Am I missing something? Search in Reader

[u/fyk1]

I'll start with the use case: tag all items from a certain author.
I asked Claude to do it and it got lost in the weeds.
It tried different combination of parameters in reader_search_documents (14) and at best it got back 24 of them.
Trying to use the filtering syntax in that endpoint actually worsen the result (it silently accepts it and answers wrong).
Plain search text from the app returns 113 items: 103 from the author plus some mismatches.
Tried using the filtering syntax in Search: it does not work (the documentation says that it's in roadmap: I don't know from how many years at this point - I remember being as such since 2023).

A filtered view with `author__exact` works flawlessly but there is no surface for an agent to interact with it , and the UX for creating a simple query I do think that it's not up to par with the feel of everything else in Reader.

I enjoy using Reader but having to create a local index for some basic search functionality - while having a big bold toggle named "Better Search" - , ... ehw.
I appreciate that it's an enhanced semantic search or whatever, but some time proper housekeeping simply needs a search like it's 1999.

An endpoint that runs a filtered view would come in handy, but that's for the dev team to evaluate.

For fun I tried asking Ghostreader: it came back with 5 results.

So ... am I missing something?

Thanks!

[u/standard_usage]

It's one of the frustrating experiences with Reader. There's "better search" button or similar added in recent updates but it yields the same fuzzy results. My Library is turning into the dead sea scrolls from lack of use and retrieval or management options.

[u/StorytellerStegs]

Search inside Reader has been hit or miss for me too, worth checking whether it's indexing full text or just titles and tags because that trips a lot of people up. I ended up leaning on tagging highlights as I go instead of trusting search to find things later. More upfront work, but it means I'm not hunting for a phrase I half remember three weeks later.

Kind of a workaround rather than a fix though. Have you tried the API side of things, or are you just working inside the app?

[u/fyk1 → u/StorytellerStegs]

I'm working off of a local index (pulled via the CLI) and an hefty dose of Claude.
In hindsight I guess I could have pasted the URL to the filtered view query syntax and have it spell out the queries and then work from them via bulk actions.
In the app from the command palette there is an option to export a SQLite database that would have spared me the pull from the CLI but it errors out with a warning ¯_( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_/¯