Clearing search does nothing on an inherited-query Search field (query-s vs s mismatch)

[peroks]

Summary

When a core/search block is nested inside a core/query block with "inherit": true (the typical setup for a dedicated Search Results page — the block reads/filters the site's main query), clearing the search field does nothing: the displayed results/title never update, and the URL doesn't change.

Root cause

render_block_search() (inc/namespace.php) always names this field's query var query-s for the inherited case:

$query_var = empty( $instance->context['query']['inherit'] )
	? sprintf( 'query-%d-s', $instance->context['queryId'] ?? 0 )
	: 'query-s';

But the bundled client-side action (src/taxonomy/view.js's updateURL()) has a special case that only takes effect when the field's name is literally s:

const updateURL = async ( action, value, name ) => {
	const url = new URL( action );
	if ( value || name === 's' ) {
		url.searchParams.set( name, value );
	} else {
		url.searchParams.delete( name );
	}
	const { actions } = await import( '@wordpress/interactivity-router' );
	await actions.navigate( url.toString() );
};

Since the inherited case is actually named query-s, clearing the field (an empty value) always falls into the delete branch — deleting a query-s key that was never present in the URL to begin with (a page reached via a native ?s= link — e.g. any ordinary sitewide search box — has the real term in WordPress's own native s param, since that's what makes is_search()/routing resolve to the search results template at all). The resulting "new" URL is identical to the current one, so actions.navigate() effectively does nothing — no fetch, no update.

Reproduction

1. Add a core/search block inside a core/query block with query.inherit: true, on a real Search Results template (search.html).
2. Land on the results page via a native ?s=term URL (e.g. a plain, non-block search form elsewhere on the site).
3. Clear the search field via the wired input (or type a value then clear it again).
4. Expected: results/title update to reflect the empty search. Actual: nothing changes — same term, same results, same URL.

Suggested fix

Either:

• Name the inherited-query field literally s instead of query-s in render_block_search() (matches what updateURL()'s own special case already assumes), or
• Change updateURL()'s special case to match whatever name the PHP side actually computes for the inherited query, rather than hardcoding 's'.

We worked around this on our end with a theme-side render_block_core/search filter that renames the field for the is_search() case specifically, but it'd be good to fix at the source so other consumers don't have to do the same.

Environment

• humanmade/query-filter v0.3.2
• WordPress 7.0.2, PHP 8.4

Happy to open a PR if that's useful.

Disclosure

This issue was AI generated based on the findings in a long debugging session.