#Search — Finding Anything

You've cataloged hundreds of items, scanned dozens of receipts, and had countless conversations with your AI. Now you need to find that one specific thing. Good news: search in ambientChat understands what you mean, not just what you type.

#What It Does

Search in ambientChat is powered by AI embeddings — a fancy way of saying it understands the meaning behind your words, not just the exact letters. When you search for "red kitchen knife," it finds your "Victorinox 8-inch Chef's Knife (Fibrox Pro, Red Handle)" even though you didn't type any of those exact words. It understands that a chef's knife is a kitchen knife, and that Fibrox Pro Red means the handle is red.

This semantic search works across three domains:

  • Inventory — Find items by describing them naturally. "Coffee stuff," "things I bought at Target," "electronics worth over $100."
  • Documents — Search your receipts, manuals, warranties, and other uploaded documents by what they contain, not just their filenames.
  • Chat History — Find past conversations by topic. "What did we discuss about meal planning?" surfaces the relevant exchange even if those exact words weren't used.

Traditional keyword search is also available in the search bars — type a word and it matches against item names, brands, and descriptions. But the real magic is in semantic search, which happens automatically when you ask the AI in chat.

#How to Use It

#iOS App

#Searching Your Inventory

  1. Tap the Context tab, then the Inventory sub-tab
  2. Tap the search bar at the top of the screen
  3. Type your search terms — results filter in real time as you type
  4. This is keyword-based search: it matches against item names, brands, descriptions, and categories
  5. Combine with category chips below the search bar to narrow results further

For semantic search (meaning-based), use chat instead — see the "Via Chat" section below.

#Searching Your Documents

  1. Tap the Context tab, then the Documents sub-tab
  2. Tap the search bar at the top
  3. Type to filter documents by name or content
  4. Results include receipts, manuals, warranties, and any other uploaded documents

#Searching Chat History

Your conversation history is searchable through the AI itself. Ask in chat:

  • "What did we talk about last week?"
  • "Find our conversation about home insurance."
  • "When did I ask you about my camera collection?"

The AI searches your past exchanges and surfaces relevant conversations.

#Via Chat

Chat is where semantic search truly shines. Instead of guessing the right keywords, just describe what you want in plain language:

Inventory searches:

  • "Find my coffee-related items."
  • "What kitchen tools do I have?"
  • "Show me everything from Costco."
  • "Do I have any AA batteries?"
  • "What's the most expensive thing in my inventory?"

Document searches:

  • "Find receipts from January."
  • "Show me the warranty for my vacuum cleaner."
  • "What does my TV manual say about wall mounting?"
  • "Find any documents mentioning insurance."

Conversation searches:

  • "What did we discuss about meal planning?"
  • "Remind me what you suggested for organizing my garage."
  • "Find the conversation where I asked about my medication interactions."

The AI interprets your intent, searches the relevant domain (or all of them), and returns what you're looking for. No Boolean operators, no exact-match frustration, no "did you mean?" loops.

#Via Claude Desktop (MCP)

If you've connected ambientChat.ai to Claude Desktop via MCP, these search tools are available:

  • ambientchat_get_inventory — Search inventory with natural language queries. Pass a query parameter like "what cheese do I have?" or "electronics under $50."
  • ambientchat_get_documents — Search documents with natural language. Optionally filter by type (receipt, manual, warranty, certificate, contract).
  • ambientchat_recall_history — Search past conversation history by topic. Pass a query and optional limit for number of results.

Example prompts in Claude Desktop:

  • "Search my ambientChat inventory for anything chocolate-related."
  • "Find my ambientChat receipts from the last month."
  • "What have I discussed with ambientChat about home organization?"

#Tips & Tricks

  • Be descriptive, not precise. Search understands meaning, so "red kitchen knife" works better than trying to remember the exact brand name. Describe the item the way you'd describe it to a friend, and let the AI figure out the match.
  • Search works across all fields. Inventory search checks item names, brands, descriptions, categories, locations, and notes. If you stored "garage shelf 3" in an item's location field, searching "garage" will find it.
  • Use chat for complex queries. The search bar in the Inventory tab does keyword matching. For anything nuanced — "what food do I have that goes with pasta?" or "electronics I bought more than a year ago" — ask the AI in chat. It combines semantic search with reasoning to give you exactly what you need.

#Options

Setting What It Does Default
Inventory Search Bar Keyword search across item names, brands, and descriptions Empty (show all)
Document Search Bar Keyword search across document names and content Empty (show all)
Category Filter Narrow inventory results to a specific category All categories
MCP query parameter Natural language search string for MCP tools Required for search
MCP limit parameter Number of results to return (for recall_history) 5

#Known Limitations

  • Newly added items may not be immediately searchable. When you scan or add an item, the system generates an AI embedding (a mathematical representation of the item's meaning) that powers semantic search. This takes a few seconds. If you search immediately after adding something and don't find it, wait a moment and try again.
  • Keyword search is literal. The search bars in the Inventory and Documents tabs do keyword matching, not semantic search. Searching for "knife" won't find "blade" or "cutting tool." For meaning-based search, ask the AI in chat.
  • Very large inventories may return many results. If you have hundreds of items and search for something broad like "food," you'll get a long list. Narrow your search with more specific terms or combine with category filters.
  • Chat history search depends on conversation being saved. Only conversations that were logged to your history are searchable. If a conversation was lost due to a connectivity issue, it won't appear in history searches.

#Version History

Version Date What Changed
1 2026-03-01 Initial guide