Using search in Cortex

Cortex has two options for searching:

The search bar at the top of any catalog
- This search uses Lucene for the search index. See the available operators below.
The global search
- The global search allows you to conduct a quick search from anywhere in Cortex, and it searches 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.

Enter text into the search bar to perform a basic search, or use operators to refine your search.

info

Searches prepend and append a wildcard to your search. For example, searching for "search doc" would be translated into *search doc* under the hood.

Search index and operators

Cortex uses Lucene for the search index, so queries must follow Lucene syntax.

If you search for a term that includes Lucene syntax characters, such as :, try wrapping your search term in double quotes.

Below is a chart of Cortex's search index and available operators. The search fields are listed in order of weight, with title, tag and CID carrying the most weight and repo basepath, links, and custom data carrying the least weight.

Search field	Corresponding YAML field	Explanation	Examples (based on sample YAMLs below)
Title (`title:` or `name:`)	`title`	Searches for the entity's name as defined in the `title` field.	search doc search title:"search doc" name:"search doc"
Tag (`tag:`)	`x-cortex-tag`	Searches for an entity tag as defined in the `x-cortex-tag` field. If an entity 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.	search-doc search tag:"search-doc" tag:"search"
CID (`cid:`)	(depends on integration)	Searches for an ID associated with an entity. This usually comes from a third-party integration.	ASDF1234 cid:"ASDF1234"
Description (`description:`)	`description`	Searches for the supplied term(s) in an entity's description.	example entity article search example description:"article" description:"using search"
Group (`group:`)	`x-cortex-groups`	Searches for entity group names.	docs writing group:"writing-project" group:"docs"
Owner (`owner:`)	`x-cortex-owners`	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.	technical writers sample.user owner:"sample" owner:"technical"
Member (`member:`)	`x-cortex-team`, `members`	Searches for the name and email address for a team member. This query only returns Team entities.	additional user additional.user member:"additional" member:"user"
Slack channel (`slack:`)	`x-cortex-slack`	Searches for a Slack channel name defined in the `x-cortex-slack` field.	frontal-lobe left-brain slack:"frontal" slack:"left"
Microsoft Teams channel (`microsoft-team:`)	`x-cortex-microsoft-teams`	Searches for a Microsoft Teams channel name defined in the `x-cortex-microsoft-teams` field.	team-docs documentation microsoft-team:"team-docs" microsoft-team:"documentation"
Repository (`repo:` or `repository:`)	`x-cortex-git`, `repository`	Searches for a Git repository name.	cortex/docs docs repo:"docs" repo:"cortex/docs"
Repo basepath (`repo-basepath:` or `repository-basepath:` )	`x-cortex-git`, `basepath`	Searches for a Git repo basepath name.	myEntity repo-basepath:"myEntity"
Link (`link:`)	`x-cortex-link`	Searches for link based on `name` and `URL` defined under `x-cortex-link`.	docs.cortex.io live docs link:"live" link:"docs.cortex"
Custom data (`custom-data:`)	`x-cortex-custom-metadata`	Searches for custom data imported from APIs, third-party integrations, and/or defined in the `x-cortex-metadata` block.	cerebrum cerebellum custom-data:"regions-of-brain" custom-data:"cereb"
AWS account ID (`aws-account-id:`)	Defined in AWS, not in an entity's YAML	Searches for the AWS account ID of an entity.	aws-account-id:"012345678901"
AWS account name (`aws-account-name:`)	Defined in AWS, not in an entity's YAML	Searches for entities with an AWS account name.	aws-account-name:"example-aws-account"
AWS region (`aws-region:`)	Defined in AWS, not in an entity's YAML	Searches for entities in an AWS region.	aws-region:"us-west-1"
AWS ARN (`aws-arn:`)	Defined in AWS, not in an entity's YAML	Searches for an Amazon Resource Name (ARN).	aws-arn:"arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/johndoe"
AWS entity type (`aws-type:`)	Defined in AWS, not in an entity's YAML	Searches for entities of a given AWS entity type.	aws-type:"lambda"
AWS entity name (`aws-name:`)	Defined in AWS, not in an entity's YAML	Searches for an AWS entity name.	aws-name:"abc-lambda"
AWS primary identifier (`aws-identifier:`)	Defined in AWS, not in an entity's YAML	Searches for an AWS primary identifier.	aws-identifier: "value"
AWS secondary identifier (`aws-secondary-identifier:`)	Defined in AWS, not in an entity's YAML	Searches for an AWS secondary identifier.	aws-secondary-identifier: "value"

Example YAML files

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

Search doc entity YAML

info:
  title: Search doc
  description: Example entity for an article about using search in Cortex.
  x-cortex-tag: search-doc
  x-cortex-type: service
  x-cortex-groups:
    - writing-project
    - docs
  x-cortex-git:
    github:
      repository: cortex/docs
      basepath: myEntity
  x-cortex-link:
    - url: https://docs.cortex.io/
      name: Live docs
      type: DOCUMENTATION
  x-cortex-owners:
    - name: technical-writers
      type: GROUP
      provider: CORTEX
    - type: EMAIL
      email: sample.user@fake.com
  x-cortex-oncall:
    pagerduty:
      id: ASDF1234
      type: SERVICE
  x-cortex-slack:
    channels:
      - name: frontal-lobe
        notificationsEnabled: true
      - name: left-brain
        notificationsEnabled: true
  x-cortex-microsoft-teams:
    channels:
    - name: team-docs
      teamName: documentation
      description: This is a description for the docs channel in Teams.
      notificationsEnabled: true
  x-cortex-metadata:
    regions-of-brain: cerebrum, cerebellum

Technical writers team YAML

info:
  title: Technical writers
  description: Example Team behind the article about using search in Cortex.
  x-cortex-type: team
  x-cortex-tag: technical-writers
  x-cortex-team: 
    groups:
      - name: cortex/technical-writers
        provider: GITHUB
    members:
      - name: Additional User
        email: additional.user@example.com
        notificationsEnabled: true

tip

An entity's title, tag, and ID have carry the greatest weight in a search.

Search AWS details

There are additional keys available to search Amazon Web Services (AWS) details in Cortex. See Searching AWS entities in Cortex for more information.

Using global search in Cortex

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

Click the magnifying glass at the bottom of the main nav or use the keyboard shortcut cmd+k to open the global search modal:

The search modal displays a list of recommended entities and Scorecards - you can click any of these to go to its details page.

Enter a search term in the search bar to pull up 10 entities or Scorecards that have the search term in their name. This can be a good way to quickly access a specific entity when you're not in the catalogs.

You can also use the Search in buttons to enter the term directly into the search bar on the All entities, All Initiatives, or All Scorecards pages.

Using the catalog search bar​

Search index and operators​

Example YAML files​

Search AWS details​

Using global search in Cortex​

Using the catalog search bar

Search index and operators

Example YAML files

Search AWS details

Using global search in Cortex