Notion search retrieve

Notion Search & Data Retrieval

Overview

Search across a Notion workspace, query databases with compound filters, retrieve individual pages, and extract nested block content. Covers the full read path: workspace-level search, database queries with filter/sort/pagination, page retrieval, and recursive block tree traversal.

Prerequisites

• @notionhq/client installed (npm install @notionhq/client)
• Notion integration token with read access to target pages/databases
• Integration added to target pages via the Share menu in Notion
• Completed notion-install-auth setup

Instructions

Step 1: Search the Workspace

Call notion.search() to find pages and databases. The integration only sees content explicitly shared with it.

import { Client } from '@notionhq/client';

const notion = new Client({ auth: process.env.NOTION_TOKEN });

// Search for pages matching a query
const searchResults = await notion.search({
  query: 'meeting notes',
  filter: {
    property: 'object',
    value: 'page',        // 'page' or 'database'
  },
  sort: {
    direction: 'descending',
    timestamp: 'last_edited_time',
  },
  page_size: 20,
});

for (const result of searchResults.results) {
  if (result.object === 'page' && 'properties' in result) {
    const titleProp = Object.values(result.properties)
      .find(p => p.type === 'title');
    const title = titleProp?.type === 'title'
      ? titleProp.title.map(t => t.plain_text).join('')
      : 'Untitled';
    console.log(`${title} (${result.id})`);
  }
}

An empty query string returns all shared content. Results are eventually consistent — newly shared pages may take a few seconds to appear in the index.

Step 2: Query Databases with Filters

Call notion.databases.query() for structured queries. Filters support compound and/or logic. See filter-operators.md for every property type and operator.

// Single filter
const activeItems = await notion.databases.query({
  database_id: 'your-database-id',
  filter: {
    property: 'Status',
    select: { equals: 'Active' },
  },
  sorts: [
    { property: 'Priority', direction: 'descending' },
  ],
  page_size: 50,
});

// Compound filter with AND
const highPriorityActive = await notion.databases.query({
  database_id: 'your-database-id',
  filter: {
    and: [
      { property: 'Status', select: { equals: 'Active' } },
      { property: 'Priority', number: { greater_than: 3 } },
    ],
  },
});

Step 3: Paginate, Retrieve Pages, and Extract Content

Notion uses cursor-based pagination — every list endpoint returns has_more and next_cursor, so loop until the cursor is exhausted. Call notion.pages.retrieve() for a single page, then notion.blocks.children.list() to read its content recursively.

// Pagination skeleton — loop until has_more is false
let cursor: string | undefined = undefined;
do {
  const response = await notion.databases.query({
    database_id: databaseId,
    start_cursor: cursor,
    page_size: 100,          // 100 is the max — use it for bulk pulls
  });
  // ...collect response.results...
  cursor = response.has_more ? response.next_cursor! : undefined;
} while (cursor);

The reference file provides three drop-in helpers: queryAllPages() (collects every row), extractProperties() (a switch covering all 15 property types), and getPageContent() (depth-guarded recursive block traversal). See full walkthrough for the complete code and tuning notes on page_size and recursion maxDepth.

Choosing a retrieval depth. For a flat list of records, queryAllPages() alone suffices — skip block traversal. To read the actual page body (paragraphs, toggles, nested lists), call getPageContent() and raise its maxDepth only as deep as the content nests, since each level multiplies API calls.

Output

• Workspace-wide search returning pages and databases sorted by recency
• Database queries with compound filters across all property types
• Full pagination collecting every matching result
• Typed property extraction for all 15 Notion property types
• Recursive block tree traversal yielding full page content

Error Handling

Issue	Cause	Solution
Could not find database	Database not shared with integration	Open database in Notion, click Share, add the integration
Could not find page	Page not shared or deleted	Verify page is shared; check archived status
Empty search results	Integration not connected	Share parent page/database with integration; wait for indexing
validation_error on filter	Wrong operator for property type	Check filter-operators.md
HTTP 429 rate_limited	Too many requests	Back off using Retry-After header; use page_size: 100
Missing properties	Partial page object	Check 'properties' in page before casting to PageObjectResponse
Incomplete page content	Not recursing child blocks	Check has_children and recurse; increase maxDepth

Examples

See examples.md for complete patterns including database export, full-text page dump, and compound filter variations.

Resources

• Notion Search API
• Query a Database
• Retrieve a Page
• List Block Children
• Filter Reference
• Property Values
• @notionhq/client npm

Next Steps

For creating and updating pages, see notion-core-workflow-a. For PII handling and GDPR compliance, see notion-data-handling. For real-time sync via webhooks, see notion-webhooks-events.