Add feature flag to disable autocomplete

app/controllers/autocompletes_controller.rb

@@ -1,10 +1,16 @@
 class AutocompletesController < ApplicationController
   def show
-    render json: DiscoveryEngine::Autocomplete::Complete.new(query).completion_result
+    render json: completion_result
   end
 
 private
 
+  def completion_result
+    return CompletionResult.new(suggestions: []) unless Rails.configuration.enable_autocomplete
+
+    DiscoveryEngine::Autocomplete::Complete.new(query).completion_result
+  end
+
   def query
     params[:q]
   end

config/application.rb

@@ -40,5 +40,11 @@ class Application < Rails::Application
     ## currently only using a single instance (the Publishing "shared" Redis). If we ever need to
     ## use multiple Redis instances, this is the only place that needs updating.
     config.redlock_redis_instances = [config.redis_url]
+
+    # Feature flags
+    def self.feature_flag(name, default: false)
+      ActiveModel::Type::Boolean.new.cast(ENV.fetch(name, default))
+    end
+    config.enable_autocomplete = feature_flag("ENABLE_AUTOCOMPLETE", default: true)
   end
 end

docs/search_autocomplete.md

@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+# Search autocomplete
+We use Vertex AI Search's [built-in autocomplete functionality][vais-ac] to provide our users with
+helpful suggestions to complete their query as they type in search fields.
+
+Search API v2 provides an API to return suggestions, which the [`search_with_autocomplete`
+component][component] in frontend rendering apps accesses through a [proxy endpoint][ff-proxy] on
+Finder Frontend. Other internal clients and the GOV.UK app may access it directly or through an API
+gateway.
+
+## Update denylist
+We use a denylist to avoid the autocomplete returning suggestions that are not suitable or helpful.
+
+Updating this list currently requires a manual process until we complete the work to automate it:
+
+1. In a text editor create a new empty file, save this file as `denylist.jsonl` ([JSON Lines
+   format][jsonl])
+1. Access [the denylist spreadsheet][denylist] and apply the desired changes to the appropriate tab
+1. Copy and paste the contents from the "denylist" column **from each of the several tabs** into
+   your created `denylist.jsonl` file
+
+Then for each GOV.UK environment of integration, staging and production:
+
+1. Log into [Google Cloud][gcp] and access the `Search API V2 <environment>` project
+1. Access "Cloud Storage" > "Buckets" and find the `search-api-v2-<environment>_vais_artifacts`
+   bucket
+1. Upload the `denylist.jsonl` file to the bucket, replacing the existing file
+1. Leave Google Cloud and open your terminal
+1. [Log into][kube-auth] the appropriate environment for Kubernetes
+1. Run the `rake autocomplete:update_denylist` [rake task][rake-task] for `search-api-v2` to import the file
+
+If there are problems updating the denylist we can consider [disabling the autocomplete
+feature](#disable-search-autocomplete) temporarily to provide time to resolve the problem.
+
+## Disable search autocomplete
+If poor suggestions are shown to users that cannot be mitigated through the denylist, or there is a
+problem updating the denylist, or autocomplete needs to be turned off for another reason, the
+`ENABLE_AUTOCOMPLETE` feature flag environment variable for Search API v2 can be turned off.
+
+This will cause an empty array of suggestions to be returned to all clients (web or otherwise).
+
+1. Open the appropriate `values-<environment>.yaml` file from GOV.UK Helm Charts, for example
+   [values-production.yaml][]
+1. Set `ENABLE_AUTOCOMPLETE` in `extraEnv` to `false`
+1. Open a PR to apply the change
+1. Once merged, a new deployment will be created for Search API v2 and no suggestions will be
+   returned
+
+[component]: https://components.publishing.service.gov.uk/component-guide/search_with_autocomplete
+[denylist]: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aA2JapqNt0nu-MiFraP7p9flSDvNQCm0QvSZi2Unw48
+[ff-proxy]: https://github.com/alphagov/finder-frontend/blob/main/app/controllers/api/autocompletes_controller.rb
+[gcp]: https://docs.publishing.service.gov.uk/manual/google-cloud-platform-gcp.html#gcp-access
+[jsonl]: https://jsonlines.org/
+[kube-auth]: https://docs.publishing.service.gov.uk/kubernetes/cheatsheet.html#prerequisites
+[rake-task]: https://docs.publishing.service.gov.uk/manual/running-rake-tasks.html#run-a-rake-task-on-eks
+[vais-ac]: https://cloud.google.com/generative-ai-app-builder/docs/configure-autocomplete
+[values-production.yaml]: https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-helm-charts/blob/main/charts/app-config/values-production.yaml

spec/requests/autocomplete_request_spec.rb

@@ -17,4 +17,19 @@
       })
     end
   end
+
+  context "when autocomplete is disabled through the feature flag" do
+    before do
+      allow(Rails.configuration).to receive(:enable_autocomplete).and_return(false)
+    end
+
+    it "returns empty suggestions" do
+      get "/autocomplete.json?q=foo"
+
+      expect(response).to have_http_status(:ok)
+      expect(JSON.parse(response.body)).to eq({
+        "suggestions" => [],
+      })
+    end
+  end
 end