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Metadata filter (legacy)

This page documents the filter format used by the legacy AutoRAG REST API. For the new AI Search REST API filter syntax, refer to Metadata filtering.

Comparison filter

Compare a metadata attribute (for example, folder or timestamp) with a target value:

filters: {
  type: "eq",
  key: "folder",
  value: "customer-a/"
}

Operators

Operator	Description
`eq`	Equals
`ne`	Not equals
`gt`	Greater than
`gte`	Greater than or equal to
`lt`	Less than
`lte`	Less than or equal to

Compound filter

Combine multiple comparison filters with a logical operator:

filters: {
  type: "and",
  filters: [
    { type: "eq", key: "folder", value: "customer-a/" },
    { type: "gte", key: "timestamp", value: "1735689600000" }
  ]
}

The available compound operators are and and or.

Limitations

No nested combinations of and and or. You can only use one compound operator at a time.
When using or, only the eq operator is allowed and all conditions must filter on the same key.

"Starts with" filter for folders

To filter for all files within a folder and its subfolders, use a compound filter with range operators.

For example, consider this file structure:

customer-a - profile.md - contracts - property - contract-1.pdf

Using { type: "eq", key: "folder", value: "customer-a/" } only matches files directly in that folder (like profile.md), not files in subfolders.

To match all files starting with customer-a/, use a compound filter:

filters: {
  type: "and",
  filters: [
    { type: "gt", key: "folder", value: "customer-a//" },
    { type: "lte", key: "folder", value: "customer-a/z" }
  ]
}

This filter matches all paths starting with customer-a/ by using:

gt with customer-a// to include paths greater than the / ASCII character
lte with customer-a/z to include paths up to and including the lowercase z ASCII character

Metadata filtering - New AI Search REST API filter format
Migrate from AutoRAG Search API - Migration guide with before/after examples