​ How it works

In standard (conjunctive) faceted navigation, selecting “Red” in the color facet filters the entire result set, including the color facet counts. The result: “Blue” drops to 0 because no document is both Red and Blue. Users cannot compare options within the same facet group. Disjunctive facets solve this. When a user selects “Red”, the color facet still shows “Blue (15), Green (8)” with their unfiltered counts, while other facet groups (brand, size) update normally. This is the pattern used by most ecommerce sites.

​ How it works

Meilisearch does not have a built-in disjunctive facet mode. Instead, you implement it client-side using multi-search. The idea is to send multiple queries in a single request:

1. One main query with all active filters applied, returning the hits and facet counts for non-disjunctive groups
2. One query per disjunctive facet group where you remove the filters for that group, so its counts reflect the broader result set

For example, if the user has selected color = Red and brand = Nike:

​ Implementation

​ Step 1: track active filters by group

Organize your active filters by facet group so you can selectively exclude each group:

const activeFilters = {
  color: ["Red"],
  brand: ["Nike"],
  size: []
};

​ Step 2: build the multi-search request

For each facet group that has active selections, create an additional query that excludes that group’s filters:

function buildDisjunctiveQueries(query, activeFilters, allFacetGroups) {
  // Build filter string for a subset of groups
  function buildFilter(excludeGroup) {
    const parts = [];
    for (const [group, values] of Object.entries(activeFilters)) {
      if (group === excludeGroup || values.length === 0) continue;
      if (values.length === 1) {
        parts.push(`${group} = "${values[0]}"`);
      } else {
        const conditions = values.map(v => `${group} = "${v}"`).join(" OR ");
        parts.push(`(${conditions})`);
      }
    }
    return parts.join(" AND ") || undefined;
  }

  // Groups that have active selections are disjunctive
  const disjunctiveGroups = Object.entries(activeFilters)
    .filter(([_, values]) => values.length > 0)
    .map(([group]) => group);

  // Non-disjunctive groups have no active selections
  const nonDisjunctiveGroups = allFacetGroups
    .filter(g => !disjunctiveGroups.includes(g));

  // Main query: all filters applied, only non-disjunctive facets
  const queries = [
    {
      indexUid: "products",
      q: query,
      filter: buildFilter(null),
      facets: nonDisjunctiveGroups
    }
  ];

  // One query per disjunctive group, excluding its own filter
  for (const group of disjunctiveGroups) {
    queries.push({
      indexUid: "products",
      q: query,
      filter: buildFilter(group),
      facets: [group],
      limit: 0  // we only need facet counts, not hits
    });
  }

  return queries;
}

Setting limit: 0 on the per-group queries avoids fetching duplicate hits. You only need the facetDistribution from these queries.

​ Step 3: send the multi-search request

const allFacetGroups = ["color", "brand", "size"];
const queries = buildDisjunctiveQueries("running shoes", activeFilters, allFacetGroups);

const response = await fetch("MEILISEARCH_URL/multi-search", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
    "Authorization": "Bearer MEILISEARCH_KEY"
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({ queries })
});

const data = await response.json();

​ Step 4: merge facet distributions

Combine the facet distributions from all queries into a single object for your UI:

function mergeFacetDistributions(results) {
  const merged = {};
  for (const result of results) {
    if (!result.facetDistribution) continue;
    for (const [attribute, values] of Object.entries(result.facetDistribution)) {
      merged[attribute] = values;
    }
  }
  return merged;
}

const hits = data.results[0].hits;
const facetDistribution = mergeFacetDistributions(data.results);

The first result contains the actual search hits. The remaining results contribute their facet distributions. Since each facet group appears in exactly one query, merging is a simple assignment with no conflicts.

​ Full example

Putting it all together with a complete search function:

async function disjunctiveSearch(query, activeFilters) {
  const allFacetGroups = ["color", "brand", "size"];

  function buildFilter(excludeGroup) {
    const parts = [];
    for (const [group, values] of Object.entries(activeFilters)) {
      if (group === excludeGroup || values.length === 0) continue;
      if (values.length === 1) {
        parts.push(`${group} = "${values[0]}"`);
      } else {
        const conditions = values.map(v => `${group} = "${v}"`).join(" OR ");
        parts.push(`(${conditions})`);
      }
    }
    return parts.join(" AND ") || undefined;
  }

  const disjunctiveGroups = Object.entries(activeFilters)
    .filter(([_, values]) => values.length > 0)
    .map(([group]) => group);

  const nonDisjunctiveGroups = allFacetGroups
    .filter(g => !disjunctiveGroups.includes(g));

  const queries = [
    {
      indexUid: "products",
      q: query,
      filter: buildFilter(null),
      facets: nonDisjunctiveGroups.length > 0 ? nonDisjunctiveGroups : undefined
    }
  ];

  for (const group of disjunctiveGroups) {
    queries.push({
      indexUid: "products",
      q: query,
      filter: buildFilter(group),
      facets: [group],
      limit: 0
    });
  }

  const response = await fetch("MEILISEARCH_URL/multi-search", {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
      "Authorization": "Bearer MEILISEARCH_KEY"
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({ queries })
  });

  const data = await response.json();

  // Merge all facet distributions
  const facetDistribution = {};
  for (const result of data.results) {
    if (!result.facetDistribution) continue;
    Object.assign(facetDistribution, result.facetDistribution);
  }

  return {
    hits: data.results[0].hits,
    facetDistribution,
    estimatedTotalHits: data.results[0].estimatedTotalHits
  };
}

​ Performance considerations

Disjunctive facets require one additional query per facet group with active selections. In practice this is fast because:

• Multi-search executes all queries in a single HTTP request
• Per-group queries set limit: 0, so Meilisearch skips ranking and document retrieval
• Meilisearch processes multi-search queries concurrently

For most applications, the total response time is comparable to a single search request. If you have many facet groups (10+), consider only making disjunctive queries for groups that the user has actively filtered on.

​ Next steps

Multi-search

Learn more about multi-search and how to batch queries.

Build faceted navigation

Standard faceted navigation pattern for simpler use cases.

Optimize facet performance

Reduce indexing time and search latency for faceted search.