Turbopuffer filters on non-filterable attributes silently return nothing

TL;DR

When a Turbopuffer query returns empty unexpectedly, check the namespace schema first: every attribute you filter on must have filterable set to true. FTS, regex, glob, and fuzzy attributes default to non-filterable, so declare filterable explicitly for any attribute you plan to filter.

Steps

1. When a Turbopuffer query returns empty unexpectedly, check the namespace schema first: every attribute you filter on must have filterable set to true. FTS, regex, glob, and fuzzy attributes default to non-filterable, so declare filterable explicitly for any attribute you plan to filter. Audit the schema with ns.schema() before debugging the data.

When to use

You are seeing this: FTS, regex, glob, and fuzzy attributes default to non-filterable, so declare filterable explicitly for any attribute you plan to filter. Use this skill when you run into "Turbopuffer filters on non-filterable attributes silently return nothing".

When not to use

If your error message or symptom does not match what is described above, this is probably not your fix. Search for your exact error text instead of forcing this one to fit.

Versions

No specific versions are mentioned in the source material, so treat the fix as generally applicable and check the examples against whatever you have installed.

Why this happens

The original report does not dig into a root cause. It documents the symptom and the fix that resolved it.

Source: Official Turbopuffer skills repo (doctor reference): documents the gotcha that filters on non-filterable attributes silently return empty results. There is no error, the query just comes back with nothing, which makes agents chase phantom data problems when the real issue is the schema.

Verified resolution: When a Turbopuffer query returns empty unexpectedly, check the namespace schema first: every attribute you filter on must have filterable set to true. FTS, regex, glob, and fuzzy attributes default to non-filterable, so declare filterable explicitly for any attribute you plan to filter. Audit the schema with ns.schema() before debugging the data.

Source URL: https://github.com/turbopuffer/skills/blob/HEAD/plugins/turbopuffer/skills/tpuf/references/doctor.md