A Real-Time Image Search Forge component in OutSystems can be built by integrating powerful image recognition APIs (such as Google Vision API, Bing Visual Search API, or AWS Rekognition) to provide image-based search functionality within applications. Instead of relying on manual keyword input, this component allows users to capture or upload an image, and the system instantly communicates with the API to analyze the image and retrieve relevant results in real time.

The component works by sending the uploaded image (or its Base64/binary representation) to the external API endpoint. The API processes the image using machine learning and deep neural networks to identify objects, labels, or contextual metadata. Once processed, the API responds with structured data such as detected categories, tags, descriptions, or visually similar items. The Forge component then maps this response into OutSystems data structures, enabling developers to display the results inside their applications seamlessly.

This kind of component is highly valuable in e-commerce apps (searching products by image instead of text), knowledge apps (identifying plants, animals, or landmarks), and enterprise solutions (asset tracking or quality control by analyzing images). It not only enhances user experience by providing a faster and more intuitive way of searching but also reduces dependency on textual data accuracy.

By publishing such a Forge component, developers provide the OutSystems community with a ready-to-use, plug-and-play connector that abstracts the complexity of API authentication, request formatting, and response handling. This means other developers can simply drag and drop the component, configure an API key, and start using real-time image search in their apps without dealing with the low-level integration details.