Search reference
One query language across the whole library. Focus with mod ⇧ F, clear with esc. The filter icon scopes to the current notebook; the globe searches everything.
Grammar
| Syntax | Matches | Example |
|---|---|---|
book:Work | Notes in the Work notebook | book:Engineering rust |
tag:rust | Notes tagged rust | tag:rust status:active |
status:active | Status is none active onHold completed dropped | status:completed tag:gtd |
title:deploy | Title contains deploy | title:checklist |
body:TODO | Body contains TODO | body:migration -done |
"exact phrase" | Verbatim phrase match | "conflict drill" |
-draft | Excludes notes containing draft | roadmap -stale |
Scope
Notebook-only scope filters the current notebook; global scope searches all notebooks. Trash scope is fixed to Trash. For command-style jumping instead of filtering, use Telescope.
Combining terms
Terms combine with AND:
typescript tag:Work status:Completed
book:Engineering "conflict drill" -draftExclusions-only matches nothing. A query of only
-draft returns no results by design — add at least one positive term.Ranking
Title hits ×3, tag hits ×2, body hits ×1. Pinned notes sort first, then score, then most recently updated. Matching lines appear as snippets under each result.
$ pnpm bench
✓ search 5k notes — mean 1.8ms, p99 3.5ms (gate <50ms)Limitations
No partial-match stemming: searching
trin won't find string. This is deliberate for predictability at 5k-note scale — FTS5 ranking parity is tracked in the roadmap.