diff --git a/packages/search/jest.config.js b/packages/search/jest.config.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..35b10cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/search/jest.config.js
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+module.exports = {
+  preset: 'ts-jest',
+  testEnvironment: 'node',
+  testMatch: ['**/*.test.ts'],
+  rootDir: 'src',
+};
diff --git a/packages/search/package.json b/packages/search/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eea1086
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/search/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+{
+  "name": "@tower/search",
+  "version": "0.0.1",
+  "main": "./dist/index.js",
+  "types": "./dist/index.d.ts",
+  "exports": {
+    ".": {
+      "types": "./dist/index.d.ts",
+      "default": "./dist/index.js"
+    }
+  },
+  "scripts": {
+    "build": "tsc",
+    "dev": "tsc --watch",
+    "test": "jest"
+  },
+  "dependencies": {
+    "meilisearch": "^0.44.0"
+  },
+  "devDependencies": {
+    "@types/jest": "^29.0.0",
+    "@types/node": "^22.0.0",
+    "jest": "^29.0.0",
+    "ts-jest": "^29.0.0",
+    "typescript": "^5.7.0"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/search/src/index.test.ts b/packages/search/src/index.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b2546d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/search/src/index.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+import {
+  MESSAGES_INDEX,
+  configureIndex,
+  indexMessage,
+  deleteMessage,
+  MeiliDocument,
+} from './index';
+
+function makeMockClient() {
+  const mockUpdateSettings = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({});
+  const mockAddDocuments = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({});
+  const mockDeleteDocument = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({});
+  const mockIndex = jest.fn().mockReturnValue({
+    updateSettings: mockUpdateSettings,
+    addDocuments: mockAddDocuments,
+    deleteDocument: mockDeleteDocument,
+  });
+  return { client: { index: mockIndex } as any, mockIndex, mockUpdateSettings, mockAddDocuments, mockDeleteDocument };
+}
+
+describe('MESSAGES_INDEX', () => {
+  it('is the string tower-messages', () => {
+    expect(MESSAGES_INDEX).toBe('tower-messages');
+  });
+});
+
+describe('configureIndex', () => {
+  it('sets searchable, filterable, and sortable attributes on the correct index', async () => {
+    const { client, mockIndex, mockUpdateSettings } = makeMockClient();
+    await configureIndex(client);
+    expect(mockIndex).toHaveBeenCalledWith('tower-messages');
+    expect(mockUpdateSettings).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
+      searchableAttributes: ['content', 'senderName', 'sourceGroupName'],
+      filterableAttributes: ['sourceGroupId', 'tags', 'platform'],
+      sortableAttributes: ['approvedAt'],
+    });
+  });
+});
+
+describe('indexMessage', () => {
+  it('adds the document to the messages index', async () => {
+    const { client, mockIndex, mockAddDocuments } = makeMockClient();
+    const doc: MeiliDocument = {
+      id: 'msg-1',
+      content: 'Hello community',
+      senderName: 'Alice',
+      sourceGroupId: 'grp-1',
+      sourceGroupName: 'UP Parivar',
+      tags: ['#important'],
+      platform: 'whatsapp',
+      approvedAt: 1716825600000,
+    };
+    await indexMessage(client, doc);
+    expect(mockIndex).toHaveBeenCalledWith('tower-messages');
+    expect(mockAddDocuments).toHaveBeenCalledWith([doc]);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('deleteMessage', () => {
+  it('deletes document by id from the messages index', async () => {
+    const { client, mockIndex, mockDeleteDocument } = makeMockClient();
+    await deleteMessage(client, 'msg-1');
+    expect(mockIndex).toHaveBeenCalledWith('tower-messages');
+    expect(mockDeleteDocument).toHaveBeenCalledWith('msg-1');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/search/src/index.ts b/packages/search/src/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6ae224e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/search/src/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import { MeiliSearch } from 'meilisearch';
+
+export { MeiliSearch } from 'meilisearch';
+
+export interface MeiliDocument {
+  id: string;              // DB Message.id
+  content: string;
+  senderName: string;      // empty string when null
+  sourceGroupId: string;
+  sourceGroupName: string;
+  tags: string[];
+  platform: string;
+  approvedAt: number;      // Unix ms — Meilisearch sorts numbers, not ISO strings
+}
+
+export const MESSAGES_INDEX = 'tower-messages';
+
+export function createMeiliClient(url: string, masterKey: string): MeiliSearch {
+  return new MeiliSearch({ host: url, apiKey: masterKey });
+}
+
+export async function configureIndex(client: MeiliSearch): Promise<void> {
+  await client.index(MESSAGES_INDEX).updateSettings({
+    searchableAttributes: ['content', 'senderName', 'sourceGroupName'],
+    filterableAttributes: ['sourceGroupId', 'tags', 'platform'],
+    sortableAttributes: ['approvedAt'],
+  });
+}
+
+export async function indexMessage(client: MeiliSearch, doc: MeiliDocument): Promise<void> {
+  await client.index(MESSAGES_INDEX).addDocuments([doc]);
+}
+
+export async function deleteMessage(client: MeiliSearch, id: string): Promise<void> {
+  await client.index(MESSAGES_INDEX).deleteDocument(id);
+}
diff --git a/packages/search/tsconfig.json b/packages/search/tsconfig.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..792172f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/search/tsconfig.json
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+{
+  "extends": "../../tsconfig.base.json",
+  "compilerOptions": {
+    "outDir": "./dist",
+    "rootDir": "./src"
+  },
+  "include": ["src"]
+}