diff --git a/tubearchivist/api/src/__init__.py b/tubearchivist/api/src/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/tubearchivist/api/src/search_processor.py b/tubearchivist/api/src/search_processor.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..91ccbb5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tubearchivist/api/src/search_processor.py
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+"""
+Functionality:
+- processing search results for frontend
+- this is duplicated code from home.src.frontend.searching.SearchHandler
+"""
+
+import urllib.parse
+
+from home.src.download.thumbnails import ThumbManager
+from home.src.ta.helper import date_praser
+
+
+class SearchProcess:
+    """process search results"""
+
+    def __init__(self, response):
+        self.response = response
+        self.processed = False
+
+    def process(self):
+        """dedect type and process"""
+        if "_source" in self.response.keys():
+            # single
+            self.processed = self._process_result(self.response)
+
+        elif "hits" in self.response.keys():
+            # multiple
+            self.processed = []
+            all_sources = self.response["hits"]["hits"]
+            for result in all_sources:
+                self.processed.append(self._process_result(result))
+
+        return self.processed
+
+    def _process_result(self, result):
+        """dedect which type of data to process"""
+        index = result["_index"]
+        document_id = result["_id"]
+        processed = False
+        if index == "ta_video":
+            # process single video
+            print(f"{document_id}: processing video")
+            processed = self._process_video(result["_source"])
+        if index == "ta_channel":
+            # process single channel
+            print(f"{document_id}: processing channel")
+            processed = self._process_channel(result["_source"])
+
+        return processed
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _process_channel(channel_dict):
+        """run on single channel"""
+        channel_id = channel_dict["channel_id"]
+        art_base = f"/cache/channels/{channel_id}"
+        date_str = date_praser(channel_dict["channel_last_refresh"])
+        channel_dict.update(
+            {
+                "channel_last_refresh": date_str,
+                "channel_banner_url": f"{art_base}_banner.jpg",
+                "channel_thumb_url": f"{art_base}_thumb.jpg",
+                "channel_tvart_url": False,
+            }
+        )
+
+        return dict(sorted(channel_dict.items()))
+
+    def _process_video(self, video_dict):
+        """run on single video dict"""
+        video_id = video_dict["youtube_id"]
+        media_url = urllib.parse.quote(video_dict["media_url"])
+        vid_last_refresh = date_praser(video_dict["vid_last_refresh"])
+        published = date_praser(video_dict["published"])
+        vid_thumb_url = ThumbManager().vid_thumb_path(video_id)
+        channel = self._process_channel(video_dict["channel"])
+
+        video_dict.update(
+            {
+                "channel": channel,
+                "media_url": media_url,
+                "vid_last_refresh": vid_last_refresh,
+                "published": published,
+                "vid_thumb_url": vid_thumb_url,
+            }
+        )
+
+        return dict(sorted(video_dict.items()))
diff --git a/tubearchivist/api/views.py b/tubearchivist/api/views.py
index a01371c..423f591 100644
--- a/tubearchivist/api/views.py
+++ b/tubearchivist/api/views.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 """all API views"""
 
+from api.src.search_processor import SearchProcess
 from home.src.download.thumbnails import ThumbManager
 from home.src.es.connect import ElasticWrap
 from home.src.ta.config import AppConfig
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ class ApiBaseView(APIView):
         print(path)
         response, status_code = ElasticWrap(path).get()
         try:
-            self.response["data"] = response["_source"]
+            self.response["data"] = SearchProcess(response).process()
         except KeyError:
             print(f"item not found: {document_id}")
             self.response["data"] = False
@@ -69,8 +70,7 @@ class ApiBaseView(APIView):
         """get a list of results"""
         print(self.search_base)
         response, status_code = ElasticWrap(self.search_base).get(data=data)
-        all_hits = response["hits"]["hits"]
-        self.response["data"] = [i["_source"] for i in all_hits]
+        self.response["data"] = SearchProcess(response).process()
         self.status_code = status_code