Issue Search

Since v11, Issue search on Forgejo replaced its previously dropdown-defined behavior of searches with a query syntax defined by operators.

Query Syntax

Keywords

Terms

Performs a fuzzy match search of each term in the query.

For example,

foo will return results that contain foo, or any of its derivatives (such as for or food)
foo bar will return results that contain foo and/or bar or any of their derivatives

Phrase

Performs an exact match for the provided phrase. This is done by wrapping the phrase in double quotes.

For example,

"foo" will return results that contain an exact match of foo
"foo bar" will return results that contain an exact match of foo bar

Operators

Negation

Negates the keyword by returning results that do not contain the keyword. This is done by prefixing the keyword with a minus symbol.

For example,

-foo will return results that do not contain foo or its derivatives
-"foo bar" will return results that do not contain foo bar

Required

Denotes that the provided keyword MUST be present. This is done by prefixing the keyword with a plus symbol.

For example,

+foo +bar will return results that contain both foo and bar (or its fuzzy derivatives)
+"foo" +"bar" will return results that contain exactly both foo and bar
+"foo bar" +"baz" will return results that contain exactly both foo bar and baz

Escaping

All operators may be escaped by adding a backslash in front of the operators.

For example,

"\"\"" will search for ""
\+1 will search for +1

Filters

Filters listed below may be escaped by using a phrase search. For example, "is:open".

State

These filters are mutually exclusive. If multiple state filters are used, then the rightmost filter takes precedence.

Filter	Description
`is:open` or `-is:closed`	Filters issues/pull requests that are open
`is:closed` or `-is:open`	Filters issues/pull requests that are closed
`is:all`	Filters issues/pull requests that are either open or closed

Examples,

is:open +"bug": Searches for bug among open issues/PRs.
is:all -"backport": Search for all issues/PRs that do not contain the term “backport”.
"is:all": Literal search for is:all. Matches Issues/PRs that contain the term is:all.

User

These filter issues/pull requests by a username.

Filter	Description
`author:*`	Authored By
`assignee:*`	Assigned To
`review:*`	Reviewed By
`mentions:*`	Mentions the user

Examples,

author:forgejo is:all: All issues/PRs created by user forgejo.

Label

These filter issues/pull requests by label name.

Filter	Description
`label:*`	Has the given label
`+label:*`	Must have the given label (required)
`-label:*`	Does not have the given label
`no:label`	Has no labels

Like ordinary terms, multiple label: filters match either label (OR). Use +label: for each label that must be present (AND), the same way +foo +bar requires both terms.

Label matching ignores case and spaces, and also the / scope separator of a label name (which is only shown as a visual separator in the UI). So label:goodfirstissue matches a Good First Issue label, and label:testpresent matches a scoped test/present label. A / that you type yourself is kept literal, so label:test/present matches only the scoped label. To match a name exactly (case, spaces and all), wrap it in quotes, for example label:"good first issue".

Examples,

label:bug: Issues/PRs tagged with bug.
label:goodfirstissue: Issues/PRs tagged with Good First Issue (case and spaces are ignored).
label:bug label:critical: Issues/PRs tagged with bug or critical.
+label:bug +label:critical: Issues/PRs tagged with both bug and critical.
-label:wontfix is:open: Open issues/PRs not tagged wontfix.
no:label: Issues/PRs that have no labels at all.

Misc.

Filter	Description
`sort:<by>:[asc/desc]`	Sorts issues/PRs. Where, `<by>` is one of `created`, `comments`, `updated`, `deadline`
`modified:[>/<]<date>`	Last updated date in ISO format

Examples,

sort:created:desc is:all: Sort by the latest issues/PRs.
sort:comments:desc: Sort by the most commented issues.
modified:>2025-12-05: Searches for issues/PRs modified after 2025-12-05.
modified:2025-12-05: Searches for issues/PRs modified exactly on 2025-12-05.
modified:<2025-12-05: Searches for issues/PRs modified before 2025-12-05.