> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.cortex.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.cortex.io/configure/settings/search.md).

# Using search in Cortex

Cortex offers two ways to search across your data:

* The **catalog search bar** is found in the upper-right corner of a list, e.g. the catalog list.
* The **global search** is found at the top of the main sidebar and lets you run a quick search from anywhere in Cortex across names, descriptions, and tags.

## Using the catalog search bar

When you need to find a specific entity in Cortex, use the search bar at the top of any catalog. See the [available operators](#search-index-and-operators) below.

1. Navigate to a catalog.
2. In the upper-right corner, enter text into the search bar. Note that you can use plain text for a basic search, or use operators to refine your search.<br>

   <div align="left" data-with-frame="true"><figure><img src="/files/mWbLriNOemVtZc5TLylQ" alt="The search bar, located in the upper-right corner of a catalog page." width="375"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>

### **Query syntax**

The catalog search bar supports web search–style syntax:

<table><thead><tr><th width="141.12109375">Syntax</th><th width="233.87890625">Example</th><th>Behavior</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Multiple terms</td><td><code>payments api</code></td><td>Implicit AND — returns results matching all terms</td></tr><tr><td><code>or</code> keyword</td><td><code>payments OR billing</code></td><td>OR — returns results matching either term</td></tr><tr><td>Quoted phrase</td><td><code>"payment service"</code></td><td>Matches the exact phrase</td></tr><tr><td>Negation (<code>-</code>)</td><td><code>payment -legacy</code></td><td>Excludes results containing the term after <code>-</code></td></tr><tr><td><code>field:value</code></td><td><code>owner:maya.chen@acme.com</code></td><td>Scoped to a specific field (see table below)</td></tr></tbody></table>

You can combine these: `owner:maya.chen@acme.com tag:payments -deprecated`

### Search index and operators

Cortex supports field-based specifiers for searching. A `prefix:value` token is treated as a field filter only when the prefix is a recognized search field (such as `owner:`, `tag:`, or `repo:`). Colons and other special characters in unrecognized positions are treated as plain text, so queries like `https://example.com` won't break. To search for a multi-word value, wrap it in double quotes (e.g., `owner:"Maya Chen"`).

<table><thead><tr><th width="160.671875">Search field</th><th width="144.81640625">Corresponding YAML field</th><th width="218.04296875">Explanation</th><th>Examples (based on sample YAMLs below)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Title</strong> (<code>title:</code> or <code>name:</code>)</td><td><code>title</code></td><td>Searches for the entity's name as defined in the <code>title</code> field.</td><td>• payments api<br>• payments<br>• title:"payments api"<br>• name:"payments api"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Tag</strong> (<code>tag:</code>)</td><td><code>x-cortex-tag</code></td><td>Searches for a Cortex tag as defined in the <code>x-cortex-tag</code> field. If a tag has more than one term separated by a hyphen, you can search for the tag using hyphens or spaces. At least one of these (or a wildcard) must be used for results to be generated.</td><td>• payments-api<br>• payments<br>• tag:"payments-api"<br>• tag:"payments"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>CID</strong> (<code>cid:</code>)</td><td>(depends on integration)</td><td>Searches for an ID associated with an entity. This usually comes from a third-party integration.</td><td>• P1AB2CD<br>• cid:"P1AB2CD"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Description</strong> (<code>description:</code>)</td><td><code>description</code></td><td>Searches for the supplied term(s) in an entity's description.</td><td>• payment processing<br>• transaction management<br>• description:"payment"<br>- description:"transaction"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Group</strong> (<code>group:</code>)</td><td><code>x-cortex-groups</code></td><td>Searches for entity group names.</td><td>• payments<br>• backend<br>• group:"payments"<br>• group:"backend"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Owner</strong> (<code>owner:</code>)</td><td><code>x-cortex-owners</code></td><td>Searches for the owner(s) of an entity. If the owner is a team, Cortex searches team names and team members' names and email addresses. If the owner is an individual, Cortex searches for the user email.</td><td>• payments engineering<br>• maya.chen<br>• owner:"payments"<br>• owner:"maya"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Member</strong> (<code>member:</code>)</td><td><code>x-cortex-team</code>, <code>members</code></td><td>Searches for the name and email address for a team member. This query only returns Team entities.</td><td>• maya chen<br>• maya.chen<br>• member:"maya"<br>• member:"chen"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Slack channel</strong> (<code>slack:</code>)</td><td><code>x-cortex-slack</code></td><td>Searches for a Slack channel name defined in the <code>x-cortex-slack</code> field.</td><td>• payments-alerts<br>• payments-eng<br>• slack:"payments-alerts"<br>• slack:"payments"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Microsoft Teams channel</strong> (<code>microsoft-team:</code>)</td><td><code>x-cortex-microsoft-teams</code></td><td>Searches for a Microsoft Teams channel name defined in the <code>x-cortex-microsoft-teams</code> field.</td><td>• payments-alerts<br>• Payments Engineering<br>• microsoft-team:"payments-alerts"<br>• microsoft-team:"payments"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Repository</strong> (<code>repo:</code> or <code>repository:</code>)</td><td><code>x-cortex-git</code>, <code>repository</code></td><td>Searches for a Git repository name.</td><td>• acme/payments-api<br>• payments-api<br>• repo:"payments-api"<br>• repo:"acme/payments-api"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Repo basepath</strong> (<code>repo-basepath:</code> or <code>repository-basepath:</code>)</td><td><code>x-cortex-git</code>, <code>basepath</code></td><td>Searches for a Git repo basepath name.</td><td>• services/payments<br>• repo-basepath:"services/payments"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Link</strong> (<code>link:</code>)</td><td><code>x-cortex-link</code></td><td>Searches for link based on <code>name</code> and <code>URL</code> defined under <code>x-cortex-link</code>.</td><td>• runbooks.acme.com<br>• payments api runbook<br>• link:"runbook"<br>• link:"runbooks.acme"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Custom data</strong> (<code>key</code>:<code>value</code>)</td><td><code>x-cortex-custom-metadata</code></td><td>Searches for custom data imported from APIs, third-party integrations, and/or defined in the <code>x-cortex-metadata</code> block. The key is case-sensitive.</td><td>• tier:1<br>• region:us-east-1</td></tr><tr><td><strong>AWS account ID</strong> (<code>aws-account-id:</code>)</td><td>Defined in AWS, not in an entity's YAML</td><td>Searches for the AWS account ID of an entity.</td><td>• aws-account-id:"012345678901"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>AWS account name</strong> (<code>aws-account-name:</code>)</td><td>Defined in AWS, not in an entity's YAML</td><td>Searches for entities with an AWS account name.</td><td>• aws-account-name:"example-aws-account"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>AWS region</strong> (<code>aws-region:</code>)</td><td>Defined in AWS, not in an entity's YAML</td><td>Searches for entities in an AWS region.</td><td>• aws-region:"us-west-1"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>AWS ARN</strong> (<code>aws-arn:</code>)</td><td>Defined in AWS, not in an entity's YAML</td><td>Searches for an Amazon Resource Name (ARN). This is not supported for Cloud Control types.</td><td>• aws-arn:"arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/johndoe"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>AWS entity type</strong> (<code>aws-type:</code>)</td><td>Defined in AWS, not in an entity's YAML</td><td>Searches for entities of a given AWS entity type.</td><td>• aws-type:"lambda"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>AWS entity name</strong> (<code>aws-name:</code>)</td><td>Defined in AWS, not in an entity's YAML</td><td>Searches for an AWS entity name.</td><td>• aws-name:"abc-lambda"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>AWS primary identifier</strong> (<code>aws-identifier:</code>)</td><td>Defined in AWS, not in an entity's YAML</td><td>Searches for an AWS primary identifier.</td><td>• aws-identifier:"value"</td></tr><tr><td><strong>AWS secondary identifier</strong> (<code>aws-secondary-identifier:</code>)</td><td>Defined in AWS, not in an entity's YAML</td><td>Searches for an AWS secondary identifier.</td><td>• aws-secondary-identifier:"value"</td></tr></tbody></table>

#### Example YAML files

The YAML files below show what an entity might look like based on the examples in the table above:

**'Payments API' entity YAML**

```yaml
info:
  title: Payments API
  description: Core service handling payment processing and transaction management.
  x-cortex-tag: payments-api
  x-cortex-type: service
  x-cortex-groups:
    - payments
    - backend
  x-cortex-git:
    github:
      repository: acme/payments-api
      basepath: services/payments
  x-cortex-link:
    - url: https://runbooks.acme.com/payments-api
      name: Payments API runbook
      type: RUNBOOK
  x-cortex-owners:
    - name: payments-engineering
      type: GROUP
      provider: CORTEX
    - type: EMAIL
      email: maya.chen@acme.com
  x-cortex-oncall:
    pagerduty:
      id: P1AB2CD
      type: SERVICE
  x-cortex-slack:
    channels:
      - name: payments-alerts
        notificationsEnabled: true
      - name: payments-eng
        notificationsEnabled: true
  x-cortex-microsoft-teams:
    channels:
      - name: payments-alerts
        teamName: Payments Engineering
        description: Alerting channel for the Payments Engineering team.
        notificationsEnabled: true
  x-cortex-metadata:
    tier: "1"
    region: us-east-1
```

**'Payments engineering' team YAML**

```yaml
info:
  title: Payments Engineering
  description: Team responsible for payment processing services and infrastructure.
  x-cortex-type: team
  x-cortex-tag: payments-engineering
  x-cortex-team:
    groups:
      - name: acme/payments-engineering
        provider: GITHUB
    members:
      - name: Maya Chen
        email: maya.chen@acme.com
        notificationsEnabled: true
```

## Using global search

You can search the Cortex platform from any page using the global search function. Global search pulls from names, descriptions, and tags.

{% hint style="info" %}
In-app quick search (Cmd+K) includes entity type filter chips, letting you narrow results by type—service, domain, resource, and more—without leaving the keyboard-driven flow.
{% endhint %}

1. From the main sidebar, click **Search**. The **Search** window opens.<br>

   <div align="left" data-with-frame="true"><figure><img src="/files/GmSvYMWA0F5kWGqgcYUl" alt="The global search option, located in the main sidebar." width="111"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>
2. Enter text into the search bar.

Cortex global search covers all items by default, with tabs available to filter results by entities, Initiatives, catalogs, plugins, Scorecards, Workflows, or CQL reports. Clicking any result navigates directly to that item.

The first 10 results are displayed in the modal. Click **See all** to view additional results.

<div align="left" data-with-frame="true"><figure><img src="/files/MtWHSzofdTD7fPYB1K0z" alt="The highlighted &#x27;See all&#x27; link, used to view all search results." width="375"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>

Optionally, in the bottom-right corner of the **Search** window, toggle on **Show archived** to include archived items in the search results. Cortex saves your selection and restores it the next time you open this window.

<div align="left" data-with-frame="true"><figure><img src="/files/xyKZOJluLNZTikiIUUJb" alt="The highlighted &#x27;Show archived&#x27; toggle in the bottom-right corner of the Search window." width="375"><figcaption></figcaption></figure></div>

## Search AWS details

Additional keys are available for searching AWS details in Cortex. See [Searching AWS entities in Cortex](/ingesting-data-into-cortex/integrations/aws.md#searching-aws-entities-in-cortex) for more information.