🔍 ArtExplorer - An Interactive and Inspiring Way to Explore Works of Art

This is a submission for the Algolia MCP Server Challenge

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What I Built

ArtExplorer is an interactive application that uses Algolia's search power to make the Met Museum's art collection more accessible, visual, and enjoyable to explore.

The idea is to offer an experience where users can type in themes, artists, or styles (e.g., “Van Gogh”, “nature”, “Japanese painting”) and instantly view relevant works with organized images and metadata.

The interface also features:

• 🔍 Interactive filter with artist autocomplete
• ⚡️ Instant search powered by Algolia InstantSearch.js

Everything was built using HTML, CSS, and vanilla JavaScript, with no frameworks.

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Demo

🔗 Live Demo
💻 GitHub Repository
🎥 Presentation Video

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How I Utilized the Algolia MCP Server

The Algolia MCP Server was used as a real-time search engine to index and query artworks from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection API.

Here’s how it was structured:

1. Node.js Seed Script

   • Fetches data from the Met Museum public API
   • Filters and transforms relevant fields (title, artist, period, image, style)
   • Indexes into Algolia’s artworks index with objectID and structured fields

2. Frontend with InstantSearch.js

   • searchBox: free-text search with a smart placeholder
   • refinementList: artist filter with autocomplete
   • hits: responsive grid view displaying artwork cards
   • searchFunction: prevents rendering without a search query

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Key Takeaways

✅ What I Learned

• How to transform a raw API into a rich and fast search experience using Algolia
• Implementation of searchFunction for full control over rendering
• Smart filtering using refinementList and searchable: true
• How to ensure accessibility, responsiveness, and a smooth experience without frameworks

🎯 Challenges Faced

• The Met Museum API doesn’t provide full bulk data — required individual ID fetches
• Handling null/missing fields required careful validation before indexing
• Some visual fields (like title and image) needed fallbacks to avoid breaking rendering

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Conclusion

ArtExplorer is proof of how Algolia can turn large datasets into intuitive and delightful discovery experiences - even without heavy frameworks.

Thanks to the Algolia and DEV.to teams for this inspiring challenge!

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Credits

Created by @jamesrmoro
Data provided by The Met Museum Collection API