Search

Search is how you get a specific note (or passage) back. Aletheia offers three retrieval modes in one box, so you can match on words, on meaning, or on both at once.

A hybrid search: the query, the mode toggle, a date filter, and ranked result cards with snippets, tag/entity chips, and relevance scores.

The three modes

The Hybrid / Lexical / Semantic toggle picks how matching works:

The **Hybrid / Lexical / Semantic** toggle switches how a query is matched.

Mode	Matches on	Best for
Hybrid (default)	Both keywords and meaning, fused	Almost everything — start here
Lexical	Exact keywords (BM25)	Names, IDs, exact phrases you remember
Semantic	Meaning (embeddings)	"That note about supply-chain risk" when you don't recall the words

Hybrid is the default because it's the most forgiving: it finds the note whether you remember the exact wording or only the gist. Drop to Lexical when you know the precise term (a part number, a person's name) and to Semantic when you only remember the idea.

The three matching modes. **①** Hybrid · **②** Lexical · **③** Semantic.

Reading a result

Each result card shows:

• The note title and a snippet with your query terms highlighted.
• Tag chips and entity chips for the note — click to pivot the search.
• The note's date, source, a relevance score, and how many chunks matched.
• A Preview action to peek at the note without leaving your results.

Click a card to open the note; click Preview to read it in place and keep your result list.

A result card: **①** Preview opens the note in place · **②** matched chunks show which passages hit.

Each result carries **#tag** and entity chips — click one to pivot the search onto it.

Filtering

Above the results, narrow the set without retyping:

• Date — quick ranges (7d, 30d, 90d, YTD) or all.
• Notebooks, tags, entities, and sources filters scope the search.

Date-range chips narrow results without retyping. **①** 7d · **②** 30d · **③** all.

Filters compose with the query, so "everything tagged #decision from the last 30 days that mentions Acme" is a couple of clicks.

The **N matches** count tells you how many notes the current query and filters returned.

Search everywhere: Quick find

For a fast jump to a known note — rather than a considered search — use Quick find (⌘K / Ctrl+K) from anywhere. It searches notes, entities, and tags together and is the right tool when you know what you want and just need to get there. The Search surface is for exploring results; Quick find is for jumping. See Keyboard shortcuts.

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When search fails, switch modes before you give up

No results on a phrase you're sure exists? Flip Lexical → Semantic (or vice-versa). Exact recall and meaning-recall fail on opposite things, and Hybrid occasionally splits the difference in a way that buries what you want. One mode almost always surfaces it.

Semantic search depends on extraction

Semantic and hybrid matching ride on chunk embeddings produced by extraction. A note you wrote seconds ago may not be semantically searchable until its chunks finish embedding (watch the status-bar chunk count). Lexical search finds it immediately.

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