## ✨ Add accent-insensitive search functionality
### 🎯 Overview
Implements accent-insensitive search across all searchable fields in
Twenty CRM.
Users can now search for "jose" to find "José", "muller" to find
"Müller", "cafe" to find "café", etc.
### 🔍 Problem
Twenty's search functionality was accent-sensitive, requiring users to
type exact accented characters to find records.
This created a poor user experience, especially for international names
and content.
### 💡 Solution
Added PostgreSQL `unaccent` extension with a custom immutable wrapper
function to enable accent-insensitive full-text search across all
searchable field types.
### 📋 Changes Made
**Modified Files:**
- `packages/twenty-server/scripts/setup-db.ts`
-
`packages/twenty-server/src/engine/api/graphql/graphql-query-runner/utils/compute-where-condition-parts.ts`
-
`packages/twenty-server/src/engine/workspace-manager/workspace-sync-metadata/utils/get-ts-vector-column-expression.util.ts`
### 🗄️ Database Setup (`setup-db.ts`)
```sql
-- Added unaccent extension
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS "unaccent";
-- Created immutable wrapper function
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION unaccent_immutable(text) RETURNS text AS $$
SELECT public.unaccent($1)
$$ LANGUAGE sql IMMUTABLE;
```
### 🔍 Search Vector Generation
(`get-ts-vector-column-expression.util.ts`)
Applied `public.unaccent_immutable()` to all searchable field types:
- TEXT fields (job titles, names, etc.)
- FULL_NAME fields (first/last names)
- EMAILS fields (both email address and domain)
- ADDRESS fields
- LINKS fields
- RICH_TEXT and RICH_TEXT_V2 fields
### 🔎 Query Processing (`compute-where-condition-parts.ts`)
Enhanced search queries to use `public.unaccent_immutable()` for both:
- Full-text search (`@@` operator with `to_tsquery`)
- Pattern matching (`ILIKE` operator)
### 🧠 Technical Rationale: Why the Wrapper Function?
**The Challenge:**
PostgreSQL's built-in `unaccent()` is marked as **STABLE**, but
`GENERATED ALWAYS AS` expressions (used for search vector columns)
require **IMMUTABLE** functions.
**The Solution:**
Created an IMMUTABLE wrapper function that calls the underlying
`unaccent()` function:
- ✅ Satisfies PostgreSQL's immutability requirements for generated
columns
- ✅ Maintains the exact same functionality as the original `unaccent()`
- ✅ Uses fully qualified `public.unaccent_immutable()` to ensure
function resolution from workspace schemas
**Alternative Approaches Considered:**
- ❌ Modifying `search_path`: would affect workspace isolation
- ❌ Computing unaccent at query time: would hurt performance
- ❌ Using triggers: would complicate data consistency
### 🎯 Impact
For **Person** records, accent-insensitive search now works on:
- Name (first/last name): `"jose garcia"` finds `"José García"`
- Email: `"jose@cafe.com"` finds `"josé@café.com"`
- Job Title: `"manager"` finds `"Managér"` or `"Gerente de Café"`
Applies to all searchable standard objects:
- Companies, People, Opportunities, Notes, Tasks, etc.
- Any custom fields of searchable types (TEXT, EMAILS, etc.)
### ✅ Testing
- Database reset completes successfully
- Workspace seeding works without errors
- Search vectors generate with unaccent functionality
- All searchable field types properly handle accented characters
---------
Co-authored-by: Félix Malfait <felix.malfait@gmail.com>
