SearchAI
Enhanced Search with AI Insights
A dual-interface search platform that combines traditional Google search results with AI-generated insights, offering factual answers, code solutions, and concept explanations in a unified experience.
Information overload in
traditional search
Users of traditional search engines face persistent challenges: information overload requiring manual synthesis from multiple sources, difficulty extracting relevant code solutions from generic results, and struggles understanding complex topics without domain expertise.
These issues result in inefficient searching, context switching between tools, and significant time investment to find actionable information.
Unified search experience
with AI-powered insights
SearchAI creates a unified search experience that presents traditional Google search results alongside specialized AI-generated responses. Three distinct AI response types -- factual answers, code solutions, and concept explanations -- are each designed for specific search intents.
Search Query
Optimized for factual answers with sources
Code Generation
Specialized formatting with syntax highlighting
Explain Concept
In-depth explanations with analogies
Dual-engine intelligence
A parallel processing architecture that queries multiple sources simultaneously and synthesizes results into a unified response.
Query Classification
The system analyzes each query to determine intent -- factual search, code generation, or concept explanation -- and routes accordingly.
Parallel Processing
Google Custom Search API and OpenAI run simultaneously, eliminating the sequential bottleneck of traditional pipelines.
Context-Aware Prompting
Specialized prompt templates for each response type ensure AI outputs are precisely formatted for their use case.
Unified Presentation
Results render in a dual-column layout on desktop and tabbed interface on mobile for seamless consumption.
Key features implemented
Dual-column interface
Side-by-side columns on desktop, tabbed UI on mobile for seamless experience
Three AI response types
Search, Code, and Explain modes tailored to specific query intents
User authentication
Google Sign-in with Firebase for personalized experience
Usage tracking & quotas
Smart quota management system for sustainable API consumption
Response caching
Client-side caching preserves responses across tab switches
Markdown rendering
Beautiful syntax highlighting for code snippets
Technical implementation
Dual-Engine Search
- Parallel query processing
- Google Custom Search API
- OpenAI language models
- Custom prompting templates
Frontend Stack
- Next.js with SSR/CSR hybrid
- React Context + custom hooks
- Tailwind CSS responsive design
- ReactMarkdown with styling
Backend Services
- Firebase Authentication
- Firestore for user data
- Usage tracking & quotas
- Feedback collection system
Challenges & solutions
Responsive Dual-Column Layout
Display two content streams simultaneously on desktop while maintaining mobile usability.
Adaptive layout with CSS Grid for desktop and tabbed flexbox interface for mobile with breakpoint-specific components.
API Response Management
Multiple APIs with different error patterns, rate limits, and response formats.
Robust API layer with retry logic, exponential backoff, type-specific prompting templates, and graceful error handling.
Performance Optimization
Initial implementations suffered from slow AI response generation.
Multi-tiered optimization: response caching, React memo/callback optimization, skeleton loaders, and concise prompt templates.
Mobile User Experience
Excessive scrolling between result types on mobile devices.
Tab-based navigation, sticky headers, optimized content density, and touch-friendly code formatting.
Impact & performance
Lessons learned
API Orchestration
Multiple APIs require careful orchestration with fallbacks and error handling
Response Optimization
Different query intents require specialized handling and formatting
Mobile-First Design
Starting with mobile constraints leads to better cross-device experiences
Performance Budgets
Setting strict budgets early prevents degradation during development
Usage Tracking
Implementing quota systems from the start enables sustainable API consumption
SearchAI has become my go-to research tool. The code generation feature alone has saved me countless hours of Stack Overflow browsing.