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Search

Status: Temporarily disabled — rebuild in progress

As of v0.24.0, the server-side message search has been removed. The previous implementation ran text matching on the ciphertext column, which only worked because messages were stored as UTF-8 plaintext — a carry-over from before end-to-end encryption was fully wired up. That contradicted the E2EE claim and had to go.

A replacement is being built that runs entirely in the client (Tantivy-WASM with a per-user IndexedDB index). It will provide the same search scopes, filters, and UX as documented below, but the server will never see your query or your messages. Until Phase 2 ships, the in-app search input is disabled and shows a banner explaining the rebuild.

Chatalot's message search is currently being rebuilt to run entirely in your browser (see the note above). The scopes, filters, and UX described below are the experience the client-side rebuild restores — the search input is disabled until it ships. You will be able to search within the current channel or across all channels you have access to.

Press Ctrl+F (or Cmd+F on macOS) to open the search panel. The search bar appears at the top of the channel content area.

Press Esc to close the search panel.

Search Scopes

Toggle between two search scopes using the button next to the search input:

Scope Description
Channel Search only within the currently active channel
All (Global) Search across all channels and DMs you are a member of

When using global search, each result includes the channel name so you know where the message was posted. Clicking a result from a different channel navigates you to that channel.

How Search Works

  • Type at least 2 characters to trigger a search (maximum 256 characters).
  • Search is debounced -- results appear after a 300ms pause in typing.
  • Results are displayed in reverse chronological order (newest first).
  • Search matches are highlighted in the results.

Search Filters

Click Filters below the search input to expand advanced filtering options:

Filter Description
From user Filter results to messages sent by a specific username
After date Only show messages sent after this date
Before date Only show messages sent before this date
Has file Only show messages that contain file attachments

Filters can be combined. Click Clear to reset all filters.

  • Click on a search result to jump to that message in the channel.
  • When using global search, clicking a result from another channel switches to that channel first.
  • The search panel remains open after clicking a result so you can continue browsing.

Search Limitations

  • Search queries must be between 2 and 256 characters.
  • Each search returns up to 50 results (20 by default).
  • Search runs entirely on your device against messages your client has decrypted; your query and message content are never sent to the server. (The previous server-side implementation was removed because it could only match on stored ciphertext, which is meaningless once messages are end-to-end encrypted.)

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut Action
Ctrl+F Open/close search panel
Esc Close search panel