Search query language

One query language works everywhere: the GUI search box, the REST/MCP search APIs, and search-notebook queries.

Example	Meaning
`apples oranges`	both words, anywhere in title or body
`apples OR oranges`	either word (`OR` must be uppercase)
`(apples OR oranges) fresh`	grouping; implicit AND binds more tightly than OR
`-tag:private`, `-(tag:private OR tag:draft)`	exclude a field or group
`"exact phrase"`	phrase match
`title:architecture`	word in the title
`title:"multiple words"`	phrase in the title
`notebook:"Work"`	limit to a notebook and its sub-notebooks (case-insensitive)
`category:"Work"`	exact alias for `notebook:`
`category:"All notes"`	all current notes; removes that notebook constraint
`collection:"joplin"`	limit to notes that came from one place (their provenance)
`tag:toys`, `tag:"shopping mall"`	notes with a tag
`author:"Alice Smith"`	imported notes by display name
`authorid:@alice`	imported notes by canonical account
`since:2026-07-01`	published/created on or after that date
`until:2026-07-31`	through the end of that day
`since:2026-07-13T18:42:07Z`	timestamps to the second
`since:14:30`	today at that time

Finding the values. notebook: and collection: take identifiers, and you have to know which ones exist before you can narrow anything with them:

notriosctl notebooks list      # ids and names; --json for a script
notriosctl collections list    # ids, names, and how many notes name each
notriosctl tags list           # every tag with its note count

notriosctl tags list --prefix shopping narrows to one branch of the tag hierarchy, and notriosctl tags show --tag todo answers whether a single tag exists — exiting 1 when it does not, so a script can check before writing a query around it.

A search spans every collection unless a collection: term narrows it. A note written in Notrios is in default; a note that arrived from somewhere else carries the identifier its import was given.

Details worth knowing:

Adjacent terms combine with AND: notebook:"Work" tag:todo quarterly.
AND binds more tightly than uppercase OR. Lowercase or is searchable text.
Prefix - negates the next term, field, or parenthesized group.
Unknown word:value tokens are treated as literal text, so pasted URLs and things like re:invoice just work.
Queries are bounded to 4,096 UTF-8 bytes, 256 tokens, and 16 parenthesis levels. Invalid expressions are rejected clearly.
Date-only until: means 23:59:59 of that day; date-only since: means midnight, in your local timezone.
since:/until: compare the original published time of imported posts, falling back to the note’s creation time.
The empty query is “All notes”; the Trash search notebook uses the reserved query is:trashed.

Any query can be saved as a search notebook: give it a name (and an emoji if you like) and it appears in the sidebar. Deleting a search notebook never deletes notes — only the saved query.

SQLite and optional Recoll compile the same application-owned expression tree. Recursive category filters and standalone emoji are represented explicitly in the Recoll projection; if Recoll cannot honor a query shape, Notrios uses the exact SQLite result instead of weakening the expression.

Using a query inside a note

A fenced note-query block runs one of these queries and renders the matching notes in the preview:

```note-query
query: tag:todo -tag:done
fields: notebook, updated
sort: updated
limit: 20
```

The query: line is exactly the language above — a block can find what you could type into the search box, and nothing more. See the built-in GUI guide for the other keys and what a block does when the query has a mistake in it.