and SearchStax shows a limit message. This message indicates which environment has reached capacity.

Crawler: Use This Crawler in Other Apps

Crawler settings now support sending crawl output from one primary App to additional associated Apps. You can only add associated Apps that use the same schema and a compatible version, and you can add them only if they're within your App limits and pass compatibility checks.

Crawler settings stay managed in the primary App.

Example: A team can run one crawler from a primary Production App and share the crawl output with a Sandbox App used for QA. This lets the QA team validate schema and content changes against current crawl data without maintaining a second crawler.

Crawler settings showing associated Apps selection from a primary App.

Smart Answers in Search Preview

Smart Answers can now appear in Search Preview when both conditions are true:

  • The account includes Smart Answers support.
  • Smart Answers is enabled in the selected profile.

Search Preview supports this behavior when both conditions are met. If Smart Answers isn't available for the account, Search Preview doesn't generate Smart Answer output. For supported accounts and profiles, Smart Answer responses and links in Search Preview are aligned with hosted search behavior.

Screenshot placeholder: Add Search Preview Smart Answers screenshot here. Proposed alt text: "Search Preview results with Smart Answer card and source links."

Changed

This release also updates App management, App lists, profile workflows, and Subscription screens. The sections below summarize each behavior change.

App Environment Can't Be Changed After Creation

App creation and management screens now call out that App environment is fixed at creation. This update reinforces existing behavior in setup and management flows.

Search Apps Dropdown and Apps List Environment Display

Search App menus and lists now group Apps by environment so context is easier to read. All Apps remains the top anchor row in the dropdown, and Production and Sandbox Apps are grouped separately with distinct icons.

For accounts that don't use Sandbox Apps, existing non-production labels (Staging, QA, UAT, Development) continue to appear as they do today.

Apps dropdown with All Apps first, then Production and Sandbox groups.

Optimizations in Left Navigation Are Alphabetized

Configuration items in the left navigation under Optimizations now appear in ascending alphabetical order. This makes it faster to scan and find settings in profiles with many optimization items.

Left navigation with Optimizations items listed in alphabetical order.

Copying a Profile Preserves Publish and Save Draft States

When you copy a profile, each configuration keeps its current status. If a configuration is Published in the source profile, it stays Published in the copied profile. If a configuration is in Save Draft in the source profile, it stays in Save Draft in the copied profile.

Copying a profile doesn't publish draft changes. If you copy a profile that has in-progress edits, those edits carry over as draft and stay unpublished until you publish them.

Subscription and Usage Accounting Updates

Subscription now shows separate Production and Sandbox totals for sandbox-enabled accounts, instead of one combined total. Usage notifications for request and item thresholds align to Production usage calculations.

For sandbox-enabled accounts, Production usage doesn't reduce Sandbox limits, and Sandbox usage doesn't reduce Production limits.

For sandbox-enabled accounts, Production request usage can also include requests from deleted Production Apps. These requests remain part of current-month Production totals and are labeled in Subscription usage views. For account configurations that don't use Sandbox Apps, usage continues in the existing combined Production-oriented model.

Subscription page with separate Production and Sandbox usage totals.

Rollout

  • Target date: Thursday, March 5, 2026
  • Scope: SearchStax Site Search accounts with applicable plan support
  • Expected issues: No known issues are currently identified

Known Issues

No known issues are currently identified.

Other Release Notes

These release notes cover updates to SearchStax Site Search. Release notes for the SearchStax Drupal module and UI Kits are published separately.

  • SearchStax Drupal Module: See Releases for SearchStax Studio for version-by-version notes and the changelog. For setup and configuration guidance, see Drupal Module.
  • SearchStax UI Kits: See UI Kits for documentation and getting started guides. For version history and developer-focused change details, check the npm package page for your UI Kit: Angular, JavaScript, React, Vue.

When an update to the Drupal module or UI Kits affects the Site Search user experience, we also call it out in these release notes so Site Search users can see cross-product impact in one place.

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