diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 40f2d5c..e3b2633 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ models/generated/extensions/*.md
 
 # Large data files
 *.parquet
+*.duckdb
 
 # Node / Playwright
 node_modules/
diff --git a/tools/build_fts_index.py b/tools/build_fts_index.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b0ddd09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/build_fts_index.py
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""
+Build a DuckDB full-text search index for the iSamples Explorer.
+
+Creates a .duckdb file containing the FTS index (BM25-scored) that can
+be ATTACHed in DuckDB-WASM for ranked text search over 6.7M samples.
+
+Usage:
+    python tools/build_fts_index.py
+
+Output:
+    tools/isamples_fts_index.duckdb  (upload to data.isamples.org)
+
+Requirements:
+    pip install duckdb
+"""
+
+import duckdb
+import os
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+PARQUET_URL = "https://data.isamples.org/isamples_202601_wide.parquet"
+OUTPUT_DB = Path(__file__).parent / "isamples_fts_index.duckdb"
+
+# Local fallback for faster builds
+LOCAL_PARQUET = Path.home() / "Data/iSample/pqg_refining/zenodo_wide_2026-01-09.parquet"
+
+
+def build_fts_index():
+    # Use local file if available, otherwise remote
+    source = str(LOCAL_PARQUET) if LOCAL_PARQUET.exists() else PARQUET_URL
+    print(f"Source: {source}")
+
+    # Remove existing index file
+    if OUTPUT_DB.exists():
+        OUTPUT_DB.unlink()
+
+    con = duckdb.connect(str(OUTPUT_DB))
+
+    print("Creating samples table from parquet...")
+    con.execute(f"""
+        CREATE TABLE samples AS
+        SELECT
+            pid,
+            label,
+            COALESCE(description, '') AS description,
+            COALESCE(CAST(place_name AS VARCHAR), '') AS place_name
+        FROM read_parquet('{source}')
+        WHERE otype = 'MaterialSampleRecord'
+    """)
+
+    row_count = con.execute("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM samples").fetchone()[0]
+    print(f"Loaded {row_count:,} rows")
+
+    print("Installing and loading FTS extension...")
+    con.execute("INSTALL fts")
+    con.execute("LOAD fts")
+
+    print("Building FTS index (this may take a few minutes)...")
+    con.execute("""
+        PRAGMA create_fts_index(
+            'samples', 'pid',
+            'label', 'description', 'place_name',
+            stemmer = 'porter',
+            stopwords = 'english',
+            overwrite = 1
+        )
+    """)
+
+    # Verify the index works
+    test_result = con.execute("""
+        SELECT pid, fts_main_samples.match_bm25(pid, 'pottery') AS score
+        FROM samples
+        WHERE score IS NOT NULL
+        ORDER BY score DESC
+        LIMIT 5
+    """).fetchall()
+    print(f"Test query 'pottery': {len(test_result)} results")
+    for pid, score in test_result:
+        print(f"  {pid[:60]}  score={score:.4f}")
+
+    # Keep samples table — FTS macros reference it internally.
+    # The table has only pid + text columns (not the full schema),
+    # so it's much smaller than the full parquet.
+
+    con.close()
+
+    size_mb = OUTPUT_DB.stat().st_size / (1024 * 1024)
+    print(f"\nIndex file: {OUTPUT_DB}")
+    print(f"Size: {size_mb:.1f} MB")
+    print(f"\nUpload to data.isamples.org and ATTACH in DuckDB-WASM:")
+    print(f"  ATTACH 'https://data.isamples.org/isamples_fts_index.duckdb' AS fts_db;")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    build_fts_index()
diff --git a/tutorials/isamples_explorer.qmd b/tutorials/isamples_explorer.qmd
index 402b8a4..b7b5597 100644
--- a/tutorials/isamples_explorer.qmd
+++ b/tutorials/isamples_explorer.qmd
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ initialParams = {
 //| code-fold: false
 // Search input
 viewof searchInput = Inputs.text({
-  placeholder: "Search samples (e.g., pottery, basalt, Cyprus...)",
+  placeholder: "Search samples — multiple words narrow results (e.g., pottery Cyprus)",
   value: initialParams.q,
   submit: "Search"
 })
@@ -392,14 +392,17 @@ whereClause = {
     "latitude IS NOT NULL"
   ];
 
-  // Text search
+  // Multi-term text search: each word must match at least one text field
   if (searchInput?.trim()) {
-    const term = searchInput.trim().replace(/'/g, "''");
-    conditions.push(`(
-      label ILIKE '%${term}%'
-      OR description ILIKE '%${term}%'
-      OR CAST(place_name AS VARCHAR) ILIKE '%${term}%'
-    )`);
+    const terms = searchInput.trim().split(/\s+/).filter(t => t.length > 0);
+    for (const raw of terms) {
+      const term = raw.replace(/'/g, "''");
+      conditions.push(`(
+        label ILIKE '%${term}%'
+        OR description ILIKE '%${term}%'
+        OR CAST(place_name AS VARCHAR) ILIKE '%${term}%'
+      )`);
+    }
   }
 
   // Source filter
@@ -466,6 +469,30 @@ sampleData = {
   }
 
   try {
+    // When searching, rank results by relevance (fields matched);
+    // otherwise random sample for exploration
+    const hasSearch = searchInput?.trim()?.length > 0;
+    const terms = hasSearch
+      ? searchInput.trim().split(/\s+/).filter(t => t.length > 0)
+      : [];
+
+    // Build a relevance score: +3 for label match, +2 for place, +1 for description
+    // per term — higher scores float to top
+    let scoreExpr = "0";
+    if (terms.length > 0) {
+      const termScores = terms.map(raw => {
+        const t = raw.replace(/'/g, "''");
+        return `(CASE WHEN label ILIKE '%${t}%' THEN 3 ELSE 0 END
+               + CASE WHEN CAST(place_name AS VARCHAR) ILIKE '%${t}%' THEN 2 ELSE 0 END
+               + CASE WHEN description ILIKE '%${t}%' THEN 1 ELSE 0 END)`;
+      });
+      scoreExpr = termScores.join(" + ");
+    }
+
+    const orderClause = hasSearch
+      ? `ORDER BY (${scoreExpr}) DESC, label`
+      : "ORDER BY RANDOM()";
+
     const query = `
       SELECT
         row_id,
@@ -478,7 +505,7 @@ sampleData = {
         place_name
       FROM samples
       WHERE ${whereClause}
-      ORDER BY RANDOM()
+      ${orderClause}
       LIMIT ${maxSamples}
     `;