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NovaVMS Manual

Search with natural language

Search with natural language

Type a plain-English description into the search bar on the Events page. NovaVMS parses the query with an LLM, combines tag, text, and vector search (3-lane search), and returns ranked events — even when exact keywords are missing.

Procedure

  1. Open Events.
  1. Type a description. Good examples:
    • “red car at the loading dock yesterday afternoon”
    • “person carrying a bag near the main entrance after 10 pm”
    • “any vehicle with the engine running for more than 5 minutes”
  1. Press Enter. The result list shows matches ranked by relevance.
  1. Each result shows which lanes matched — Tag, Text, Vector — so you know why it ranked high.
  1. Click a result to open the event detail page.

Common variations

  • Lane toggle: disable Tag, Text, or Vector above the results to see lane-specific matches. Useful when the ranking is surprising.
  • Save the query: click Save search to name and re-run it later. Saved searches show up in the sidebar.
  • Multilingual: the parser accepts Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and 5 other languages. The underlying tag vocabulary is English, and the query is translated internally.
  • Follow-up questions: on an open event, click Ask AI to ask follow-up questions about that specific event (separate from search).

If this didn’t work

  • No results — the date range picker still applies. Widen it or clear it.
  • Unexpected results — switch off the Vector lane. Vector is the fuzzy one; disabling it makes results more literal.
  • “LLM unavailable” banner — the configured provider is down. Ask your admin, or use structured filters as a fallback.