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Search & message history

AChat can search across every chat you have opened, and it does the searching entirely on your device — your search terms never leave the browser. Long conversations load the newest messages first and let you pull older ones in on demand.

Search from the chat header, the app header, or the landing page. Results are ranked, with prefix and fuzzy matching.

  • On-device only. AChat keeps a small local cache of the chats you have recently opened in this browser's IndexedDB and searches that cache with an in-browser index (run in a Web Worker so typing stays smooth). Search terms are never sent to any server.
  • How many chats are cached: the last 5 chats when you are anonymous, or 10 when you are signed in (least-recently-used eviction). An administrator can raise these limits for a specific account.
  • Passworded chats: a passworded chat is cached decrypted only when you have chosen to save its password on this device. Otherwise it is searchable only while it is open, and never stored in a readable form.
  • It always refreshes on open, and you can trigger a manual refresh (rate-limited to once a minute).

Clicking a result jumps straight to the message — including a message inside a thread, which opens its thread and flashes the reply.

Load-earlier messages​

Long chats do not load everything at once:

  • Opening a chat loads the 200 newest messages instantly, with a Load earlier button for older ones.
  • Search reports how far back it has looked so you know whether a term simply is not there or lies beyond what is loaded — and it can load more when you ask.

Clearing the cache​

The on-device cache wipes automatically on sign-out and on a per-chat wipe (panic / forget), and you can clear it manually at any time from the search controls.

Honest framing​

  • Search only covers chats already cached on this device — it is not a server-side search of all chats everywhere.
  • A passworded chat whose password you have not saved is not in the readable cache, so it will not appear in results unless it is currently open.