diff --git a/src/app/page.tsx b/src/app/page.tsx
index 953b6dff..2c61ce1a 100644
--- a/src/app/page.tsx
+++ b/src/app/page.tsx
@@ -3,9 +3,11 @@
 import Image from "next/image";
 import logo from "../../public/sb_logo_large_3.png"
 import { Input } from "@/components/ui/input"
-import { useEffect, useState } from "react";
+import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";
 import { useDebouncedCallback } from 'use-debounce';
 import { Separator } from "@/components/ui/separator"
+import { useRouter } from "next/navigation";
+import { useNonEmptyQueryParam } from "@/hooks/useNonEmptyQueryParam";
 
 interface ZoekMatch {
     URL: string,
@@ -35,27 +37,23 @@ interface ZoekSearchResult {
 
 
 export default function Home() {
+    const router = useRouter();
+    const defaultQuery = useNonEmptyQueryParam("query") ?? "";
+    const defaultNumResults = useNonEmptyQueryParam("numResults");
+ 
+    const [query, setQuery] = useState(defaultQuery);
+    const [numResults, _setNumResults] = useState(defaultNumResults && !isNaN(Number(defaultNumResults)) ? Number(defaultNumResults) : 100);
 
     const [fileMatches, setFileMatches] = useState<ZoekFileMatch[]>([]);
 
-    const onSearchChanged = useDebouncedCallback((query: string) => {
-        if (query === "") {
-            setFileMatches([]);
-            return;
-        }
-        console.log('making query...');
-        fetch(`${document.baseURI}/zoekt/search?query=${query}&numResults=50`)
-            .then(response => response.json())
-            .then(({ data }: { data: ZoekSearchResult }) => {
-                const result = data.result;
-                setFileMatches(result.FileMatches ?? []);
-            })
-            .catch(error => {
-                console.error('Error:', error);
-            }).finally(() => {
-                console.log('done making query');
-            })
-    }, 200);
+    /**
+     * @note : when the user navigates backwards/forwards, the defaultQuery
+     * will update, but the query state will not. This effect keeps things in
+     * sync for that scenario.
+     */
+    useEffect(() => {
+        setQuery(defaultQuery);
+    }, [defaultQuery]);
 
     return (
         <main className="flex h-screen flex-col">
@@ -65,12 +63,14 @@ export default function Home() {
                     className="h-12 w-auto"
                     alt={"Sourcebot logo"}
                 />
-                <Input
-                    className="max-w-lg"
-                    placeholder="Search..."
-                    onChange={(e) => {
-                        const query = e.target.value;
-                        onSearchChanged(query);
+                <SearchBar
+                    query={query}
+                    numResults={numResults}
+                    onQueryChange={(query) => setQuery(query)}
+                    onClear={() => setFileMatches([])}
+                    onSearchResult={({ result }) => {
+                        setFileMatches(result.FileMatches ?? []);
+                        router.push(`?query=${query}&numResults=${numResults}`);
                     }}
                 />
             </div>
@@ -87,6 +87,59 @@ export default function Home() {
     );
 }
 
+interface SearchBarProps {
+    query: string;
+    numResults: number;
+    onQueryChange: (query: string) => void;
+    onSearchResult: (result: ZoekSearchResult) => void,
+    onClear: () => void,
+}
+
+const SearchBar = ({
+    query,
+    numResults,
+    onQueryChange,
+    onSearchResult,
+    onClear,
+}: SearchBarProps) => {
+    const SEARCH_DEBOUNCE_MS = 200;
+
+    const search = useDebouncedCallback((query: string) => {
+        if (query === "") {
+            onClear();
+            return;
+        }
+        console.log('making query...');
+        fetch(`http://localhost:3000/zoekt/search?query=${query}&numResults=${numResults}`)
+            .then(response => response.json())
+            .then(({ data }: { data: ZoekSearchResult }) => {
+                onSearchResult(data);
+            })
+            // @todo : error handling
+            .catch(error => {
+                console.error('Error:', error);
+            }).finally(() => {
+                console.log('done making query');
+            })
+    }, SEARCH_DEBOUNCE_MS);
+
+    useEffect(() => {
+        search(query);
+    }, [query]);
+
+    return (
+        <Input
+            value={query}
+            className="max-w-lg"
+            placeholder="Search..."
+            onChange={(e) => {
+                const query = e.target.value;
+                onQueryChange(query);
+            }}
+        />
+    )
+}
+
 interface FileMatchProps {
     match: ZoekFileMatch;
 }
diff --git a/src/app/zoekt/search/route.ts b/src/app/zoekt/search/route.ts
index 2763a889..3c5cfa11 100644
--- a/src/app/zoekt/search/route.ts
+++ b/src/app/zoekt/search/route.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { createPathWithQueryParams } from '@/lib/utils';
 import { type NextRequest } from 'next/server'
 
 export async function GET(request: NextRequest) {
@@ -5,7 +6,14 @@ export async function GET(request: NextRequest) {
     const query = searchParams.get('query');
     const numResults = searchParams.get('numResults');
 
-    const res = await fetch(`http://localhost:6070/search?q=${query}&num=${numResults}&format=json`);
+    const url = createPathWithQueryParams(
+        "http://localhost:6070/search",
+        ["q", query],
+        ["num", numResults],
+        ["format", "json"],
+    );
+    console.log(url);
+    const res = await fetch(url);
     const data = await res.json();
      
     return Response.json({ data })
diff --git a/src/hooks/useNonEmptyQueryParam.ts b/src/hooks/useNonEmptyQueryParam.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d3a20417
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/hooks/useNonEmptyQueryParam.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+'use client';
+
+import { useSearchParams } from "next/navigation";
+import { useMemo } from "react";
+
+/**
+ * Helper hook that returns the value of a query parameter if it is:
+ * a) defined, and
+ * b) non-empty
+ * 
+ * otherwise it returns undefined.
+ * 
+ * For example, let's assume we are calling `useNonEmptyQueryParam('bar')`:
+ *  - `/foo?bar=hello` -> `hello`
+ *  - `/foo?bar=`      -> `undefined`
+ *  - `/foo`           -> `undefined`
+ */
+export const useNonEmptyQueryParam = (param: string) => {
+    const searchParams = useSearchParams();
+    const inviteId = useMemo(() => {
+        return getSearchParam(param, searchParams);
+    }, [param, searchParams]);
+
+    return inviteId;
+};
+
+/**
+ * @see useNonEmptyQueryParam
+ */
+export const getSearchParam = (param: string, searchParams: URLSearchParams | null) => {
+    const paramValue = searchParams?.get(param) ?? undefined;
+    return (paramValue !== undefined && paramValue.length > 0) ? paramValue : undefined;
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/lib/utils.ts b/src/lib/utils.ts
index d084ccad..d16afd4b 100644
--- a/src/lib/utils.ts
+++ b/src/lib/utils.ts
@@ -4,3 +4,23 @@ import { twMerge } from "tailwind-merge"
 export function cn(...inputs: ClassValue[]) {
   return twMerge(clsx(inputs))
 }
+
+/**
+ * Adds a list of (potentially undefined) query parameters to a path.
+ * 
+ * @param path The path to add the query parameters to.
+ * @param queryParams A list of key-value pairs (key=param name, value=param value) to add to the path.
+ * @returns The path with the query parameters added.
+ */
+export const createPathWithQueryParams = (path: string, ...queryParams: [string, string | null][]) => {
+    // Filter out undefined values
+    // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-unused-vars
+    queryParams = queryParams.filter(([_key, value]) => value !== null);
+
+    if (queryParams.length === 0) {
+        return path;
+    }
+
+    const queryString = queryParams.map(([key, value]) => `${encodeURIComponent(key)}=${encodeURIComponent(value ?? '')}`).join('&');
+    return `${path}?${queryString}`;
+}
\ No newline at end of file