Query Types

The 6 query types the CORE search router classifies every query into, and what each handler returns.

How classification works

The CORE search router (apps/webapp/app/services/search-v2/router.ts) classifies every incoming query into one of 6 query types and dispatches it to a dedicated handler. Classification uses vector search on the LABEL namespace to find matched labels, plus LLM aspect extraction to identify aspect intent. The router also returns shouldSearch: boolean to skip search entirely when appropriate. See how-core-searches for the full pipeline.

The 6 query types

aspect_query

Trigger: the user wants facts of a specific aspect type (preferences, decisions, directives, goals, and similar).

Example queries:

• “What are my coding preferences?”
• “Show my decisions about auth”
• “What directives have I set for code review?”

Router fills aspects: string[] with the matched aspect enum values. Handler handleAspectQuery runs graph traversal scoped by matched labels and aspects, plus entity-hint resolution and vector fallback. Returns statements grouped by aspect.

entity_lookup

Trigger: the user wants information about a specific named entity. Router sets lookupMode to one of two values:

• attribute: the query asks for a specific field of the entity. Router sets attributeHint (for example "phone", "email", "team"). Examples: “What is John’s phone number?”, “Sarah’s email?”. Handler returns the entity node with that attribute.
• broad: the query asks generally about the entity. Examples: “Who is Sarah?”, “Tell me about X”, “anything about airbnb email”. Handler returns episodes where the entity appears.

Example queries:

• “What is John’s phone number?” (attribute, attributeHint: "phone")
• “Who is Sarah?” (broad)
• “Anything about the airbnb email?” (broad)

In both modes, entity hints are resolved via vector search on the ENTITY namespace before traversal.

temporal

Trigger: the query is bounded by time.

Example queries:

• “What happened last week?”
• “What did we decide yesterday?”
• “Show my work from January”

Router fills temporal: { type: "recent" | "range" | "before" | "after" | "all", days, startDate, endDate }. Handler handleTemporal runs label-plus-time graph traversal, the entity-hint path, and vector fallback in parallel. Returns episodes within the time bound.

temporal_facets

Trigger: the user wants aggregates over a time range, not specific episodes.

Example queries:

• “What topics did I speak about last week?”
• “Who are the people I spoke about this month?”
• “What decisions and goals came up last month?”

Router fills facets: ("topics" | "entities" | "aspects")[] along with the temporal bounds. Handler returns counts grouped by facet, not episodes.

exploratory

Trigger: broad topic queries with no specific entity, aspect, or time anchor.

Example queries:

• “Search implementation in CORE”
• “Authentication architecture”
• “Catch me up on recent work”

Handler queries compacted session documents scoped by matched labels, plus the entity-hint path and vector fallback. Returns session summaries and related statements.

relationship

Trigger: a connection between 2 or more entities. Requires at least 2 entity hints.

Example queries:

• “How do I know Sarah?”
• “How is the payment service related to Stripe?”
• “What is the connection between TypeScript and CORE?”

Handler resolves each entity hint via vector search on the ENTITY namespace, then performs graph traversal for statements connecting them. Returns the connecting statements.

When no search runs

The router can decide shouldSearch: false for greetings or unrelated chat (for example “Hello!” or “What’s the weather?”). When this happens, the search pipeline short-circuits and returns empty without dispatching to any handler.

Related

• how-core-searches: the full search pipeline that wraps this router.
• aspects: the aspect enum values used by aspect_query and temporal_facets.
• entity_types: the entity kinds resolved during entity_lookup and relationship.
• labels: the LABEL namespace used during classification.