diff --git a/aio/angular.json b/aio/angular.json
index 56c2927740..acb1c563c7 100644
--- a/aio/angular.json
+++ b/aio/angular.json
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
             "index": "src/index.html",
             "main": "src/main.ts",
             "tsConfig": "src/tsconfig.app.json",
+            "webWorkerTsConfig": "src/tsconfig.worker.json",
             "aot": true,
             "optimization": true,
             "buildOptimizer": true,
@@ -35,7 +36,6 @@
             "assets": [
               "src/assets",
               "src/generated",
-              "src/app/search/search-worker.js",
               "src/pwa-manifest.json",
               "src/google385281288605d160.html",
               {
@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@
             "karmaConfig": "src/karma.conf.js",
             "polyfills": "src/polyfills.ts",
             "tsConfig": "src/tsconfig.spec.json",
+            "webWorkerTsConfig": "src/tsconfig.worker.json",
             "scripts": [],
             "styles": [
               "src/styles.scss"
@@ -130,7 +131,6 @@
             "assets": [
               "src/assets",
               "src/generated",
-              "src/app/search/search-worker.js",
               "src/pwa-manifest.json",
               "src/google385281288605d160.html",
               {
diff --git a/aio/ngsw-config.json b/aio/ngsw-config.json
index 95386ea0a5..2178ba8815 100644
--- a/aio/ngsw-config.json
+++ b/aio/ngsw-config.json
@@ -9,10 +9,8 @@
         "files": [
           "/index.html",
           "/pwa-manifest.json",
-          "/app/search/search-worker.js",
           "/assets/images/favicons/favicon.ico",
           "/assets/js/*.js",
-          "/generated/lunr.min.js",
           "/*.css",
           "/*.js"
         ],
diff --git a/aio/package.json b/aio/package.json
index 589b08df4d..c6529a06b6 100644
--- a/aio/package.json
+++ b/aio/package.json
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
     "e2e": "ng e2e --no-webdriver-update",
     "presetup": "yarn --cwd .. install && yarn install --frozen-lockfile && yarn ~~check-env && yarn ~~clean-generated && yarn boilerplate:remove",
     "setup": "yarn aio-use-npm && yarn example-use-npm",
-    "postsetup": "yarn ~~build-ie-polyfills && yarn ~~minify-lunr && yarn boilerplate:add && yarn extract-cli-command-docs && yarn docs",
+    "postsetup": "yarn ~~build-ie-polyfills && yarn boilerplate:add && yarn extract-cli-command-docs && yarn docs",
     "presetup-local": "yarn presetup",
     "setup-local": "yarn aio-use-local && yarn example-use-local",
     "postsetup-local": "yarn postsetup",
@@ -69,8 +69,7 @@
     "~~build": "ng build --configuration=stable",
     "post~~build": "yarn build-404-page",
     "~~build-ie-polyfills": "webpack-cli src/ie-polyfills.js -o src/generated/ie-polyfills.min.js --mode production",
-    "~~http-server": "http-server",
-    "~~minify-lunr": "uglifyjs node_modules/lunr/lunr.js -c -m -o src/generated/lunr.min.js --source-map"
+    "~~http-server": "http-server"
   },
   "engines": {
     "node": ">=10.9.0 <11.0.0",
@@ -89,6 +88,7 @@
     "@angular/platform-browser-dynamic": "^7.0.0",
     "@angular/router": "^7.0.0",
     "@angular/service-worker": "^7.0.0",
+    "@types/lunr": "^2.3.2",
     "@webcomponents/custom-elements": "^1.2.0",
     "classlist.js": "^1.1.20150312",
     "core-js": "^2.4.1",
diff --git a/aio/src/app/app.component.ts b/aio/src/app/app.component.ts
index 1fad31d792..a7ccb03b0a 100644
--- a/aio/src/app/app.component.ts
+++ b/aio/src/app/app.component.ts
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ export class AppComponent implements OnInit {
     // Do not initialize the search on browsers that lack web worker support
     if ('Worker' in window) {
       // Delay initialization by up to 2 seconds
-      this.searchService.initWorker('app/search/search-worker.js', 2000);
+      this.searchService.initWorker(2000);
     }
 
     this.onResize(window.innerWidth);
diff --git a/aio/src/app/search/search-worker.js b/aio/src/app/search/search-worker.js
deleted file mode 100644
index c47dabd82d..0000000000
--- a/aio/src/app/search/search-worker.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,106 +0,0 @@
-'use strict';
-
-/* eslint-env worker */
-/* global importScripts, lunr */
-
-var SEARCH_TERMS_URL = '/generated/docs/app/search-data.json';
-
-// NOTE: This needs to be kept in sync with `ngsw-config.json`.
-importScripts('/generated/lunr.min.js');
-
-var index;
-var pages /* : SearchInfo */ = {};
-
-// interface SearchInfo {
-//  [key: string]: PageInfo;
-// }
-
-// interface PageInfo {
-//   path: string;
-//   type: string,
-//   titleWords: string;
-//   keyWords: string;
-// }
-
-self.onmessage = handleMessage;
-
-// Create the lunr index - the docs should be an array of objects, each object containing
-// the path and search terms for a page
-function createIndex(addFn) {
-  lunr.QueryLexer.termSeparator = lunr.tokenizer.separator = /\s+/;
-  return lunr(/** @this */function() {
-    this.ref('path');
-    this.field('titleWords', {boost: 10});
-    this.field('headingWords', {boost: 5});
-    this.field('members', {boost: 4});
-    this.field('keywords', {boost: 2});
-    addFn(this);
-  });
-}
-
-// The worker receives a message to load the index and to query the index
-function handleMessage(message) {
-  var type = message.data.type;
-  var id = message.data.id;
-  var payload = message.data.payload;
-  switch(type) {
-    case 'load-index':
-      makeRequest(SEARCH_TERMS_URL, function(searchInfo) {
-        index = createIndex(loadIndex(searchInfo));
-        self.postMessage({type: type, id: id, payload: true});
-      });
-      break;
-    case 'query-index':
-      self.postMessage({type: type, id: id, payload: {query: payload, results: queryIndex(payload)}});
-      break;
-    default:
-      self.postMessage({type: type, id: id, payload: {error: 'invalid message type'}})
-  }
-}
-
-// Use XHR to make a request to the server
-function makeRequest(url, callback) {
-
-  // The JSON file that is loaded should be an array of PageInfo:
-  var searchDataRequest = new XMLHttpRequest();
-  searchDataRequest.onload = function() {
-    callback(JSON.parse(this.responseText));
-  };
-  searchDataRequest.open('GET', url);
-  searchDataRequest.send();
-}
-
-
-// Create the search index from the searchInfo which contains the information about each page to be indexed
-function loadIndex(searchInfo /*: SearchInfo */) {
-  return function(index) {
-    // Store the pages data to be used in mapping query results back to pages
-    // Add search terms from each page to the search index
-    searchInfo.forEach(function(page /*: PageInfo */) {
-      index.add(page);
-      pages[page.path] = page;
-    });
-  };
-}
-
-// Query the index and return the processed results
-function queryIndex(query) {
-  try {
-    if (query.length) {
-      var results = index.search(query);
-      if (results.length === 0) {
-        // Add a relaxed search in the title for the first word in the query
-        // E.g. if the search is "ngCont guide" then we search for "ngCont guide titleWords:ngCont*"
-        var titleQuery = 'titleWords:*' + query.split(' ', 1)[0] + '*';
-        results = index.search(query + ' ' + titleQuery);
-      }
-      // Map the hits into info about each page to be returned as results
-      return results.map(function(hit) { return pages[hit.ref]; });
-    }
-  } catch(e) {
-    // If the search query cannot be parsed the index throws an error
-    // Log it and recover
-    console.log(e);
-  }
-  return [];
-}
diff --git a/aio/src/app/search/search-worker.ts b/aio/src/app/search/search-worker.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..655c435174
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aio/src/app/search/search-worker.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+import { WebWorkerMessage } from '../shared/web-worker-message';
+import * as lunr from 'lunr';
+
+const SEARCH_TERMS_URL = '/generated/docs/app/search-data.json';
+let index: lunr.Index;
+const pages: SearchInfo = {};
+
+interface SearchInfo {
+  [key: string]: PageInfo;
+}
+
+interface PageInfo {
+  path: string;
+  type: string;
+  titleWords: string;
+  keyWords: string;
+}
+
+addEventListener('message', handleMessage);
+
+// Create the lunr index - the docs should be an array of objects, each object containing
+// the path and search terms for a page
+function createIndex(loadIndex: IndexLoader): lunr.Index {
+  // The lunr typings are missing QueryLexer so we have to add them here manually.
+  const queryLexer = (lunr as any as { QueryLexer: { termSeparator: RegExp } }).QueryLexer;
+  queryLexer.termSeparator = lunr.tokenizer.separator = /\s+/;
+  return lunr(/** @this */function () {
+    this.ref('path');
+    this.field('titleWords', { boost: 10 });
+    this.field('headingWords', { boost: 5 });
+    this.field('members', { boost: 4 });
+    this.field('keywords', { boost: 2 });
+    loadIndex(this);
+  });
+}
+
+// The worker receives a message to load the index and to query the index
+function handleMessage(message: { data: WebWorkerMessage }): void {
+  const type = message.data.type;
+  const id = message.data.id;
+  const payload = message.data.payload;
+  switch (type) {
+    case 'load-index':
+      makeRequest(SEARCH_TERMS_URL, function (searchInfo: PageInfo[]) {
+        index = createIndex(loadIndex(searchInfo));
+        postMessage({ type: type, id: id, payload: true });
+      });
+      break;
+    case 'query-index':
+      postMessage({ type: type, id: id, payload: { query: payload, results: queryIndex(payload) } });
+      break;
+    default:
+      postMessage({ type: type, id: id, payload: { error: 'invalid message type' } })
+  }
+}
+
+// Use XHR to make a request to the server
+function makeRequest(url: string, callback: (response: any) => void): void {
+
+  // The JSON file that is loaded should be an array of PageInfo:
+  const searchDataRequest = new XMLHttpRequest();
+  searchDataRequest.onload = function () {
+    callback(JSON.parse(this.responseText));
+  };
+  searchDataRequest.open('GET', url);
+  searchDataRequest.send();
+}
+
+
+// Create the search index from the searchInfo which contains the information about each page to be indexed
+function loadIndex(pagesData: PageInfo[]): IndexLoader {
+  return (indexBuilder: lunr.Builder) => {
+    // Store the pages data to be used in mapping query results back to pages
+    // Add search terms from each page to the search index
+    pagesData.forEach(page => {
+      indexBuilder.add(page);
+      pages[page.path] = page;
+    });
+  };
+}
+
+// Query the index and return the processed results
+function queryIndex(query: string): PageInfo[] {
+  try {
+    if (query.length) {
+      let results = index.search(query);
+      if (results.length === 0) {
+        // Add a relaxed search in the title for the first word in the query
+        // E.g. if the search is "ngCont guide" then we search for "ngCont guide titleWords:ngCont*"
+        const titleQuery = 'titleWords:*' + query.split(' ', 1)[0] + '*';
+        results = index.search(query + ' ' + titleQuery);
+      }
+      // Map the hits into info about each page to be returned as results
+      return results.map(function (hit) { return pages[hit.ref]; });
+    }
+  } catch (e) {
+    // If the search query cannot be parsed the index throws an error
+    // Log it and recover
+    console.log(e);
+  }
+  return [];
+}
+
+type IndexLoader = (indexBuilder: lunr.Builder) => void;
diff --git a/aio/src/app/search/search.service.spec.ts b/aio/src/app/search/search.service.spec.ts
index 27ededb7bf..4fad506ac0 100644
--- a/aio/src/app/search/search.service.spec.ts
+++ b/aio/src/app/search/search.service.spec.ts
@@ -25,11 +25,11 @@ describe('SearchService', () => {
 
   describe('initWorker', () => {
     it('should create the worker and load the index after the specified delay', fakeAsync(() => {
-      service.initWorker('some/url', 100);
+      service.initWorker(100);
       expect(WebWorkerClient.create).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
       expect(mockWorker.sendMessage).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
       tick(100);
-      expect(WebWorkerClient.create).toHaveBeenCalledWith('some/url', jasmine.any(NgZone));
+      expect(WebWorkerClient.create).toHaveBeenCalledWith(jasmine.any(Worker), jasmine.any(NgZone));
       expect(mockWorker.sendMessage).toHaveBeenCalledWith('load-index');
     }));
   });
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ describe('SearchService', () => {
   describe('search', () => {
     beforeEach(() => {
       // We must initialize the service before calling connectSearches
-      service.initWorker('some/url', 1000);
+      service.initWorker(1000);
       // Simulate the index being ready so that searches get sent to the worker
       (service as any).ready = of(true);
     });
diff --git a/aio/src/app/search/search.service.ts b/aio/src/app/search/search.service.ts
index 03a463eb5c..1c0d34f4df 100644
--- a/aio/src/app/search/search.service.ts
+++ b/aio/src/app/search/search.service.ts
@@ -16,10 +16,9 @@ export class SearchService {
    * initial rendering of the web page. Triggering a search will override this delay and cause the index to be
    * loaded immediately.
    *
-   * @param workerUrl the url of the WebWorker script that runs the searches
    * @param initDelay the number of milliseconds to wait before we load the WebWorker and generate the search index
    */
-  initWorker(workerUrl: string, initDelay: number) {
+  initWorker(initDelay: number) {
     // Wait for the initDelay or the first search
     const ready = this.ready = race<any>(
         timer(initDelay),
@@ -28,7 +27,8 @@ export class SearchService {
       .pipe(
         concatMap(() => {
           // Create the worker and load the index
-          this.worker = WebWorkerClient.create(workerUrl, this.zone);
+          const worker = new Worker('./search-worker', { type: 'module' });
+          this.worker = WebWorkerClient.create(worker, this.zone);
           return this.worker.sendMessage<boolean>('load-index');
         }),
         publishReplay(1),
diff --git a/aio/src/app/shared/web-worker-message.ts b/aio/src/app/shared/web-worker-message.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..36d2a69e36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aio/src/app/shared/web-worker-message.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+export interface WebWorkerMessage {
+  type: string;
+  payload: any;
+  id?: number;
+}
diff --git a/aio/src/app/shared/web-worker.ts b/aio/src/app/shared/web-worker.ts
index 07e545c5b6..9ed5e3e12f 100644
--- a/aio/src/app/shared/web-worker.ts
+++ b/aio/src/app/shared/web-worker.ts
@@ -1,17 +1,12 @@
 import {NgZone} from '@angular/core';
 import {Observable} from 'rxjs';
-
-export interface WebWorkerMessage {
-  type: string;
-  payload: any;
-  id?: number;
-}
+import {WebWorkerMessage} from './web-worker-message';
 
 export class WebWorkerClient {
   private nextId = 0;
 
-  static create(workerUrl: string, zone: NgZone) {
-    return new WebWorkerClient(new Worker(workerUrl), zone);
+  static create(worker: Worker, zone: NgZone) {
+    return new WebWorkerClient(worker, zone);
   }
 
   private constructor(private worker: Worker, private zone: NgZone) {
diff --git a/aio/src/tsconfig.app.json b/aio/src/tsconfig.app.json
index 64a2623a35..913911931a 100644
--- a/aio/src/tsconfig.app.json
+++ b/aio/src/tsconfig.app.json
@@ -1,19 +1,23 @@
 {
-  "extends": "../tsconfig.json",
+  "extends": "./tsconfig.json",
   "compilerOptions": {
     "outDir": "../out-tsc/app",
-    "module": "es2015",
     "baseUrl": "",
     "types": [],
+    "lib": [
+      "es2018",
+      "dom"
+    ],
     "importHelpers": true
   },
   "exclude": [
     "testing/**/*",
     "test.ts",
     "test-specs.ts",
-    "**/*.spec.ts"
+    "**/*.spec.ts",
+    "**/*-worker.ts"
   ],
   "angularCompilerOptions": {
     "disableTypeScriptVersionCheck": true
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/aio/src/tsconfig.json b/aio/src/tsconfig.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8f45d18442
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aio/src/tsconfig.json
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+{
+  "extends": "../tsconfig.json",
+  "compilerOptions": {
+    "module": "es2015",
+    "lib": [
+      "es2018",
+      "dom",
+      "webworker"
+    ],
+  }
+}
diff --git a/aio/src/tsconfig.worker.json b/aio/src/tsconfig.worker.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a8f4ca8fbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aio/src/tsconfig.worker.json
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+{
+  "extends": "./tsconfig.json",
+  "compilerOptions": {
+    "outDir": "../out-tsc/worker",
+    "lib": [
+      "es2018",
+      "webworker"
+    ],
+    "types": [
+      "lunr"
+    ],
+  },
+  "include": ["**/*-worker.ts"]
+}
diff --git a/aio/yarn.lock b/aio/yarn.lock
index 3483145425..610d1d05dd 100644
--- a/aio/yarn.lock
+++ b/aio/yarn.lock
@@ -372,6 +372,11 @@
   dependencies:
     "@types/jasmine" "*"
 
+"@types/lunr@^2.3.2":
+  version "2.3.2"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/lunr/-/lunr-2.3.2.tgz#d4a51703315ed0e53c43257216f1014ce6491562"
+  integrity sha512-zcUZYquYDUEegRRPQtkZ068U9CoIjW6pJMYCVDRK25r76FEWvMm1oHqZQUfQh4ayIZ42lipXOpXEiAtGXc1XUg==
+
 "@types/mkdirp@^0.3.29":
   version "0.3.29"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/mkdirp/-/mkdirp-0.3.29.tgz#7f2ad7ec55f914482fc9b1ec4bb1ae6028d46066"