How to use Smart Crates & Advanced Search? Query Syntax Guide

Crates includes a powerful query syntax that lets you filter and organize your music library using flexible, rule-based filters.

The same syntax works in both:

• Search – for temporarily filtering your library
• Smart Crates – for creating saved, auto-updating collections

A Smart Crate is simply a saved search that updates automatically as your library grows.

Here’s how to use queries in Crates:

Using queries in Search and Smart Crates

1. Use a query in Search:
   Type a query in the search box to instantly filter your tunes.
   
   
   
   
2. Create a Smart Crate with the same query:
   Navigate to your Crates library through the left-side tree, right-click the Crate that you want to insert a Smart Crate under, and select ‘New Smart Crate.’ Then enter the same kind of query there to create a saved, dynamic result.
   
   
   
   
3. Define the filters:
   Use the supported fields below to define which tunes should be included.
   Here’s a loaded example:
   
   in:Collection bpm>100 bpm<105 genre:bass tags:vinyl grouping:primetime discovered>2024-10-01
   
   This query returns tunes that:
   • Are under the crate named ‘Collection’
   • Have BPM between 100 and 105
   • Have genre ‘bass’
   • Are tagged with tag ‘vinyl’
   • Have grouping ‘primetime’
   • Were discovered after October 1, 2024
     

All fields in the example above are combined using AND (which can be included or omitted), meaning all criteria must be met for a tune to match.

How to think about it

• Search = temporary filtering
• Smart Crate = saved, auto-updating search

Operators & Syntax notes

Crates also supports advanced query syntax to create more complex filters:

• Wildcards:
  Use * to match multiple characters and ? to match a single character.
  Example: genre:*hop will match any genre ending with ‘hop’ (e.g. trip hop, glitch hop, hip hop).
• Quotation Marks:
  Use quotation marks " for exact matches or when string values contain spaces.
  Example: genre:"uk garage"
• ‘OR’ and parentheses for nesting logic:
  Use parentheses () to group multiple conditions. This allows you to combine AND and OR operations.
  Example: (genre:house OR genre:"uk garage") bpm>128 bpm<136 tags:boatparty
• ‘NOT’ Operator:
  Use ! to exclude specific terms.
  Example: genre:dub !genre:techno matches all dub tunes but excludes the ones with genre ‘dub techno’

Supported Fields

Other Notes

• Additional text fields supported: label, composer, remixer, albumartist, filename
• Text fields will have * appended by default to return incomplete terms, e.g. title:circl will return ‘circle’ as well.
• Please mind the spaces between fields and operators. bpm>100 is correct, "bpm > 100" is not valid.
• You can use the same query in both Search and Smart Crates.

More examples

• Jazz In collection but not in playlists: in:Collection!in:"DJ Playlists" genre:jazz
• Recently discovered: discovered>2026-03-01
• Your vinyl-only collection: tags:vinyl
• Ambient / chill selection and key A :(genre:ambient OR tags:chill OR grouping:chill) and key:A*