Search

Search

Search Confluence content using CQL (Confluence Query Language).

Prerequisites

• Authenticated profile (atlcli auth login)
• Space permission: View permission on spaces to search

Quick Start

# Search by text
atlcli wiki search "API documentation"

# Search in space
atlcli wiki search "API" --space TEAM

# Search by label
atlcli wiki search --label api

Recent Pages

Quick access to recently modified pages:

# Last 7 days (default)
atlcli wiki recent

# Last 30 days
atlcli wiki recent --days 30

# Filter by space
atlcli wiki recent --space TEAM

# Filter by label
atlcli wiki recent --label api

# Limit results
atlcli wiki recent --limit 50

The wiki recent command generates CQL like:

type = page AND lastModified >= now("-7d") ORDER BY lastModified DESC

My Pages

Quick access to pages you created or contributed to:

# Pages I created (default)
atlcli wiki my

# Pages I contributed to (edited)
atlcli wiki my --contributed

# Filter by space
atlcli wiki my --space TEAM

# Filter by label
atlcli wiki my --label api

# Limit results
atlcli wiki my --limit 50

The wiki my command generates CQL like:

type = page AND creator = currentUser() ORDER BY lastModified DESC

CQL Search

Use full CQL for advanced queries:

atlcli wiki search --cql "space = TEAM AND label = api AND lastModified > now('-7d')"

Search Filters

By Space

atlcli wiki search "query" --space TEAM
atlcli wiki search "query" --space TEAM,DOCS,API

By Content Type

atlcli wiki search "query" --type page
atlcli wiki search "query" --type blogpost
atlcli wiki search "query" --type attachment

By Label

# Single label
atlcli wiki search --label api

# Multiple labels (AND)
atlcli wiki search --label "api,v2"

By Creator

atlcli wiki search --creator "alice@company.com"
atlcli wiki search --creator currentUser()

By Ancestor

Search within a page tree:

atlcli wiki search "query" --ancestor 12345

By Date

# Modified recently
atlcli wiki search --modified-since "7d"
atlcli wiki search --modified-since "2025-01-01"

# Created recently
atlcli wiki search --created-since "30d"

Search Options

Flag	Description
--space	Filter by space key(s)
--type	Content type: page, blogpost, attachment
--label	Filter by label(s)
--title	Search in title only
--creator	Filter by creator
--ancestor	Search under page tree
--modified-since	Modified after date/duration
--created-since	Created after date/duration
--limit	Max results (default: 25)
--start	Pagination offset
--format	Output format: table (default), compact
--json	JSON output

Output Formats

Table (Default)

atlcli wiki search "API" --space TEAM

ID        TITLE                 SPACE   MODIFIED
12345     API Reference         TEAM    2025-01-14
12346     API Authentication    TEAM    2025-01-13
12347     API Rate Limits       TEAM    2025-01-10

JSON

atlcli wiki search "API" --space TEAM --json

{
  "schemaVersion": "1",
  "results": [
    {
      "id": "12345",
      "title": "API Reference",
      "space": {"key": "TEAM", "name": "Team Docs"},
      "type": "page",
      "url": "https://company.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/TEAM/pages/12345",
      "excerpt": "...comprehensive <em>API</em> documentation...",
      "lastModified": "2025-01-14T10:00:00Z",
      "creator": {"displayName": "Alice"},
      "labels": ["api", "reference"]
    }
  ],
  "total": 42,
  "limit": 25,
  "start": 0
}

CQL Reference

Common Operators

Operator	Example
=	space = TEAM
!=	space != ARCHIVE
~	title ~ "API*" (contains)
IN	space IN (TEAM, DOCS)
NOT IN	label NOT IN (draft, deprecated)
AND	space = TEAM AND type = page
OR	label = api OR label = docs

Date Functions

Function	Description
now()	Current time
now('-7d')	7 days ago
now('-1M')	1 month ago
startOfDay()	Start of today
startOfWeek()	Start of current week

Special Values

Value	Description
currentUser()	Logged-in user
currentSpace()	Current space context

Examples

Find Outdated Content

atlcli wiki search --cql "lastModified < now('-90d') AND space = DOCS"

Find My Recent Pages

atlcli wiki search --creator currentUser() --modified-since 7d

Find Pages Without Labels

atlcli wiki search --cql "space = TEAM AND label IS EMPTY"

Find Draft Content

atlcli wiki search --label draft --space TEAM

Full-Text Search in Title

atlcli wiki search --title "installation guide"

Export Search Results

# Get all IDs for scripting
atlcli wiki search --label api --json | jq -r '.results[].id'

# Export to CSV
atlcli wiki search --space TEAM --json | \
  jq -r '.results[] | [.id, .title, .lastModified] | @csv'

Pagination

For large result sets:

# First 25
atlcli wiki search "query" --limit 25 --start 0

# Next 25
atlcli wiki search "query" --limit 25 --start 25

# Get all (iterate)
START=0
while true; do
  RESULT=$(atlcli wiki search "query" --limit 100 --start $START --json)
  COUNT=$(echo $RESULT | jq '.results | length')
  [ "$COUNT" -eq 0 ] && break
  echo $RESULT | jq -r '.results[].title'
  START=$((START + 100))
done

Troubleshooting

No Results Found

Symptom: Search returns empty results for content you know exists.

Causes:

• Content hasn’t been indexed yet (newly created pages)
• Search query syntax error
• Space filter excludes the target space

Fix: Wait a few minutes for indexing, or check CQL syntax. Try without space filter to verify.

CQL Syntax Error

Symptom: Error: CQL parse error

Cause: Invalid CQL query syntax.

Fix: Check operators and field names. Use quotes around values with spaces.

Related Topics

• Labels - Search by label
• Pages - Page operations after finding results
• Audit - Find stale or orphaned content