# Norch

Standalone search server, installed with npm, that indexes JSON documents and answers queries over an HTTP API.


Source: https://findsoftware.frbit.cloud/norch/
Last reviewed: 2026-10-28
Listed since: 2026-10-28

## Record

### Links

- repository: https://github.com/fergiemcdowall/norch
- docs: https://fergiemcdowall.github.io/norch/www_root/openapi/

### Identity

- status: active
- maintainer: fergiemcdowall
- maintainerType: individual
- parent: unknown
- firstRelease: 2013
- hqCountry: unknown

### Kind

- category: search
- hosting: node
- language: javascript
- runtime: node
- runtimeMin: node 18
- basedOn: unknown

### Content

- contentStore: not applicable
- databases: not applicable
- adminUi: yes
- headlessApi: rest
- templating: not applicable
- i18n: not applicable

### Rendering and deploy

- runsAs: always-on
- renderingModes: not applicable
- installMethod: npx

### License

- licenseModel: open-source
- license: MIT

### Releases

- currentMajor: 1
- latestReleaseDate: 2025-08-18

### Adoption

- githubStargazers: 657
- packagistDownloads: not applicable
- npmWeeklyDownloads: 16
- contributors: 12
- pluginCount: unknown
- packagistMonthlyDownloads: unknown
- ecosystemsMonthlyDownloads: unknown
- httpArchiveSites: unknown
- wordpressActiveInstalls: unknown
- dependentRepos: unknown
- dependentPackages: unknown

### Sources

- urls: https://api.github.com/repos/fergiemcdowall/norch (read 2026-10-28)
- urls: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fergiemcdowall/norch/master/README.md (read 2026-10-28)
- maintainer: https://api.github.com/users/fergiemcdowall (read 2026-10-28)
- language: https://api.github.com/repos/fergiemcdowall/norch (read 2026-10-28)
- runtime: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fergiemcdowall/norch/v1.0.1/package.json (read 2026-10-28)
- runtimeMin: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fergiemcdowall/norch/v1.0.1/package.json (read 2026-10-28)
- category: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fergiemcdowall/norch/master/README.md (read 2026-10-28)
- installMethod: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fergiemcdowall/norch/master/README.md (read 2026-10-28)
- installMethod: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fergiemcdowall/norch/master/README.md (read 2026-10-28)
- runsAs: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fergiemcdowall/norch/master/README.md (read 2026-10-28)
- adminUi: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fergiemcdowall/norch/master/README.md (read 2026-10-28)
- headlessApi: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fergiemcdowall/norch/master/README.md (read 2026-10-28)
- license: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fergiemcdowall/norch/v1.0.1/package.json (read 2026-10-28)
- licenseModel: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fergiemcdowall/norch/v1.0.1/package.json (read 2026-10-28)
- currentMajor: https://api.github.com/repos/fergiemcdowall/norch/releases/latest (read 2026-10-28)
- latestReleaseDate: https://api.github.com/repos/fergiemcdowall/norch/releases/latest (read 2026-10-28)
- firstRelease: https://api.github.com/repos/fergiemcdowall/norch/commits/v0.2.1 (read 2026-10-28)
- npmWeeklyDownloads: https://api.npmjs.org/downloads/range/2026-09-28:2026-10-04/norch (read 2026-10-28)
- githubStargazers: https://api.github.com/repos/fergiemcdowall/norch (read 2026-10-28)
- contributors: https://api.github.com/repos/fergiemcdowall/norch/contributors (read 2026-10-28)

## Notes

Norch is a standalone search server that runs on Node.js and stores its data in LevelDB. It is installed from npm and started with a single command in a terminal, after which it serves its own pages for uploading documents and running searches, plus an OpenAPI description of its HTTP endpoints. The query language comes from the search-index package that Norch depends on.

## Worth knowing

Norch is a long-running process that keeps answering requests, so it needs a host that can run a Node.js process; static file hosting does not fit it.

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Data licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Attributes are recorded, never scored; absent means unknown.
Credit, in full: FindSoftware, CC BY 4.0