---
title: Getting started
description: Pagefind.Net provides the indexer.Pagefind.Net.Frontend ships the browser query runtime and extracts it automatically on build.Create a PagefindIndex,...
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/pagefind-net/getting-started
---

# Getting started
## Installation

<tab-set>
  <tab-item title=".NET CLI">
    ```shell
    dotnet add package Pagefind.Net
    dotnet add package Pagefind.Net.Frontend
    ```
  </tab-item>

  <tab-item title="Package Manager">
    ```shell
    Install-Package Pagefind.Net
    Install-Package Pagefind.Net.Frontend
    ```
  </tab-item>
</tab-set>

- `Pagefind.Net` provides the indexer.
- `Pagefind.Net.Frontend` ships the browser query runtime and extracts it automatically on build.


## Building your first index

Create a `PagefindIndex`, add records, and write the output:
```csharp
using Pagefind.Net;

var index = new PagefindIndex(new PagefindIndexOptions { Language = "en" });

index.AddRecord(new PagefindRecord
{
    Url = "/hello/",
    Title = "Hello World",
    Content = "This is a searchable page about greeting the world.",
    WeightedSegments =
    [
        new WeightedSegment("Hello World", Weight: 7),
        new WeightedSegment("This is a searchable page about greeting the world.", Weight: 1),
    ],
    Meta = new Dictionary<string, string> { ["title"] = "Hello World" },
});

await index.WriteAsync("wwwroot");
```

This writes the following files into `wwwroot/pagefind/`:

| File pattern                  | Purpose                               |
|-------------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| `pagefind-entry.json`         | Entry point loaded by `pagefind.js`   |
| `pagefind.{hash}.pf_meta`     | Page metadata (titles, word counts)   |
| `index/{hash}.pf_index`       | Inverted index chunks                 |
| `fragment/{hash}.pf_fragment` | Content fragments for result excerpts |


## Weighted segments

Weighted segments control how different parts of a document affect search ranking. Higher weights boost terms in headings or keywords.
```csharp
WeightedSegments =
[
    new WeightedSegment(h1Text, Weight: 7),  
    new WeightedSegment(h2Text, Weight: 4),  
    new WeightedSegment(bodyText, Weight: 1),
],
```

<important>
  Always include a weight-1 segment covering the full body text.
</important>


## Sub-page anchors

Anchors let search results link directly to a section within a page:
```csharp
Anchors =
[
    new PagefindAnchor(ElementId: "setup", Text: "Setup", ByteLocation: 0),
    new PagefindAnchor(ElementId: "config", Text: "Configuration", ByteLocation: 142),
],
```

<note>
  The `ByteLocation` is the byte offset of the anchor text within `Content` (UTF-8 encoded).
</note>


## Next steps

- [Frontend package](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/pagefind-net/getting-started/frontend) - how the JS/WASM runtime is delivered
- [ASP.NET integration](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/pagefind-net/getting-started/asp-net) - serving a Pagefind index from ASP.NET
- [API reference](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/pagefind-net/reference) - full type documentation