Filter context.

also: query context · query vs filter · filter cache

Search clauses that only say yes or no (no scoring) and can be cached, versus query clauses that compute relevance scores.

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Query context: 'how well does it match?', scored and sorted. Use for the search text.
Filter context: 'does it match?', binary. Use for price ranges, category, in-stock.
Filters skip scoring and frequently used ones are cached as bitsets: much faster.
Rule: search terms in query, structured constraints in filter.

also: query context · query vs filter · filter cache

Search clauses that only say yes or no (no scoring) and can be cached, versus query clauses that compute relevance scores.

Query context: 'how well does it match?', scored and sorted. Use for the search text.
Filter context: 'does it match?', binary. Use for price ranges, category, in-stock.
Filters skip scoring and frequently used ones are cached as bitsets: much faster.
Rule: search terms in query, structured constraints in filter.