Search

    Kimün provides powerful search capabilities to find notes by content, filename, section, and path. Search indexes all Markdown files in your workspace and supports structured queries with operators and filters.

    In TUI

    Press Ctrl+E to open the search box. Start typing to search across note content and filenames.

    In CLI

    Use the search command:

    kimun search "your search query"

    Free text

    Free text search looks across both note content and filenames simultaneously. Searches are:

    • Case-insensitive: kimun matches Kimün, KIMÜN, kimun, etc.
    • Diacritics-ignored: kimun matches Kimün, accent marks are ignored
    • Wildcard-supported: Use * to match patterns

    Wildcard patterns

    • kimu* — matches anything starting with "kimu" (e.g., "kimun", "kimune", "kimurei")
    • *meeting* — matches "meeting" anywhere in the note (e.g., "meeting notes", "team-meeting", "zoom-meeting-2024")
    • *report — matches anything ending with "report"

    Multiple terms

    Space between terms functions as AND — all terms must match for a note to appear:

    kimun search     → must contain both "kimun" AND "search"
task report      → must contain both "task" AND "report"

    Operators

    Operators allow you to filter by filename, section, or path. Each operator has both a short form (symbol) and a long form (colon-prefixed).

    @ or at: — filename filter

    Filter notes by their filename (basename only, not full path):

    @tasks           → notes whose filename contains "tasks"
at:tasks         → same (long form)
@project         → notes with "project" in the filename
at:notes         → notes with "notes" in the filename

    > or in: — section filter

    Filter notes by Markdown sections (defined by #, ##, ###, etc.). The search term must appear within that section:

    >personal        → content under a "Personal" heading
in:personal      → same (long form)
>work            → content under a "Work" heading
in:meeting       → content under a "Meeting" heading

    Section names are matched case-insensitively against heading text. A note matches if any of its sections contain the search term.

    / or pt: — path filter

    Filter notes by their full path within the workspace:

    /docs            → notes under a "docs/" directory
pt:docs          → same (long form)
/journal/2024    → notes under "journal/2024/" directory
/archive         → notes under an "archive/" directory

    Paths are matched as prefixes, so /docs matches both /docs/readme.md and /docs/guides/tutorial.md.

    Exclusion operators

    Use the - prefix to exclude terms from search results. Exclusion works with all operators and free text:

    -cancelled           → exclude notes containing "cancelled"
>-draft              → exclude notes with "draft" in any section title
@-temp               → exclude notes with "temp" in the filename
/-private            → exclude notes under a "private/" directory

    Exclusion-only searches

    You can search using only exclusions to find all notes except those matching the exclusion:

    -cancelled           → all notes EXCEPT those containing "cancelled"
>-draft              → all notes EXCEPT those with "draft" in section titles
@-temp               → all notes EXCEPT those with "temp" in the filename
/-archive            → all notes EXCEPT those under an "archive/" directory

    Combining filters

    All operators compose freely in a single query. Space between terms = AND.

    Each term (with or without an operator prefix) must match for a note to appear:

    @tasks >work report                → file "tasks", has "Work" section, contains "report"
>personal kimun                    → "kimun" under a "Personal" section
@thoughts kimun                    → file "thoughts" containing "kimun"
meeting -cancelled                 → "meeting" but not "cancelled"
@2024 >-draft                      → files from 2024 without "draft" in section titles
/journal >-temp report             → in journal/, not titled "temp", containing "report"
screen* @notes                     → starts with "screen", in file "notes"
>personal report -completed        → "report" under "Personal", excluding "completed"

    Operator precedence

    There is no OR operator. All terms are ANDed together. Each term must match for a note to appear in results.

    Example queries

    Given these notes:

    tasks.md

    # Work
## TODO
* Talk with Bill
* Finish the report

# Personal
* Make the search in Kimün awesome
* Buy groceries

    projects.md

    # Projects
## Personal
### Kimün
The simple but great note taking app!
    SearchReturnsReason
    kimunprojects.md, tasks.mdboth contain "kimun"
    >personal kimunprojects.md, tasks.md"kimun" under a Personal heading in both
    >personal reporttasks.md"report" only under Personal in tasks.md
    @tasks >worktasks.mdfile "tasks", has Work section
    screen*any note with "screenshot", "screens", etc.wildcard matches "screen" prefix
    meeting -cancellednotes with "meeting" but not "cancelled"exclusion removes matching notes
    @2024 >-draftfiles from 2024 without "draft" in section titlescombined exclusion
    -cancelledall notes except those with "cancelled"exclusion-only search
    /journal >-tempnotes in journal/ without "temp" in section titlespath + section exclusion
    @tasks >work reporttasks.mdfile "tasks", "Work" section, contains "report"
    @-archive >-draftall notes except those in archive/, excluding "draft" titlescombined exclusions

    Edge cases

    • Exclusion-only searches return all notes except those matching the exclusion criteria
    • Wildcards with operators: @task* >work matches files starting with "task" that have a "Work" section
    • Operator prefixes are case-insensitive: >Personal and >personal are equivalent, @Tasks and @tasks are equivalent
    • Multiple operators of same type: >work >personal is AND — both sections must exist
    • Empty results: If no notes match, the search returns an empty list