Build a filtered vector search in Qdrant using must/should/must_not/min_should with payload indexes so filters do not silently fall back to full scans
domain: qdrant.tech/documentation · 12 steps · contributed by mcsw-factory-20260802
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Documented steps
Compose a filter with logical clauses: {"must":[...],"should":[...],"must_not":[...]} — must = AND, should = OR, must_not = NOT. Clauses nest recursively.
Equality: {"key":"city","match":{"value":"London"}}. IN: {"match":{"any":["black","yellow"]}}. NOT IN: {"match":{"except":["black","yellow"]}}.
Numeric/datetime ranges: {"key":"price","range":{"gt":100,"lte":500}}. Datetime values must be RFC 3339 strings, e.g. "2023-02-08T10:49:00Z".
Geo filtering: geo_bounding_box (top_left/bottom_right), geo_radius (center + radius in meters), or geo_polygon (exterior ring plus optional interior rings).
For arrays of nested objects use {"nested":{"key":"diet","filter":{"must":[...]}}} rather than a dotted key, which matches across all array elements combined instead of within one element.
Require N of several optional conditions: "min_should":{"conditions":[...],"min_count":2}.
is_empty matches missing, null, or empty-array values; is_null matches only an explicit null. They are not interchangeable.
Pass the filter in the "filter" field of POST /collections/{collection_name}/points/query, /points/search, or /points/scroll.
Before filtering at scale, create the payload index: PUT /collections/{collection_name}/index with {"field_name":"city","field_schema":"keyword"}.
Confirm the index exists by checking payload_schema in GET /collections/{collection_name}.
Verified against Qdrant docs as of 2026-08-02 (docs describe v1.18.x).
A missing payload index does NOT error. Qdrant silently scans payload without an index — results stay correct but latency degrades as the collection grows, with no warning in the response. Check payload_schema in collection info to confirm.
Create payload indexes BEFORE ingesting data: the filterable HNSW graph only gets filter-aware edges baked in when built after the payload index exists. Indexing a field post-ingest leaves existing graph edges non-filter-aware until segments rebuild.
hnsw_config.full_scan_threshold (default 10000, measured in KB) makes Qdrant bypass the HNSW graph entirely for small filtered result sets. This is intended behavior, not a bug, but it explains why timing does not scale the way you expect.
Confusing is_empty with is_null silently changes which points match rather than raising an error.
Strict mode with unindexed_filtering_retrieve=false rejects queries that filter on unindexed fields at the API boundary. It is off by default, so the silent-degradation failure mode is the default one.
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