On June 26th, Algolia hosted our second quarterly DevBit livestream of 2024. If you were around this time last year, you may recall our larger DevCon event during the summer. This year, we’ve moved DevCon to the fall. I’ll talk about that later, but first, let’s get into DevBit.

Our theme this quarter was “Get Integrated!” We took a maximalist approach, with sessions focused on our in-house database connectors, front-end integrations, custom code solutions, and e-commerce platforms.

This post includes short recaps and links to the recordings of all the sessions. There’s also a playlist on YouTube. This DevBit was composed of four sessions, including our first-ever presentation by a partner:

• Build and sync Algolia index with mySQL and ElasticSearch data
  by Joni Khattar, Sr Product Manager – Data Platform & Connections at Algolia
• Lessons learned in integrating Algolia with Hyvä on Magento 2
  by Klauss Mortreux, Front-end Technical Lead at BlackBird Agency
  and Chuck Meyer, Sr Developer Advocate at Algolia
• Searching for the Purrrrrfect Rescue Animal with Algolia and Supabase
  by Tim Benniks, Developer Relations Lead at Hygraph
• Practical tips for building AI Search & Recommendations on ecommerce platforms like Shopify and Bigcommerce
  by Peter Nguyen, Senior Product Manager at Algolia

Build and sync Algolia index with mySQL and ElasticSearch data

Sr. Product Manager Joni Khattar kicked us off with a demonstration of the new Algolia data connectors for MySQL and ElasticSearch. These connectors allow customers to quickly grab data from an existing “source of truth” and get right to building super fast front-end search without having to write a bunch of boilerplate code. She also announced Postgres and MongoDB as the following two connectors in the database series.

Lessons learned in integrating Algolia with Hyvä on Magento 2

Our next session was a fireside chat with Klauss Mortreux. Klauss is the front-end technical lead at the Blackbird Agency, specializing in integrations for the Magento platform. He talked through some challenges he had integrating Algolia search and recommendation into the new Hyvä theme for Magento. Klaus demonstrated a clever solution for building and integrated autocomplete/instantsearch experience using a slide-out panel for filters. He also showed off a hi-res image carousel they use directly in the hit template for search results. Thanks to all of the DevBit attendees for jumping in with deep questions, this was probably my favorite session of the day.

Searching for the Purrrrrfect Rescue Animal with Algolia and Supabase

Not only is Algolia Ambassador Tim Benniks a fantastic speaker, but he also has a big heart. In his session he showed us the web application he built to help with his local rescue cat adoption agency. Tim showed how he syncs records from Supabase into Algolia indices that power search across the various views available within the application. This was also a fantastic excuse to see a ton of cute cat pictures.

Practical tips for building AI Search & Recommendations on ecommerce platforms like Shopify and Bigcommerce

Between sessions, DevBit host Tim Carry mentioned our public beta of the new Algolia Self-Service Crawler. This brings the functionality of our existing web crawler to our pay-as-you-go users with a branch new dashboard. You can sign up for the beta today.

For the last session of DevBit, senior product manager Peter Nguyen built a shopping website from scratch in fifteen minutes using the Algolia BigCommerce connector! Our e-commerce connectors for platforms like BigCommerce, Shopify, and Adobe Commerce are the easiest way to extend the search capabilities within your existing commerce platform and get your shop up and running quickly. Peter’s team is very interested in hearing what platform they should integrate with next.

At the end of DevBit, we announced that this year’s Algolia DevCon will take place on October 2nd, 2024! The call for content is already open, so go ahead and submit your session ideas.

And that was Summer 2024. Thank you to everyone who attended live and everyone watching now. We’ll see you again in October for Algolia DevCon. Until then, join us on our Discord server!