---
title: Frontend package
description: The Pagefind.Net.Frontend NuGet package ships the Pagefind browser query runtime: pagefind.js and wasm.en.pagefind. These files are required for the search...
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/pagefind-net/getting-started/frontend
---

# Frontend package
The `Pagefind.Net.Frontend` NuGet package ships the Pagefind browser query runtime: `pagefind.js` and `wasm.en.pagefind`. These files are required for the search UI to work in the browser.

## MSBuild auto-extraction

When you install the package, an MSBuild target runs after every build and copies the runtime files into your project:
```
wwwroot/pagefind/
  pagefind.js
  wasm.en.pagefind
```

<tip>
  No configuration is needed for the default setup. The index data files written by `PagefindIndex.WriteAsync` go into the same directory.
</tip>


### Changing the output path

Set `PagefindFrontendOutputPath` in your `.csproj`:
```xml
<PropertyGroup>
  <PagefindFrontendOutputPath>wwwroot/_search</PagefindFrontendOutputPath>
</PropertyGroup>
```


### Disabling auto-extraction

If you prefer to manage runtime files yourself:
```xml
<PropertyGroup>
  <PagefindFrontendDisableExtract>true</PagefindFrontendDisableExtract>
</PropertyGroup>
```


## Programmatic API

The `PagefindFrontend` static class provides an `ExtractToAsync` method for extracting files from code:
```csharp
using Pagefind.Net.Frontend;

// Extract to a directory (skips if already up to date)
string[] written = await PagefindFrontend.ExtractToAsync("wwwroot/pagefind");

// Force overwrite
string[] written = await PagefindFrontend.ExtractToAsync("wwwroot/pagefind", force: true);
```

<note>
  A version marker file (`.pagefind-net-frontend-version`) is written alongside the assets. On subsequent calls, extraction is skipped if the marker matches the current package version and all expected files exist.
</note>

An overload accepting `IFileSystem` (from `System.IO.Abstractions`) is available for unit testing.

## Version

This package ships the runtime from Pagefind **1.5.2**. The version is available programmatically:
```csharp
Console.WriteLine(PagefindFrontend.Version); // "1.5.2"
```