Search notes

Search lets a user find notes by title or body text, inspect a matching note, and distinguish no matches from an unavailable search.

Sub-featuresCopy Anchor Link

• search-open opens search from each supported browser entry point.
• search-match returns title and body matches without changing note data.
• search-open-result opens a result in the note editor.
• search-empty shows a complete empty state for a query with no matches.
• search-clear removes the query and restores the recent-notes view.
• search-cli returns the same matching notes from the terminal.

How to get to it (user POV)Copy Anchor Link

• Choose the Search button in the browser toolbar.
• Press / in the browser while focus is outside an editable field.
• Run notes search <query> in a terminal.

Driving it with control-notesCopy Anchor Link

Preconditions:

• Notes is healthy at http://127.0.0.1:4173.

• The disposable data directory contains Quarterly plan with body text Draft budget.

• control-notes doctor reports the expected URL and data directory.

• Toolbar entry. Choose the Search button. Run control-notes browser click --role button --name "Search". A dialog named Search notes appears with focus in its searchbox.

• Keyboard entry. Close the dialog, focus the page, and press /. Run control-notes browser press --key "/". The same dialog appears and the page does not insert a slash.

• Title match. Type quarterly. Run control-notes browser fill --role searchbox --name "Search notes" --value "quarterly". The Search results list contains Quarterly plan and does not contain Grocery list.

• Body match. Replace the query with budget. Run control-notes browser fill --role searchbox --name "Search notes" --value "budget". The result Quarterly plan remains visible with a body-match excerpt.

• Open result. Choose Quarterly plan. Run control-notes browser click --role link --name "Quarterly plan". The dialog closes and the editor heading reads Quarterly plan.

• Empty state. Reopen search and enter volcano. Run control-notes browser fill --role searchbox --name "Search notes" --value "volcano". A status named No matching notes appears after search completes.

• Clear query. Choose Clear search. Run control-notes browser click --role button --name "Clear search". The searchbox is empty and the Recent notes region replaces the result list.

• CLI match. Search from the terminal. Run control-notes cli -- notes search "quarterly" --format json. Exit code 0 and stdout contain one object whose title is Quarterly plan.

• CLI miss. Search for an absent value. Run control-notes cli -- notes search "volcano" --format json. Exit code 0 and stdout are [].

• Proof. Capture the populated result state. Run control-notes browser snapshot --aria --path artifacts/search/results.aria.txt and control-notes browser screenshot --path artifacts/search/results.png. Both artifacts identify Notes, the query, and Quarterly plan.

GotchasCopy Anchor Link

• Pressing / while the editor or searchbox has focus inserts text instead of opening search.
• Results update after a short debounce. Wait for the results list or empty status, not a fixed sleep.
• Archived notes are excluded unless the user enables Include archived.
• The CLI defaults to human-readable output. Use --format json for stable assertions.
• Opening a result changes browser state. Reopen search before proving another query.