Search

Two SQL table functions search your Workspace’s data. They answer different questions:

Function	Finds	Use it when
`search_available_data`	Tables and columns	You do not know which table holds the data.
`search_everything`	Provider records, by what their text says	You know what the records are about, such as “customers who asked about SSO”, but not where they are.

Both run on the same Flight SQL connection as the pools, and over SQL over HTTP. Both run only in interactive queries. A Plot cannot call them: saving the Plot records an error, and the Plot cannot publish until you remove the call. Search first, then write the Plot’s SQL against the source table.

Find tables and columns

search_available_data(query [, scope [, kind]]) searches the names and descriptions of tables and columns in the Provider and Workspace pools. It returns only the pools your role can query.

SELECT table_ref, column_name, description, data_type
FROM search_available_data('open issues and who they are assigned to', 'providers.linear')
ORDER BY score DESC, qualified_name
LIMIT 20

scope starts with providers or workspace, such as providers.linear or providers.linear.issues.*. kind is 'table' or 'column'. Search Available Data lists every scope pattern and result column.

Find records by what they say

search_everything finds rows in the Provider pool whose text matches a question by meaning, not only by keyword. It returns one row for each matching source record, never one row for each passage.

SELECT table_ref, row_key, column_name, snippet, score, matched_chunks
FROM search_everything('customer raised pricing concerns')
ORDER BY score DESC
LIMIT 20

Ask your Parable representative to turn on search for your Workspace. Until then, search_everything returns no rows.

What is searchable

search_everything searches only the Provider pool, and only the text fields that a Provider’s Tap schema marks for search with x-transformEmbed. Some fields are searched with context from the same record. For example, an issue’s title comes before its body. A call transcript is searched as windows of speaker turns. A Notion page is searched as its blocks, under its title, and its column_name is blocks.

Arguments

search_everything(query [, scope [, limit]]) takes up to three arguments, by position only. Named arguments (query => ...) are refused.

Argument	Meaning
`query`	Plain text that describes the records you want.
`scope`	Optional. A pattern over Provider tables that starts with `providers`, such as `providers.linear.*` for one Provider or `providers.linear.issues.description` for one field. `NULL` or `''` searches every Provider table you can read.
`limit`	Optional. The number of records to return, from 1 to 100. `NULL` returns 20.

Parable refuses arguments that it cannot search before anything runs:

A scope that does not start with providers.
A limit outside 1 to 100, or a limit that is not a whole number.
An empty query.
A query or scope that is not a text literal.

The refusal is INVALID_ARGUMENT with error code QL-PL-018. Its message names the argument and what to use instead. Over HTTP, it is a 400 with the same code.

Results

Column	Meaning
`table_ref`	The source table, such as `providers.linear.issues`.
`row_key`	The record’s key columns and values, as JSON text. Join back to the source table with it.
`column_name`	The field of the best passage, such as `description`.
`span`	Where that passage is in the field, as JSON character offsets. For a list, such as a call transcript, it also names the first and last item and their times.
`snippet`	The start of the best passage, up to 300 characters, as you are allowed to read it.
`score`	The best passage’s similarity to the query, from 0 to 1. It is not a sum across passages.
`matched_chunks`	How many of the record’s passages matched.
`provider`	The Provider’s schema in the catalog, the middle part of `table_ref`.

The snippet is not the whole record. Read the record from its source table.

Join back to the source table

row_key is a JSON object of the source table’s key columns. Read a text key with json_get_str and a numeric key with json_get_int:

SELECT issues.identifier, issues.title, found.snippet, found.score
FROM search_everything('SSO login loop', 'providers.linear.*', 20) AS found
JOIN providers.linear.issues AS issues
  ON issues.id = json_get_str(found.row_key, 'id')
ORDER BY found.score DESC

Use the key names that row_key holds. A record with more than one key column matches on each of them.

Policies apply

Parable reads each matching record again from its source table before it returns the record. That read applies the same Provider Policies and source permissions as your own query of the table. A record that a Policy hides from you is left out, and its text never appears in a snippet. If you cannot query the Provider pool, you see no records. When one source table takes too long to read, its records are left out of the result, and records from other tables still return. When no source table can be read in time, the search fails with DEADLINE_EXCEEDED and error code QL-TO-004. Over HTTP, it is a 504 with the same code. The message names the time limit. Run the search again. If it fails again, narrow the scope to fewer tables, such as providers.linear.*.

An empty result

An empty result does not prove that nothing matches. search_everything also returns no rows when:

Search is not turned on for your Workspace.
The Workspace’s AI policy admits no embedding model for this search.
The search index is missing or still building.
A record’s text changed after Parable indexed it, until the index catches up.

In these cases, find the table with search_available_data and query it directly.

Getting Started

MCP

SDKs

Providers

Parable Data Engine

Find tables and columns

Find records by what they say

What is searchable

Arguments

Results

Join back to the source table

Policies apply

An empty result

​Find tables and columns

​Find records by what they say

​What is searchable

​Arguments

​Results

​Join back to the source table

​Policies apply

​An empty result

Find tables and columns

Find records by what they say

What is searchable

Arguments

Results

Join back to the source table

Policies apply

An empty result