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Overview

Basic Memory provides powerful search capabilities that help you find information quickly. You can search by:
  • Full-text content
  • Note titles
  • Permalinks and paths
  • Tags and metadata
  • Date ranges
  • Entity types
The simplest way to search is with a text query: 
search_notes("coffee brewing")
This searches across all content in your knowledge base, including:
  • Note titles
  • Observation content
  • Relation context
  • Frontmatter fields

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Search Types

Basic Memory supports several search modes:
Full-text search using SQLite’s FTS5 engine:
search_notes("project planning", search_type="text")
Features:
  • Fast searching across large knowledge bases
  • Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT)
  • Phrase search with quotes
  • Prefix matching
Best for:
  • General content search
  • Boolean queries
  • Performance-critical searches
Use boolean operators for precise queries:

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AND Operator

Find notes containing all terms: 
search_notes("coffee AND brewing")
search_notes("authentication AND security AND jwt")

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OR Operator

Find notes containing any term: 
search_notes("meeting OR discussion")
search_notes("redis OR memcached OR cache")

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NOT Operator

Exclude terms from results: 
search_notes("project NOT archived")
search_notes("database NOT mongodb")

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Grouping

Combine operators with parentheses: 
search_notes("(coffee OR tea) AND brewing")
search_notes("(bug OR issue) AND NOT resolved")
search_notes("(api OR endpoint) AND (auth OR authentication)")
Use quotes for exact phrase matching: 
search_notes('"weekly standup meeting"')
search_notes('"pour over coffee"')
search_notes('"technical debt"')

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Advanced Filters

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Filter by Tags

Search within specific tags: 
search_notes("architecture", tags=["security"])
search_notes("design", tags=["api", "rest"])

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Filter by Note Type

Search specific note types: 
search_notes("meeting", note_types=["meeting"])
search_notes("paul", note_types=["person"])
search_notes("project", note_types=["note", "project"])

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Filter by Entity Type

Search specific entity types: 
search_notes("performance", entity_types=["observation"])
search_notes("related", entity_types=["relation"])

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Filter by Date

Find recent or date-range content: 
search_notes("bug", after_date="1 week")
search_notes("meeting", after_date="3 days")
search_notes("decision", after_date="1 month")

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Filter by Status

Filter by frontmatter status field: 
search_notes("task", status="in-progress")
search_notes("project", status="active")

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Custom Metadata Filters

Filter using custom frontmatter fields: 
search_notes(
    "api",
    metadata_filters={"priority": "high"}
)

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Combining Filters

Combine multiple filters for precise results: 
search_notes(
    "authentication",
    note_types=["note", "technical"],
    tags=["security"],
    after_date="1 month",
    metadata_filters={"status": "active"}
)
You can search using only filters without a text query: 
# All notes with specific tag
search_notes(tags=["security"])

# All notes with specific status
search_notes(status="in-progress")

# All recent notes of specific type
search_notes(
    note_types=["meeting"],
    after_date="1 week"
)

# Complex filter-only query
search_notes(
    metadata_filters={"priority": "high"},
    tags=["urgent"],
    after_date="3 days"
)

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Pagination

Control result pagination: 
# First page (default)
search_notes("coffee", page=1, page_size=10)

# Next page
search_notes("coffee", page=2, page_size=10)

# Larger page size
search_notes("coffee", page=1, page_size=50)

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Pattern Matching

Use wildcards in permalink search: 
# All notes in a directory
search_notes("docs/*", search_type="permalink")

# Nested pattern
search_notes("projects/*/requirements", search_type="permalink")

# Prefix match
search_notes("auth*", search_type="permalink")

# Suffix match
search_notes("*/2024", search_type="permalink")

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Content Patterns

Use special patterns in text search: 
# Tag search (FTS mode)
search_notes("tag:security", search_type="text")

# Category search
search_notes("category:decision", search_type="text")

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Discovery Tools

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Recent Activity

Find recently updated content: 
# Last week's updates
recent_activity(timeframe="7d")

# Last 24 hours
recent_activity(timeframe="24h")

# Natural language
recent_activity(timeframe="last week")
recent_activity(timeframe="3 days ago")

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Browse Directories

Explore content by location: 
# List root directory
list_directory("/")

# List specific folder
list_directory("/docs")

# With depth
list_directory("/projects", depth=2)

# Filter by pattern
list_directory("/notes", file_name_glob="*.md")

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Build Context

Navigate the knowledge graph: 
# Get context for a topic
build_context("memory://specs/search")

# With depth (follow more relations)
build_context("memory://architecture/auth", depth=2)

# Recent context only
build_context(
    "memory://project/planning",
    timeframe="1 week"
)

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Example Workflows

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Finding Meeting Notes

1

Search by Type

search_notes(note_types=["meeting"])
2

Filter by Date

search_notes(
    note_types=["meeting"],
    after_date="1 week"
)
3

Add Text Filter

search_notes(
    "authentication",
    note_types=["meeting"],
    after_date="1 week"
)

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Finding Technical Decisions

1

Search by Category

search_notes("category:decision")
2

Add Topic

search_notes("database category:decision")
3

Filter by Tag

search_notes(
    "database category:decision",
    tags=["architecture"]
)

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Finding Related Content

1

Start with Build Context

build_context("memory://authentication-system")
2

Search Related Topics

search_notes("jwt OR token OR auth")
3

Check Recent Changes

search_notes(
    "authentication",
    after_date="1 week"
)

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Search Tips

Begin with a general query, then add filters:
# Start broad
search_notes("performance")

# Add filters
search_notes("performance", tags=["optimization"])

# Narrow further
search_notes(
    "performance",
    tags=["optimization"],
    after_date="1 month"
)
Use search to find starting points, then build context:
# Find starting point
results = search_notes("authentication")

# Build context from result
context = build_context(f"memory://{results[0].permalink}")
When you don’t know what to search for:
# See what's been updated
recent_activity(timeframe="7d")

# Then search based on what you find
search_notes("specific topic from recent activity")
Organize notes hierarchically and search within folders:
# Search specific area
search_notes("docs/architecture/*", search_type="permalink")

# Then search content within
search_notes(
    "authentication",
    note_types=["note"],
    # Use metadata filter for path if available
)

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Troubleshooting

Try these strategies:
  1. Broaden your search 
    # Instead of
search_notes("specific long phrase")
# Try
search_notes("specific OR phrase")
  2. Check spelling 
    # Try variations
search_notes("authentication OR authentification")
  3. Use different search type 
    # Try semantic instead of text
search_notes("concept", search_type="semantic")
  4. Remove filters 
    # Temporarily remove date/type filters
search_notes("query")  # without filters
Narrow results with filters:
# Add date filter
search_notes("query", after_date="1 month")

# Add type filter
search_notes("query", note_types=["note"])

# Use AND instead of OR
search_notes("term1 AND term2")  # more restrictive
Common issues:
  1. Unmatched quotes 
    # Wrong
search_notes('"incomplete quote')
# Right
search_notes('"complete quote"')
  2. Invalid operators 
    # Wrong
search_notes("term1 & term2")
# Right
search_notes("term1 AND term2")
  3. Special characters 
    # Avoid
search_notes("term+with*specials")
# Use simple terms
search_notes("term with specials")

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Next Steps

Writing Notes

Learn how to write searchable notes

Managing Projects

Organize search across multiple projects

Building Context

Navigate your knowledge graph

Search API Reference

Complete search API documentation

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