diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index f0ebc2ff6..554a7dfea 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -6,6 +6,15 @@ version = "0.2.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "ccc9a9dd069569f212bc4330af9f17c4afb5e8ce185e83dbb14f1349dda18b10"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "aho-corasick"
+version = "0.7.13"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "043164d8ba5c4c3035fec9bbee8647c0261d788f3474306f93bb65901cae0e86"
+dependencies = [
+ "memchr",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "anyhow"
 version = "1.0.31"
@@ -973,6 +982,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "once_cell",
  "oxidized-mtbl",
  "rayon",
+ "regex",
  "roaring",
  "serde",
  "slice-group-by",
@@ -1574,7 +1584,10 @@ version = "1.3.9"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "9c3780fcf44b193bc4d09f36d2a3c87b251da4a046c87795a0d35f4f927ad8e6"
 dependencies = [
+ "aho-corasick",
+ "memchr",
  "regex-syntax",
+ "thread_local 1.0.1",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -1792,7 +1805,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "chrono",
  "log 0.4.8",
  "termcolor",
- "thread_local",
+ "thread_local 0.3.4",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -1907,6 +1920,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "unreachable",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "thread_local"
+version = "1.0.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d40c6d1b69745a6ec6fb1ca717914848da4b44ae29d9b3080cbee91d72a69b14"
+dependencies = [
+ "lazy_static 1.4.0",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "time"
 version = "0.1.43"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 4a991436f..4dbbbd776 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ smallvec = "1.4.0"
 structopt = { version = "0.3.14", default-features = false }
 tempfile = "3.1.0"
 
+# to highlight the documents
+regex = "1.3.9"
+
 # logging
 log = "0.4.8"
 stderrlog = "0.4.3"
diff --git a/src/bin/serve.rs b/src/bin/serve.rs
index 6be5438ae..f8e84555d 100644
--- a/src/bin/serve.rs
+++ b/src/bin/serve.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+use std::borrow::Cow;
 use std::fs::File;
 use std::net::SocketAddr;
 use std::path::PathBuf;
@@ -6,6 +7,7 @@ use std::time::Instant;
 
 use askama_warp::Template;
 use heed::EnvOpenOptions;
+use regex::Regex;
 use serde::Deserialize;
 use structopt::StructOpt;
 use warp::{Filter, http::Response};
@@ -29,6 +31,10 @@ struct Opt {
     #[structopt(long = "db-size", default_value = "107374182400")] // 100 GB
     database_size: usize,
 
+    /// Disable document highlighting on the dashboard.
+    #[structopt(long)]
+    disable_highlighting: bool,
+
     /// Verbose mode (-v, -vv, -vvv, etc.)
     #[structopt(short, long, parse(from_occurrences))]
     verbose: usize,
@@ -138,6 +144,7 @@ async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     }
 
     let env_cloned = env.clone();
+    let disable_highlighting = opt.disable_highlighting;
     let query_route = warp::filters::method::post()
         .and(warp::path!("query"))
         .and(warp::body::json())
@@ -152,10 +159,20 @@ async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
                 // We write the headers
                 body.extend_from_slice(headers);
 
+                let re = Regex::new(r"(?i)(hello)").unwrap();
+
                 for id in documents_ids {
                     let content = index.documents.get(&rtxn, &BEU32::new(id)).unwrap();
                     let content = content.expect(&format!("could not find document {}", id));
-                    body.extend_from_slice(&content);
+                    let content = std::str::from_utf8(content).unwrap();
+
+                    let content = if disable_highlighting {
+                        Cow::from(content)
+                    } else {
+                        re.replace_all(content, "<mark>$1</mark>")
+                    };
+
+                    body.extend_from_slice(content.as_bytes());
                 }
             }