From 3c0c19c0e3c8c76ca82f8f21196cf92e5f705102 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Scott Edwards Coll <28233101-scott.ec@users.noreply.gitlab.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2025 22:16:54 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Use PostgreSQL's unaccent() to make person-name search
 accent-insensitive.

---
 e2e/src/api/specs/search.e2e-spec.ts         | 105 +++++++++++++++++++
 server/src/repositories/person.repository.ts |  12 ++-
 2 files changed, 115 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/e2e/src/api/specs/search.e2e-spec.ts b/e2e/src/api/specs/search.e2e-spec.ts
index 2f6ea75f77..11fac03269 100644
--- a/e2e/src/api/specs/search.e2e-spec.ts
+++ b/e2e/src/api/specs/search.e2e-spec.ts
@@ -700,4 +700,109 @@ describe('/search', () => {
       expect(status).toBe(200);
     });
   });
+
+  describe('GET /search/person', () => {
+    it('matches prefix of first name', async () => {
+      const person = await utils.createPerson(admin.accessToken, {
+        name: 'Ford'
+      })
+
+      const { status, body } = await request(app)
+        .get('/search/person?name=For')
+        .set('Authorization', `Bearer ${admin.accessToken}`);
+
+      expect(status).toBe(200);
+      expect(body).toEqual(
+        expect.arrayContaining([
+          expect.objectContaining({ id: person.id }),
+        ]),
+      );
+    });
+
+    it('matches prefix of subsequent name parts', async () => {
+      const person1 = await utils.createPerson(admin.accessToken, {
+        name: 'Ford Prefect'
+      })
+
+      const person2 = await utils.createPerson(admin.accessToken, {
+        name: 'Ford Nicholas Prefect'
+      })
+
+      const { status, body } = await request(app)
+        .get('/search/person?name=Pre')
+        .set('Authorization', `Bearer ${admin.accessToken}`);
+
+      expect(status).toBe(200);
+      expect(body).toEqual(
+        expect.arrayContaining([
+          expect.objectContaining({ id: person1.id }),
+          expect.objectContaining({ id: person2.id }),
+        ]),
+      );
+    });
+
+    it('does not match substring in the middle of a name', async () => {
+      await utils.createPerson(admin.accessToken, {
+        name: 'Ford Prefect'
+      })
+
+      const { status, body } = await request(app)
+        .get('/search/person?name=fec')
+        .set('Authorization', `Bearer ${admin.accessToken}`);
+
+      expect(status).toBe(200);
+      expect(body).toEqual([]);
+    });
+
+    it('matches accented name without accent in query', async () => {
+      const person = await utils.createPerson(admin.accessToken, {
+        name: 'Emília'
+      })
+
+      const { status, body } = await request(app)
+        .get('/search/person?name=Emi')
+        .set('Authorization', `Bearer ${admin.accessToken}`);
+
+      expect(status).toBe(200);
+      expect(body).toEqual(
+        expect.arrayContaining([
+          expect.objectContaining({ id: person.id }),
+        ]),
+      );
+    });
+
+    it('matches unaccented name with accent in query', async () => {
+      const person = await utils.createPerson(admin.accessToken, {
+        name: 'Emilia'
+      })
+
+      const { status, body } = await request(app)
+        .get('/search/person?name=Emí')
+        .set('Authorization', `Bearer ${admin.accessToken}`);
+
+      expect(status).toBe(200);
+      expect(body).toEqual(
+        expect.arrayContaining([
+          expect.objectContaining({ id: person.id }),
+        ]),
+      );
+    });
+
+    it('is case insensitive', async () => {
+      const person = await utils.createPerson(admin.accessToken, {
+        name: 'Arthur'
+      })
+
+      const { status, body } = await request(app)
+        .get('/search/person?name=arthur')
+        .set('Authorization', `Bearer ${admin.accessToken}`);
+
+      expect(status).toBe(200);
+      expect(body).toEqual(
+        expect.arrayContaining([
+          expect.objectContaining({ id: person.id }),
+        ]),
+      );
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/server/src/repositories/person.repository.ts b/server/src/repositories/person.repository.ts
index 725304938c..fe4f0aeef0 100644
--- a/server/src/repositories/person.repository.ts
+++ b/server/src/repositories/person.repository.ts
@@ -316,8 +316,16 @@ export class PersonRepository {
         eb.and([
           eb('person.ownerId', '=', userId),
           eb.or([
-            eb(eb.fn('lower', ['person.name']), 'like', `${personName.toLowerCase()}%`),
-            eb(eb.fn('lower', ['person.name']), 'like', `% ${personName.toLowerCase()}%`),
+            eb(
+              eb.fn('f_unaccent', [eb.fn('lower', ['person.name'])]),
+              'like',
+              `${eb.fn('f_unaccent', [personName.toLowerCase()])}%`,
+            ),
+            eb(
+              eb.fn('f_unaccent', [eb.fn('lower', ['person.name'])]),
+              'like',
+              `% ${eb.fn('f_unaccent', [personName.toLowerCase()])}%`,
+            ),
           ]),
         ]),
       )

From 6b456954bf4a31e0115baa2c77ceb6db0da00336 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Scott Edwards Coll <28233101-scott.ec@users.noreply.gitlab.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2025 21:33:16 +0100
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Use ilike

---
 server/src/repositories/person.repository.ts | 8 ++++----
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/server/src/repositories/person.repository.ts b/server/src/repositories/person.repository.ts
index fe4f0aeef0..036d294a9b 100644
--- a/server/src/repositories/person.repository.ts
+++ b/server/src/repositories/person.repository.ts
@@ -318,13 +318,13 @@ export class PersonRepository {
           eb.or([
             eb(
               eb.fn('f_unaccent', [eb.fn('lower', ['person.name'])]),
-              'like',
-              `${eb.fn('f_unaccent', [personName.toLowerCase()])}%`,
+              'ilike',
+              `${eb.fn('f_unaccent', [personName])}%`,
             ),
             eb(
               eb.fn('f_unaccent', [eb.fn('lower', ['person.name'])]),
-              'like',
-              `% ${eb.fn('f_unaccent', [personName.toLowerCase()])}%`,
+              'ilike',
+              `% ${eb.fn('f_unaccent', [personName])}%`,
             ),
           ]),
         ]),