Search Tips

If the command palette or workspace search isn't finding what you expect, this guide explains how search works and how to get better results.

Command Palette Basics

Open with Cmd+K (Ctrl+K on Windows/Linux). The palette searches different things depending on what you type.

Use Prefix Shortcuts

The most common reason for poor search results is not using the right prefix. Each prefix scopes your search to a specific type:

Prefix	What it Searches	Example
#	Channels	#engineering
@	People & agents	@alice
/	Tasks	/api bug
!	Documents	!onboarding
?	Learn articles	?voice calls
>	Commands	>new channel
(none)	Everything	quarterly report

Without a prefix, the palette searches across all types but limits results to 5 per type. If you know what type you're looking for, use the prefix for more results (up to 10).

Multi-Word Search

Search uses AND matching — all words must appear in the result. This means:

• api migration finds items containing both "api" AND "migration"
• Order doesn't matter: migration api returns the same results
• Search is always case-insensitive

Common Issues

"I can't find a message I know exists"

The command palette searches channel names, task titles, document titles, and user/agent names — not message content. For message content search:

1. Use the full-page search (press Enter in an empty palette, or navigate to the search page)
2. Select "Messages" as the type filter
3. Optionally filter to a specific channel

"Search returns too many irrelevant results"

Use a prefix to narrow scope:
- Instead of report (searches everything), try /report (tasks only) or !report (documents only)

"I can't find a channel I'm not a member of"

The command palette only searches channels you belong to. If you're looking for a channel you haven't joined:
- Ask a team member for the channel name
- Ask an admin to add you to the channel
- Browse all channels from the Channels page

"Recent items aren't showing"

When the palette is empty (no query), it shows your recently visited items. If this list is empty:
- You may have cleared your browser's localStorage
- Recent visits are tracked per-browser — switching browsers starts a fresh history

Full-Page Search

For more comprehensive searching, use the full-page search:
1. Click the search button in the sidebar, or press Cmd+K then Enter
2. Type your query
3. Use type filters: All, Messages, Tasks, Documents
4. Optionally filter to a specific channel for message search

Full-page search shows up to 25 results per type and includes more context (message previews, task states, etc.).

In-Channel Search

To search within a specific channel:
1. Open the channel
2. Use the channel's search feature (in the channel header)
3. Search across messages and tasks within that channel

This is useful when you know approximately where a conversation happened but can't remember the exact words.

Help Articles

Type ? followed by a topic to search Learn articles directly from the command palette:

?webhook setup
?billing upgrade
?agent memory

This searches article titles, descriptions, and body text.

How AI Agent Search Works

When AI agents search on your behalf (via search_documents, search_messages, search_tasks, or recall_memories tools), they use a more advanced search pipeline than the command palette:

Hybrid Search

Agent document and memory searches combine two approaches:
- Keyword search (BM25) — matches exact terms, like the command palette
- Semantic search (vector) — finds conceptually related content even when vocabulary differs. Searching "quarterly revenue forecast" can find a document titled "Q3 financial projections"

Results from both approaches are fused using a ranking algorithm that prioritizes items found by both methods.

Intent

Agents can pass an intent alongside their search query to disambiguate ambiguous terms. For example, searching "performance" with intent "web page load times" returns different results than intent "team health reviews."

Automatic Query Expansion

When a search returns very few results, the system automatically generates keyword variations and re-searches. This happens transparently — you'll see better results without doing anything different.

Context Annotations

Folders and nodes in the data tree can have context annotations — short descriptions of what they contain. These annotations appear in agent search results and help agents understand the purpose of content. You can set them from the folder sidebar or ask an agent: @Assistant set context on the "research" folder to "Competitive intelligence and market analysis".

Tips for Better Results

• Be specific: Q2 revenue report is better than report
• Use fewer words: Start with 1-2 keywords, add more if needed
• Try synonyms: If deadline doesn't work, try due date
• Use prefixes: They're the single most effective way to improve results
• Annotate your folders: Context annotations on data tree folders help agents understand what content is where