diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 005ef51df..77613ad0f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -16,3 +16,4 @@ locale/*/LC_MESSAGES/django.mo
 djangoproject/cache
 djangoproject/static/css/*.map
 djangoproject/static/css/*.css
+/venv
diff --git a/docs/templates/docs/search_form.html b/docs/templates/docs/search_form.html
index 65823c757..c1d1a01d0 100644
--- a/docs/templates/docs/search_form.html
+++ b/docs/templates/docs/search_form.html
@@ -1,9 +1,17 @@
 {% load i18n %}
 <search class="search form-input" aria-labelledby="docs-search-label">
-  <form action="{% url 'document-search' version=version lang=lang host 'docs' %}">
-    <label id="docs-search-label" class="visuallyhidden" for="{{ form.q.id_for_label }}">{{ form.q.field.widget.attrs.placeholder }}</label>
+  <form action="{% url 'document-search' version=version lang=lang host 'docs' %}" method="get">
+    <label id="docs-search-label" class="visuallyhidden" for="{{ form.q.id_for_label }}">
+      {{ form.q.field.widget.attrs.placeholder }}
+    </label>
+
     {{ form.q }}
 
+    {# Preserve the selected category across searches #}
+    {% if category %}
+      <input type="hidden" name="category" value="{{ category }}">
+    {% endif %}
+
     <button type="submit">
       <i class="icon icon-search" aria-hidden="true"></i>
       <span class="visuallyhidden">{% translate "Submit" %}</span>
diff --git a/docs/templatetags/docs.py b/docs/templatetags/docs.py
index 3410ec65c..1e6c810be 100644
--- a/docs/templatetags/docs.py
+++ b/docs/templatetags/docs.py
@@ -24,10 +24,15 @@ def search_form(context):
         context["version"],
         context["lang"],
     )
+
+    # Pass the selected category from GET parameters
+    selected_category = request.GET.get("category", "")
+
     return {
         "form": DocSearchForm(request.GET, release=release),
         "version": context["version"],
         "lang": context["lang"],
+        "category": selected_category,  # <- new line
     }