Properties, tags, and search
Updated 7/27/2026
Properties, tags, and search
Vault can index extra information about documents and assets so they are easier to find later.
Documents store this information in Markdown frontmatter. Assets store it in their asset detail panel. Both use the same tag vocabulary and both can appear in search and the public gallery when they are visible to the current reader.
Document properties
Open a document and expand Properties near the editor controls.
The Properties panel edits a YAML frontmatter block at the top of the document:
---
tags: school math course_options
aliases:
- Course planning
- Math electives
summary: Notes for comparing course options.
status: draft
project: degree_planning
---
Vault hides this block in Live and Read mode, but Source mode shows the raw Markdown.
Indexed document fields
These fields are indexed today:
| Field | Format | Used for |
|---|---|---|
tags | Space-separated tags or a YAML list | Tag search, tag autocomplete, gallery filters |
aliases | YAML list, one alias per line | Search terms for alternate names |
summary | Short text | Search and public/document previews |
status | Short text | Search, future workflow filters |
project | Short text | Search, future project grouping |
Unknown frontmatter keys are preserved when Properties rewrites the known fields, but they are not indexed yet.
Tags
Tags are shared by documents and assets.
Use spaces between tags:
tags: school math course_options
Use underscores for multi-word tags:
tags: course_options final_project
Do not rely on punctuation. Tag input is normalized to lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores. Hyphens become underscores. Commas and spaces split the input into separate tags.
For example:
Course Options, math-notes
becomes:
course options math_notes
That creates three tags: course, options, and math_notes.
Tag autocomplete
Tag fields suggest tags as you type.
Autocomplete is scoped:
| Scope | What it can suggest |
|---|---|
| Private document or asset editing | Tags from your owned assets and readable owned/shared documents |
| Public gallery search | Tags used by public documents and public assets |
This keeps private tags from leaking through public suggestions.
Canonical tags
Vault stores each normalized tag once in a global tag table. Admins can manage canonical tags from the admin tag page.
Canonical tags have:
| Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Slug | The stable normalized tag, such as course_options |
| Display name | A nicer label for UI surfaces |
| Category | One of general, topic, person, place, project, technical |
| Description | Optional explanation for what the tag means |
Aliases are admin-managed. They are meant for future cleanup and merge flows, not for normal per-document editing.
Asset metadata
Assets use the same tags as documents, but their metadata lives in the asset library instead of Markdown frontmatter.
Asset metadata fields include:
| Field | Used for |
|---|---|
| Display name | Library names, gallery cards, autocomplete labels |
| Alt text | Image accessibility and fallback embed text |
| Description | Search and public gallery details |
| Tags | Shared document/asset tag search |
| Visibility | Whether the asset is private or public |
Private assets only show to users who can read the asset or a linked document. Public assets can appear in the gallery.
Search basics
Search accepts normal words and filter tokens.
Bare words are combined with AND behavior. Every bare word must match the item somewhere.
This search:
math project
finds content that matches both math and project.
Bare words can match:
- document titles
- document Markdown content
- document aliases, summary, status, and project
- asset display names
- asset descriptions and alt text
- MIME type for assets
- owner name or username
- public slugs
- exact tag names
Search tokens
Tokens are written as key:value.
| Token | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
tag: | Require one or more tags | tag:math |
tags: | Same as tag: | tags:school math |
kind: | Filter by content kind | kind:document, kind:image, kind:pdf |
type: | Alias for kind: | type:asset, type:note |
owner: | Match owner name or username | owner:emre, owner:@lilem |
visibility: | Match visibility where that surface supports it | visibility:public, visibility:private |
sort: | Request a ranking mode in gallery search | sort:score, sort:trending |
tag: and tags: consume a run of space-separated tags until another known
filter token appears.
This:
tags:school math kind:document
means:
- require
school - require
math - only show documents
Kind values
Supported kind: and type: values depend on the search surface.
| Surface | Useful values |
|---|---|
| Public gallery | document, doc, note, public, asset, image, pdf |
| Asset library | image, pdf, asset |
| Ctrl/Cmd+K search | document, guide, image, pdf, asset, public |
When a kind does not apply to the current surface, Vault returns no matching results instead of silently showing unrelated content.
Sorting public content
The gallery supports two score-based sort tokens:
sort:score
sort:trending
sort:score uses all-time likes and views.
sort:trending favors activity from the last seven days with a small all-time
fallback.
These sort tokens only affect public gallery results. The private asset library uses its own sort control.
Search examples
Find public math content from a user:
math owner:@lilem visibility:public
Find public images tagged for a project:
kind:image tag:final_project
Find public course notes and rank by engagement:
course_options sort:score
Find documents with two tags:
tags:school math kind:document
Find PDFs with a specific tag:
type:pdf tag:assignment
Find content by an alternate document name:
Math electives
If that phrase exists in a document alias or summary, search can find it even when the title is different.
Public and private behavior
Search respects permissions.
Private metadata can be searched only by users who can already read that document or asset. Public gallery search only uses public documents, public assets, and public tag counts.
Publishing a document exposes its title, Markdown body, public slug, owner display, tags, and indexed frontmatter fields to public gallery search.
Publishing an asset exposes its display name, description, alt text, owner display, tags, kind, and MIME type to public gallery search.
Current limitations
- Search tokens do not support quoted multi-word values yet.
owner:is best used with usernames or one-word name fragments.- Tag aliases are admin-managed and are not a normal user-facing editing workflow yet.
- Unknown document frontmatter keys are preserved, but not indexed.
- The public gallery search page is the richest public search surface. Some smaller workspace panels may still use lightweight client-side filtering.