Add custom content

Custom content lets you add searchable content that does not come from your normal site crawl. Use it for help articles, hosted files, external resources, or other records that should be searchable through the same search interface.

File format

Upload a .jsonl or .ndjson file. Each line must be one JSON object.

Every record needs:

title
url
content

author, description, image_url, tags, and date are optional. tags must be an array of strings. date must be a valid calendar date in YYYY-MM-DD format, from 1970-01-01 to 9999-12-31. Omit date or set it to null for undated content; empty strings, timestamps, and impossible dates are rejected.

For example:

{"title":"Service hours","url":"https://help.example.com/hours","author":"Alex Morgan","description":"When support is available","content":"# Service hours\n\nSupport is available Monday through Friday from 9:00 to 17:00.","tags":["support","opening-hours"],"date":"2024-02-29"}
{"title":"Returns policy","url":"https://policies.example.net/returns","content":"# Returns\n\nReturns are accepted within 30 days when the item is unused.\n\n## Conditions\n\n- The item must be unused.\n- Keep the original receipt."}

The content field supports Markdown. Use headings, paragraphs, lists, and code blocks to keep long records structured. SearchCue splits that Markdown into meaningful search sections before indexing.

author is one name, as a string of up to 300 characters, in any language. Leading and trailing whitespace is removed. Omit it or use null or a blank string for no author. Authored records participate in the Author filter and the regular-card Author field. Custom content supplies author names, not portraits.

The optional date is the content's publication date, not its upload time. It is indexed at midnight UTC and keeps the same calendar day when displayed in a Collection's Date card field. Collection Date filters use this value; undated records appear with All time but not in a dated range. Re-uploading a record without a date leaves it undated.

URLs and images

The url can point to your site or to a page on another domain. It must start with http:// or https://.

image_url is optional and follows the same rule. If you need an image, host it at an HTTPS URL and use that URL in the record.

Upload limits

The maximum upload size is 50 MB. Each record can be up to 256 KB.

These field limits also apply:

title and author: 300 characters
description: 1,000 characters
content: 50,000 characters
url and image_url: 4,096 characters

Rows that do not pass validation are rejected, but valid rows in the same file are still accepted.

Replacement behaviour

Each successful upload replaces the previous custom content set for the site. You cannot browse individual uploaded rows inside SearchCue.

If an upload has no valid rows, the previous custom content stays active. If you abort an upload, the previous custom content also stays active.

You can delete all active custom content from the Custom content page.

Item limits

Custom content counts towards the same item limit as crawled pages. If your plan allows 1,000 items and you upload 200 custom records, SearchCue keeps room for up to 800 crawled page records.

When custom content and a crawled page use the same url, the custom content record is used for that URL.

An upload replaces author information too: omit author in the replacement record to remove its previous author. A custom record never inherits the author of the crawled page it replaces.

Troubleshooting

If a row is rejected, check the row number shown after upload. Check for missing required fields, an unsupported URL scheme, duplicate URLs, or a record that is too large.