Multisite search functionality with cross-site result integration.

Search Architecture

Theme search template: inc/archives/archive.php (search routes here by default via extrachill_template_search)
Search header: inc/archives/archive-header.php (the same template used for archives; includes an is_search() title case)
Search styling: assets/css/search.css (loaded when is_search() is true)

The extrachill-search plugin can override the template by returning its own path from extrachill_template_search.

Search Components

Search Form

Location: /inc/core/templates/searchform.php
Function: extrachill_search_form()

Used in:

• Header search overlay (inc/header/header-search.php)
• Search pages
• No results templates

Search Header

Location: inc/archives/archive-header.php
Hook: extrachill_search_header
Default handler: extrachill_default_search_header() in inc/core/actions.php (includes archive-header.php)

Displays:

• Search query (via the is_search() title case)
• Optional actions area via extrachill_archive_header_actions

Site Badges

Rendered by the extrachill-search plugin when multisite results are available to identify each network source.

Multisite Search

Multisite search behavior is owned by the extrachill-search plugin.

• The theme exposes extrachill_template_search so the plugin can swap in its own template.
• The theme will also render cross-site taxonomies correctly for results that include an _origin_site_id property (see inc/core/templates/taxonomy-badges.php).

Search Result Display

Search uses the archive template loop (inc/archives/archive.php) and renders:

• do_action( 'extrachill_search_header' ) (defaults to archive-header.php)
• do_action( 'extrachill_archive_above_posts' ) (filter bar hooks typically live here)
• get_template_part( 'inc/archives/post-card' ) to render each result

Multisite/forum results formatting is primarily handled by the extrachill-search plugin (the theme just renders the post objects it is given).

Search URL Structure

/?s=search+term

Query Variable: s (WordPress standard)

Search Assets

CSS: assets/css/search.css
Loading: extrachill_enqueue_search_styles() in inc/core/assets.php
Condition: is_search()

Theme Responsibilities

The theme:

• provides the archive/search header UI (inc/archives/archive-header.php via extrachill_search_header)
• provides base templates and hooks (extrachill_template_search, extrachill_archive_header_actions)
• renders the post objects it receives (local WP query or plugin-provided results)

Multisite Search Details

Implementation details for cross-site searching live in extrachill-search. This theme intentionally does not duplicate that logic.

Search Result Metadata

Search results render the post objects they are given (either the WordPress main query, or plugin-provided results).

No Results Handling

Template: /inc/core/templates/no-results.php

Displays when search returns zero results:

• "No results found" message
• Search form for a new search

Search Pagination

Search results use standard theme pagination:

extrachill_pagination();

Plugin Integration

Override Search Template

add_filter( 'extrachill_template_search', function( $template ) {
    return MY_PLUGIN_DIR . '/templates/custom-search.php';
} );

Modify Search Behavior

When extrachill-search is active, it owns multisite searching and result composition. Theme-side pre_get_posts customization only applies when the WordPress main query is responsible for results.

Add Search Header Content

add_action( 'extrachill_search_header', function() {
    echo '<div class="search-filter">...</div>';
}, 15 );

Graceful Degradation

Theme search works without extrachill-search:

• Without plugin: the WordPress main query provides local search results.
• With plugin: the plugin can override extrachill_template_search (and/or populate the main query) to provide multisite results.

Search Form Accessibility

Search form markup uses standard WordPress form semantics with explicit labels/ARIA attributes.

Performance

• Plugin-level optimization via extrachill-search
• Direct database queries with switch_to_blog()
• WordPress core multisite caching (blog ID mapping is centralized via ec_get_blog_id())
• Efficient cross-site query patterns
• Pagination limits result sets
• Conditional asset loading (search.css only on search pages)