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Searching Treechat

Treechat has a powerful Google-style search that lets you find conversations, filter by user, content type, date, and more. This guide will show you how to search like a pro.

Common Search Tasks

Finding Posts by a User

To find all posts by a specific user, use from:username:

from:alice bitcoin

This finds all posts by alice mentioning bitcoin.

You can OR multiple users together by comma-separating them:

from:alice,bob ethereum

This returns posts where either alice or bob is the root author.

ℹ️ from: always matches the quest’s parent author. Replies/comments from a user do not make a quest show up unless they created the root post.

Finding Recent Conversations

Use date filters to find recent content:

after:2025-09-01 AI

Or find older content:

before:2024-01-01 cryptocurrency

Combine them for date ranges:

after:2025-09-01 before:2025-10-01 blockchain

Finding Content by Type

Search for posts with specific media types:

  • Videos: has:video machine learning
  • Images: has:image infographic
  • Links: has:url bitcoin
  • Tweets: has:tweet elon musk
  • Any media: has:media

Use upvalue (Bitcoin SV tips) to find valuable content:

upvalue:>=1000 technology

Or by upvote count:

upvote:>50 cryptocurrency

Searching Within Teams/Streams

Filter by specific teams or streams:

stream:bitcoin market analysis

Search multiple streams:

stream:bitcoin,ethereum DeFi

Search teams with spaces in names:

stream:"Bitcoin Discussion" market analysis

Search multiple teams with mixed quoting:

stream:"Team A","Team B",unquoted DeFi

Special pseudostreams:

  • stream:public - Public feed
  • stream:private - Your private posts
  • stream:clips - Clips

Exact Phrases and Exclusions

Require an exact phrase:

+"nakamoto consensus" bitcoin

Exclude content:

cryptocurrency -scam -fraud

Combine them:

stream:bitcoin +"proof of work" -BCH

Sorting Results

Change how results are ranked:

  • Newest first: sort:new
  • Most relevant: sort:relevance
  • Trending: sort:hot
  • Most upvalued: sort:top

Example:

stream:technology AI sort:hot

Complete Operator Reference

User Filters

from:username

Filter posts by a specific user (case-insensitive username lookup).

Quote support: Use quotes for usernames with spaces: from:"User Name"

Compound values: Comma-separate usernames to OR them together:

  • from:alice,bob – posts where alice OR bob is the parent author
  • from:"Jane Doe","John Smith" – parent author matching either quoted name

Examples:

  • from:alice - All posts by alice
  • from:"John Doe" - User with spaces in name (requires quotes)
  • from:bob bitcoin - Bob’s bitcoin posts

Stream/Team Filters

stream:team_name

Filter by teams/streams. Supports comma-separated values.

Quote support for names with spaces:

  • stream:"Team With Spaces" - Single team with spaces
  • stream:"Team A","Team B",unquoted - Mixed quoted and unquoted
  • Works with from: and other operators

Compound search logic:

  • Multiple streams use OR logic: stream:A,B returns posts from stream A OR stream B
  • Multiple operators use AND logic: stream:A from:user returns posts in A AND by user

Standard streams:

  • stream:bitcoin
  • stream:bitcoin,ethereum - Multiple streams (OR logic)

Pseudostreams:

  • stream:public or stream:home - Public feed
  • stream:private - Your private posts
  • stream:clips or stream:clip - Clips

Examples:

  • stream:bitcoin,ethereum AI
  • stream:"Bitcoin Discussion",ethereum,"DeFi Projects"
  • stream:public has:video
  • stream:clips from:alice

Date Filters

before:YYYY-MM-DD

Find posts created before a date.

Example: before:2025-10-01

after:YYYY-MM-DD

Find posts created after a date.

Example: after:2025-09-01

Date Ranges

Combine both for date ranges.

Example: after:2025-09-01 before:2025-10-01


Content Type Filters

has:video

Find posts with video attachments.

Example: has:video machine learning

has:image

Find posts with images.

Example: has:image infographic

Find posts containing URLs (including embedded tweets).

Example: has:url bitcoin

has:tweet

Find posts with embedded tweets.

Example: has:tweet elon musk

has:media

Find posts with any media (video, image, url, or tweet).

Example: has:media


Visibility Filters

is:public

Show only public posts.

Example: is:public has:video

is:private

Show only your private posts.

Example: is:private has:image

is:clip

Show only clips.

Example: is:clip from:alice


Value Filters

upvote:[operator]value

Filter by upvote count.

Operators: =, >, >=, <, <=

Examples:

  • upvote:10 or upvote:=10 - Exactly 10 upvotes
  • upvote:>10 - More than 10 upvotes
  • upvote:>=10 - 10 or more upvotes
  • upvote:<10 - Less than 10 upvotes
  • upvote:<=10 - 10 or fewer upvotes

Example: upvote:>=10 has:url

upvalue:[operator]value

Filter by Bitcoin SV upvalue (in satoshis).

Uses same operators as upvote.

Examples:

  • upvalue:>=1000 - 1000+ satoshis
  • upvalue:>5000 technology - High-value tech posts

Sort Operators

sort:new

Sort by newest first (chronological).

Aliases: sort:time, sort:recency

Example: sort:new bitcoin

sort:relevance

Sort by text relevance with engagement signals.

Aliases: sort:relev

Example: sort:relevance AI

sort:hot

Sort by trending (time-decayed engagement).

Aliases: sort:trending

Example: sort:hot cryptocurrency

sort:top

Sort by most upvoted/upvalued.

Aliases: sort:upvote, sort:upvalue

Example: sort:top has:video

Note: If multiple sort operators are present, the last one wins.


Required/Excluded Content

+"exact phrase"

Require an exact phrase.

Example: +"nakamoto consensus"

-"unwanted phrase"

Exclude posts with this phrase.

Example: bitcoin -"price prediction"

+requiredword

Require a specific word (unquoted).

Example: +bitcoin +blockchain technology

-excludedword

Exclude posts with a word.

Example: cryptocurrency -scam -fraud

Combine multiple:

stream:bitcoin +"nakamoto consensus" -scam +decentralization

Complex Quote and Compound Usage

Mixed quoted and unquoted streams:

stream:"Bitcoin Discussion",ethereum,"DeFi Projects"

Searches three teams: “Bitcoin Discussion” (quoted), “ethereum” (unquoted), and “DeFi Projects” (quoted).

stream:"Team A","Team B",unquoted from:"User Name" has:video sort:hot

Finds videos from user “User Name” in any of the three teams, sorted by trending.

Quote handling rules:

  • Use quotes when names contain spaces
  • Mix quoted and unquoted values in comma-separated lists
  • Quotes are optional for single-word names

Operator Logic

Within an operator (OR logic):

  • stream:A,B,C - Returns posts from A OR B OR C
  • from:alice,bob - Returns posts where alice OR bob is the parent author
  • Multiple values are combined with OR

Between operators (AND logic):

  • stream:A from:user - Returns posts in A AND by user
  • Different operators are combined with AND

Example:

  • stream:bitcoin,ethereum from:alice
  • Returns: Posts by alice in (bitcoin OR ethereum)
  • Logic: (stream=bitcoin OR stream=ethereum) AND from=alice

Real-World Examples

Find User Content with Filters

from:alice has:video before:2025-10-01

All video posts by alice before October 1, 2025.

stream:bitcoin,ethereum +"nakamoto consensus" -scam

Bitcoin or Ethereum streams with exact phrase, excluding scams.

Public Video Content

is:public has:video sort:hot

Trending public video posts.

upvote:>=10 has:url after:2025-09-01 sort:top AI

Highly upvoted AI posts with URLs from September 2025 onwards, sorted by upvotes.

Private Images from User

is:private has:image from:bob

Bob’s private image posts.

stream:technology upvote:>50 has:video +"machine learning" -hype after:2025-01-01 sort:relevance

Technology stream, highly upvoted videos with exact phrase “machine learning”, excluding “hype”, from 2025 onwards, sorted by relevance.


How Search Works

Filter Extraction

All operators are extracted from your query. The remaining text becomes a free-form search.

Example: from:alice bitcoin mining

  • User filter: alice
  • Free-form query: “bitcoin mining”

Case Sensitivity

  • User lookups: Case-insensitive
  • Team/stream lookups: Case-insensitive
  • Filter keywords: Case-insensitive
  • Free-form search text: Original case preserved (analyzed by search engine)

Caching

User and team lookups are cached per request for performance.

Error Handling

The search returns errors for:

  • User not found: from:nonexistent_user
  • Stream not found: stream:invalid_name
  • Ambiguous stream: stream:name (when multiple matches exist)
  • Invalid date format: before:2025-13-45
  • Invalid numeric value: upvote:notanumber
  • Negative numeric values: upvote:-5

All errors include descriptive messages to help you fix your query.