diff --git a/db/db.go b/db/db.go
index 4ef08f10f..e528627cf 100644
--- a/db/db.go
+++ b/db/db.go
@@ -1469,6 +1469,7 @@ func (db database) SearchBots(s string, limit, offset int) []BotRes {
 	// set limit
 	limitStr := strconv.Itoa(limit)
 	offsetStr := strconv.Itoa(offset)
+	s = strings.ReplaceAll(s, " ", " & ")
 	db.db.Raw(
 		`SELECT uuid, owner_pub_key, name, unique_name, img, description, tags, price_per_use, ts_rank(tsv, q) as rank
 		FROM bots, to_tsquery(?) q
diff --git a/db/structs.go b/db/structs.go
index b906611be..f722ee23c 100644
--- a/db/structs.go
+++ b/db/structs.go
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ type Bot struct {
 	Name           string         `json:"name"`
 	UniqueName     string         `json:"unique_name"`
 	Description    string         `json:"description"`
-	Tags           pq.StringArray ` `
+	Tags           pq.StringArray `gorm:"type:text[]" json:"tags"`
 	Img            string         `json:"img"`
 	PricePerUse    int64          `json:"price_per_use"`
 	Created        *time.Time     `json:"created"`
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ type Bot struct {
 	Deleted        bool           `json:"deleted"`
 	MemberCount    uint64         `json:"member_count"`
 	OwnerRouteHint string         `json:"owner_route_hint"`
+	Tsv            string         `gorm:"type:tsvector"`
 }
 
 // Bot struct
@@ -73,7 +74,7 @@ type BotRes struct {
 	Name        string         `json:"name"`
 	UniqueName  string         `json:"unique_name"`
 	Description string         `json:"description"`
-	Tags        pq.StringArray `json:"tags"`
+	Tags        pq.StringArray `gorm:"type:text[]" json:"tags"`
 	Img         string         `json:"img"`
 	PricePerUse int64          `json:"price_per_use"`
 }
diff --git a/db/test_config.go b/db/test_config.go
index 3d43fd6f1..37fe66e17 100644
--- a/db/test_config.go
+++ b/db/test_config.go
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ func InitTestDB() {
 	db.AutoMigrate(&Workspace{})
 	db.AutoMigrate(&WorkspaceUsers{})
 	db.AutoMigrate(&WorkspaceUserRoles{})
+	db.AutoMigrate(&Bot{})
 
 	people := TestDB.GetAllPeople()
 	for _, p := range people {
diff --git a/handlers/bots_test.go b/handlers/bots_test.go
index cd4b4a48b..40ca200a7 100644
--- a/handlers/bots_test.go
+++ b/handlers/bots_test.go
@@ -144,14 +144,33 @@ func TestGetBotsByOwner(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestSearchBots(t *testing.T) {
-	mockDb := dbMocks.NewDatabase(t)
-	btHandler := NewBotHandler(mockDb)
+	teardownSuite := SetupSuite(t)
+	defer teardownSuite(t)
+
+	btHandler := NewBotHandler(db.TestDB)
 
 	t.Run("successful search query returns data", func(t *testing.T) {
 		rr := httptest.NewRecorder()
 		handler := http.HandlerFunc(btHandler.SearchBots)
 
-		query := "bot"
+		bot := db.Bot{
+			UUID:        "uuid-1",
+			OwnerPubKey: "owner-pubkey-1",
+			OwnerAlias:  "owner-alias-1",
+			Name:        "Bot 1",
+			UniqueName:  "unique-bot-1",
+			Description: "Description for Bot 1",
+			Tags:        pq.StringArray{"tag1", "tag2"},
+			Img:         "bot-img-url-1",
+			PricePerUse: 100,
+		}
+
+		bot, err := db.TestDB.CreateOrEditBot(bot)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Failed to create bot: %v", err)
+		}
+
+		query := bot.Name
 
 		bots := []db.BotRes{
 			{
@@ -166,8 +185,6 @@ func TestSearchBots(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		}
 
-		mockDb.On("SearchBots", query, mock.AnythingOfType("int"), mock.AnythingOfType("int")).Return(bots)
-
 		rctx := chi.NewRouteContext()
 		rctx.URLParams.Add("query", query)
 		req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(context.WithValue(context.Background(), chi.RouteCtxKey, rctx), http.MethodGet, "/search/bots/"+query, nil)
@@ -183,8 +200,6 @@ func TestSearchBots(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.NotEmpty(t, returnedBots)
 
 		assert.EqualValues(t, bots, returnedBots)
-
-		mockDb.AssertExpectations(t)
 	})
 
 	t.Run("empty data returned for non-matching search query", func(t *testing.T) {
@@ -193,8 +208,6 @@ func TestSearchBots(t *testing.T) {
 
 		query := "nonexistentbot"
 
-		mockDb.On("SearchBots", query, mock.AnythingOfType("int"), mock.AnythingOfType("int")).Return([]db.BotRes{})
-
 		rctx := chi.NewRouteContext()
 		rctx.URLParams.Add("query", query)
 		req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(context.WithValue(context.Background(), chi.RouteCtxKey, rctx), http.MethodGet, "/search/bots/"+query, nil)
@@ -208,8 +221,6 @@ func TestSearchBots(t *testing.T) {
 		err = json.Unmarshal(rr.Body.Bytes(), &returnedBots)
 		assert.NoError(t, err)
 		assert.Empty(t, returnedBots)
-
-		mockDb.AssertExpectations(t)
 	})
 }