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nb search performs full-text search across notes, bookmarks, and any other text files tracked in a notebook. It is powered by Git’s built-in git grep tool by default and supports boolean query logic, regular expressions, tag and type filters, and a choice of alternative search backends. Results show matching excerpts with the matched text highlighted.

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Usage

nb search ([<notebook>:][<folder-path>/][<id> | <filename> | <title>])
          <query>... [-a | --all] [--and <query>] [--not <query>] [--or <query>]
          [-l | --list] [--path] [-t <tag1>,<tag2>... | --tag <tag1>,<tag2>...]
          [-t | --tags] [--type <type> | --<type>] [--utility <name>]

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Options

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<query>
string
One or more search terms. When multiple positional query arguments are given, they are combined as AND queries — only items matching all of the terms are returned.
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-a, --all
flag
Search all unarchived notebooks rather than only the current one.
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--and <query>
string
Add an explicit AND condition. Equivalent to passing an additional positional query. Items must match this term in addition to any other queries.
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--or <query>
string
Add an OR condition. Items matching any one of the OR queries are included. Multiple --or flags can be chained in a single command.
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--not <query>
string
Exclude items that match this term from the results, regardless of other query matches.
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-l, --list
flag
Print only the id, filename, and title for each matching item — no excerpts. Useful for feeding results into other commands.
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--path
flag
Print the full filesystem path for each matching file instead of the default listing format.
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-t, --tag <tag1>,<tag2>...
string
Filter results to items that contain the specified tag(s). Accepts a comma-separated list. Multiple -t / --tag flags are combined as AND conditions.
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--tags
flag
List all tags found in the current notebook (or the specified notebook/folder) instead of performing a text search.
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--type <type>
string
Restrict the search to items of a particular type. <type> can be a file extension (md, org, txt, etc.) or one of the named types: archive, audio, book, bookmark, document, folder, image, note, text, video. The shorthand --<type> form (e.g., --bookmark) is also accepted.
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--utility <name>
string
Use an alternative search tool instead of git grep. Supported values: rga, rg, ag, ack, grep.

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Shortcut Alias

nb q <query>

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Examples

# Search the current notebook for "example query"
nb search "example query"

# Search using the shortcut alias
nb q "example query"

# Search a specific notebook
nb search example: "example query"

# Search a specific folder within a notebook
nb search example:notes/ "project plan"

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Search Backends

By default nb search uses git grep, which is always available because every notebook is a git repository. For additional capabilities — such as searching inside PDFs or binary files — you can install and select an alternative tool:
BackendFlag valueHomepage
git grep (default)(built-in)Always available
rga (ripgrep-all)--utility rgahttps://github.com/phiresky/ripgrep-all
rg (ripgrep)--utility rghttps://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep
ag (Silver Searcher)--utility aghttps://github.com/ggreer/the_silver_searcher
ack--utility ackhttps://beyondgrep.com/
grep--utility grephttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grep
rga (ripgrep-all) can search inside PDFs, Word documents, EPUBs, and other binary formats in addition to plain text, making it the most powerful option when your notebook contains mixed file types.

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How Multiple Query Terms Work

Multiple positional arguments behave as AND: nb search "foo" "bar" returns only items that contain both “foo” and “bar”. The --and, --or, and --not flags give you explicit control over how terms are combined, and all four mechanisms can be mixed in a single command.
# Matches items that contain "Alpha" AND "Beta" but NOT "Gamma"
nb search "Alpha" --and "Beta" --not "Gamma"

# Matches items that contain "Alpha" OR "Delta"
nb search "Alpha" --or "Delta"

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Searching Tags

Tags in nb are written as #hashtag inside note content. The --tag / -t option searches for these inline tags: 
# Find all notes tagged #project
nb search --tag project

# Find notes tagged both #project and #2024
nb search --tag project,2024

# List every tag used across the current notebook
nb search --tags

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