diff --git a/frontend/src/App.test.tsx b/frontend/src/App.test.tsx
deleted file mode 100644
index 95469a2..0000000
--- a/frontend/src/App.test.tsx
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-import * as React from 'react';
-import * as ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
-
-import { App } from './App';
-
-it('renders without crashing', () => {
-  const div = document.createElement('div');
-  ReactDOM.render(<App />, div);
-  ReactDOM.unmountComponentAtNode(div);
-});
diff --git a/frontend/src/App.tsx b/frontend/src/App.tsx
index 373e447..8770303 100644
--- a/frontend/src/App.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/App.tsx
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import { fetchInstances } from './redux/actions';
 import { IAppState, IInstance } from './redux/types';
 
 interface IAppProps {
-  currentInstance: IInstance | null;
+  currentInstanceName?: string | null;
   instances?: IInstance[],
   isLoadingInstances: boolean,
   fetchInstances: () => void;
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ class AppImpl extends React.Component<IAppProps> {
           className="fediverse-welcome"
           icon={IconNames.SEARCH_AROUND}
           title="Graph. TODO"
-          description={"Selected " + ((this.props.currentInstance && this.props.currentInstance.name) || "nothing")}
+          description={"Selected " + (this.props.currentInstanceName || "nothing")}
         />
       </div>
     );
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ class AppImpl extends React.Component<IAppProps> {
 }
 
 const mapStateToProps = (state: IAppState) => ({
-  currentInstance: state.currentInstance,
+  currentInstanceName: state.currentInstanceName,
   instances: state.data.instances,
   isLoadingInstances: state.data.isLoadingInstances,
 })
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/InstanceSearch.tsx b/frontend/src/components/InstanceSearch.tsx
index ccf3ac9..2acee51 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/InstanceSearch.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/InstanceSearch.tsx
@@ -1,17 +1,16 @@
 import * as React from 'react';
 import { connect } from 'react-redux';
-// import { List, ListRowProps } from 'react-virtualized';
 import { Dispatch } from 'redux';
 
 import { Button, MenuItem } from '@blueprintjs/core';
 import { IconNames } from '@blueprintjs/icons';
-import { ItemPredicate, ItemRenderer, Select } from '@blueprintjs/select';
+import { IItemRendererProps, ItemPredicate, Select } from '@blueprintjs/select';
 
 import { selectInstance } from '../redux/actions';
 import { IAppState, IInstance } from '../redux/types';
 
 interface IInstanceSearchProps {
-    currentInstance: IInstance | null;
+    currentInstanceName: string | null;
     instances?: IInstance[];
     selectInstance: (instanceName: string) => void;
 }
@@ -28,33 +27,48 @@ class InstanceSearchImpl extends React.Component<IInstanceSearchProps> {
                 onItemSelect={this.onItemSelect}
                 itemPredicate={this.itemPredicate}
                 disabled={!this.props.instances}
+                initialContent={this.renderInitialContent()}
+                noResults={this.renderNoResults()}
+                popoverProps={{popoverClassName: "fediverse-instance-search-popover"}}
             >
                 <Button
                     icon={IconNames.SELECTION}
                     rightIcon={IconNames.CARET_DOWN}
-                    text={(this.props.currentInstance && this.props.currentInstance.name) || ("Select an instance")}
+                    text={this.props.currentInstanceName || ("Select an instance")}
                     disabled={!this.props.instances}
                 />
             </InstanceSelect>
         );
     }
 
-    private itemRenderer: ItemRenderer<IInstance> = (item, { handleClick, modifiers }) => {
-        if (!modifiers.matchesPredicate) {
+    private renderInitialContent = () => {
+        return (
+            <MenuItem disabled={true} text={"Start typing"} />
+        );
+    }
+
+    private renderNoResults = () => {
+        return (
+            <MenuItem disabled={true} text={"Keep typing"} />
+        );
+    }
+
+    private itemRenderer = (item: IInstance, itemProps: IItemRendererProps)  => {
+        if (!itemProps.modifiers.matchesPredicate) {
             return null;
         }
         return (
             <MenuItem
                 text={item.name}
                 key={item.name}
-                active={modifiers.active}
-                onClick={handleClick}
+                active={itemProps.modifiers.active}
+                onClick={itemProps.handleClick}
             />
         );
     }
 
     private itemPredicate: ItemPredicate<IInstance> = (query, item, index) => {
-        if (!item.name) {
+        if (!item.name || query.length < 4) {
             return false;
         }
         return item.name.toLowerCase().indexOf(query.toLowerCase()) >= 0;
@@ -66,7 +80,7 @@ class InstanceSearchImpl extends React.Component<IInstanceSearchProps> {
 }
 
 const mapStateToProps = (state: IAppState) => ({
-    currentInstance: state.currentInstance,
+    currentInstanceName: state.currentInstanceName,
     instances: state.data.instances,
 })
 const mapDispatchToProps = (dispatch: Dispatch) => ({
diff --git a/frontend/src/index.css b/frontend/src/index.css
index b308513..f8b906a 100644
--- a/frontend/src/index.css
+++ b/frontend/src/index.css
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ html, body {
 }
 
 .fediverse-instance-search-popover {
-  height: 350px;
-  min-width: 214px;
+  max-height: 350px;
+  min-width: 300px;
   overflow-x: hidden;
 }
diff --git a/frontend/src/redux/actions.ts b/frontend/src/redux/actions.ts
index 75da912..5e1e39e 100644
--- a/frontend/src/redux/actions.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/redux/actions.ts
@@ -3,11 +3,9 @@ import { Dispatch } from 'redux';
 import { getFromApi } from '../util';
 import { ActionType, IInstance } from './types';
 
-export const selectInstance = (instance: string) => {
+export const selectInstance = (instanceName: string) => {
     return {
-        payload: {
-            instance,
-        },
+        payload: instanceName,
         type: ActionType.SELECT_INSTANCE,
     }
 }
diff --git a/frontend/src/redux/reducers.ts b/frontend/src/redux/reducers.ts
index 4cb1b07..053fb4a 100644
--- a/frontend/src/redux/reducers.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/redux/reducers.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { combineReducers } from 'redux';
 
-import { ActionType, IAction, IDataState, IInstance } from './types';
+import { ActionType, IAction, IDataState } from './types';
 
 const initialDataState = {
     isLoadingInstances: false,
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ const data = (state: IDataState = initialDataState, action: IAction) => {
     }
 }
 
-const currentInstance = (state: IInstance | null = null, action: IAction): IInstance | null => {
+const currentInstanceName = (state: string | null = null, action: IAction): string | null => {
     switch (action.type) {
         case ActionType.SELECT_INSTANCE:
             return action.payload;
@@ -34,6 +34,6 @@ const currentInstance = (state: IInstance | null = null, action: IAction): IInst
 }
 
 export const rootReducer = combineReducers({
-    currentInstance,
+    currentInstanceName,
     data,
 })
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/frontend/src/redux/types.ts b/frontend/src/redux/types.ts
index 18e560f..f2a4dc2 100644
--- a/frontend/src/redux/types.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/redux/types.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,6 @@ export interface IDataState {
 }
 
 export interface IAppState {
-    currentInstance: IInstance | null,
+    currentInstanceName: string | null,
     data: IDataState,
 }
diff --git a/frontend/src/util.ts b/frontend/src/util.ts
index 810425f..b7f9e61 100644
--- a/frontend/src/util.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/util.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import fetch from 'cross-fetch';
 
-// const API_ROOT = "https://fediverse.space/api/v1/"
-const API_ROOT = "http://localhost:8000/api/v1/"
+const API_ROOT = "https://fediverse.space/api/v1/"
+// const API_ROOT = "http://localhost:8000/api/v1/"
 
 export const getFromApi = (path: string): Promise<any> => {
     const domain = API_ROOT.endsWith("/") ? API_ROOT : API_ROOT + "/";