Task Searching & Filtering DSL

Jotter features a robust, keyboard-centric Search Domain-Specific Language (DSL) directly inside the navigation search bar. This allows power-users to filter tasks across boards, lists, and timelines with speed and precision, using query keywords similar to GitHub, Jira, or Linear.

Bidirectional Synchronization

One of the most powerful features of Jotter's search is Bidirectional Synchronization:

• Typing Queries: As you type criteria into the search box, the corresponding checkboxes and inputs in the Filter Modal are automatically updated in real-time.
• Using the Modal: If you open the Filter Modal visually and check a tag or priority, Jotter instantly generates and appends the correct DSL query inside the search input. This serves as an interactive guide to help you learn the query syntax.

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Query Syntax Reference

A search query is composed of standalone full-text search phrases and optional colon-separated criteria (field:value). Standalone words are evaluated as full-text terms against task titles and bodies.

Filter Criterion	Query Example	Description
Full-text search	auth login	Tasks containing both "auth" and "login" in title or description
Quoted Phrase	"fix memory leak"	Tasks containing the exact phrase "fix memory leak"
Tag (OR Match)	tags:ui,bug or tag:ui,bug	Tasks with either the ui tag or the bug tag
Tag (AND Match)	tags:ui+bug or tag:ui+bug	Tasks that must have both the ui tag and the bug tag
Columns/Buckets	bucket:todo or buckets:todo,progress	Tasks residing in the specified bucket(s)
Priorities	priority:high or prio:high,urgent	Tasks with the specified priority levels
Projects	project:marketing or proj:frontend	Tasks belonging to a project by ID or Project Title
Presence of Due Date	due:has or due:none	Tasks that have any due date, or no due date
Due Date Boundaries	due:before:2026-12-31 due:after:2026-06-01	Tasks with due dates within the specified date boundaries

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Combining Queries

All separate field criteria in your query are combined using logical AND. Commas , within field values represent logical OR.

Examples:

1. High priority bugs in the todo column:

   tag:bug priority:high bucket:todo

   Filters for tasks that are tagged bug AND have high priority AND are currently in the todo bucket.

2. UI or UX tasks due before mid-December:

   tags:ui,ux due:before:2026-12-15

   Filters for tasks tagged ui OR ux AND having a due date earlier than December 15th, 2026.

3. Database tasks in the frontend project with no due date:

   project:frontend due:none database

   Filters for tasks belonging to the project "frontend" (by title or ID) AND having no due date AND containing the word "database" in their title or description.

4. Critical frontend UI bugs:

   proj:frontend tags:ui+bug prio:high,urgent

   Filters for tasks belonging to the project "frontend" AND containing BOTH the ui and bug tags AND having either a high or urgent priority.