Pressing Enter submits the first suggestion instead of the typed query

[Honoka55]

Describe the Bug

When the search box shows autocomplete suggestions, pressing Enter takes the user to the first suggested result, rather than searching for the exact text typed in the input field, even if the typed text is a full and valid page title. This behavior differs from the default MediaWiki search box, which prioritizes the user’s actual input.

Comparison with vector-2022:

_2025_11_23_10_26_36_997.mp4

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Open the citizen search box.
2. Type only part of a page title until autocomplete suggestions appear.
3. Continue typing until the full and exact page title is completed and press Enter.
4. You are taken to the first autocomplete suggestion instead of the fully typed page title.

Expected Behavior

Pressing Enter should perform a search (or go directly to the exact title) based on the user’s final typed text, not the top autocomplete suggestion. This should match the behavior of the default MediaWiki search box.

System

Please complete the following information:

• MediaWiki version 1.44.2
• Server OS: Debian 12
• Installed extensions and versions Special:Version
• PHP version 8.2.29 (fpm-fcgi)

[Zes-MinKey-Young]

I agree.

I often go to an unexpected page because I press Enter too fast that the suggestion has not been updated 😢

比如我想去Module:Navbox，我先打出了Module:然后稍顿了一下，这个时候提示出来了，第一项是Module:Arguments，然后我也不注意命令面板，打出Navbox立刻回车，这个时候命令面板还没刷新，就会把我带到Module:Arguments

[alistair3149]

It was intentional to not use the MediaWiki default search box behavior.

The original MW behavior was to submit the search query directly to Special:Search, which yields two different results:

• Search for Existing page -> Go to Existing page
• Search for Non-existing page -> Go to Special:Search with Non-existing page as search query

It is problematic as it is making it unclear to the user which action Enter will trigger.
In Citizen, to improve clarity, pressing Enter will now only activate the currently highlighted item in the command palette.

[Zes-MinKey-Young]

@alistair3149 Would it be OK if we make it configurable in Special:Preferences?

[alistair3149]

@alistair3149 Would it be OK if we make it configurable in Special:Preferences?

It's probably better as a client preferences so that anon can make use of it as well

[Honoka55]

It is problematic as it is making it unclear to the user which action Enter will trigger.

I bet most MediaWiki site users are used to this behavior. At least Citizen’s one is more unclear to me.