Intelligent Search.
Find by meaning, not just keywords.
Clear Tangle's Smart search understands the meaning of your content. Search for “team motivation” and find notes about “employee engagement” — even without those exact words. All processing happens locally for maximum privacy.
QUICK ACCESS
Open Smart search
Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + FOpen command palette
Cmd/Ctrl + PHow it works
1Describe what you needType a natural language query about what you’re looking for.
2AI understands meaningYour query is converted to a vector embedding and compared against all your content.
3Get ranked resultsResults are sorted by relevance — most similar first.
Local-first privacy
Search uses local AI processing — no external API calls for vector embeddings.
MODELState-of-the-art locally hosted embedding model
SPEED~100ms per embedding
PRIVACYZero external API calls
Search types
Smart SearchFind content by meaning. Great for vague queries or when you can’t remember exact words.
"notes about improving sleep quality"Command PaletteQuick navigation and actions. Search by title or navigate to features.
"project: Marketing" or "page: Roadmap"Smart filters
Narrow results with filters:
ProjectSearch within a specific project
TagFilter by tag
Date rangeLimit to specific time periods
TypeCaptures, pages, or tasks only
Find related
From any capture’s detail view, click “Find Related” to discover similar items. This helps you:
Discover connections you didn’t know existedFind older notes on the same topicBuild context for research or writingIdentify duplicate or overlapping captures
Example searches
⌕notes about renewable energy— finds “solar power”, “wind farms”
⌕improving team communication
⌕ideas for the product launch
⌕meeting notes from last month
⌕anything related to budget concerns
⌕research on customer feedback
Navigation tips
↑ ↓Navigate resultsEnterOpen selected itemEscClose searchHYBRID FALLBACK
If Smart search doesn’t find results or embeddings fail, Clear Tangle automatically falls back to traditional text search so you always find your content.