Generating Search Term FamiliesCopy Anchor Link

Claira writes search term families for Nuix Discover. Ask the Agent for search terms, or start from a Case Context, and Claira writes each term in Nuix's search syntax (dtSearch), checks every query, and gives you an Excel file that imports into Nuix with no changes.

What a search term family isCopy Anchor Link

In Nuix Discover, a search term family is a named group of terms. Each term has a term label and a term query. The term query is a single search expression covering one concept, for example:

"civil action" OR "Law suit" OR "legal proceeding*" OR litigat* OR "class action"

Two syntax behaviours do most of the work, and Claira uses both:

• Wildcards collapse grammatical variants. waterproof* matches waterproof, waterproofing, waterproofed and waterproofs, so there is no need to list them. Wildcards also work inside quoted phrases: "water proof*" matches water proofing.
• Punctuation is not indexed. Nuix reads a hyphen as a space, so water-proofing is indexed as water proofing. The spaced phrase already covers every hyphenated form, so hyphenated variants are never listed separately.

So the whole waterproofing concept is one term query:

waterproof* OR "water proof*"

Step 1: Ask for search termsCopy Anchor Link

You can start in either of two places.

In Agent Mode, ask in your own words, for example "Generate search terms for the waterproofing defect issue" or "Give me a keyword list for the pricing discussions in this document." The Agent works from what the conversation holds: your request, the case's Case Context, documents you attached to the chat, and the document open in Discover when you refer to it. It does not search the case or read documents you have not shown it.

From a Case Context, open the context and click Generate search terms in the bar at the bottom, to the left of Download Case Context. Claira saves your edits, opens a new Agent chat and asks for a search term family built from that context. The context is attached to that question: the chat shows it above your question and clicking it takes you back, and the Agent works from that context even if your case has several. The document you have open in Discover is left out of that first question. It works on draft and approved contexts. When the panel is wide enough for the buttons to sit in one row, it shows only its icon; hover it to see its name.

Step 2: Review the cardCopy Anchor Link

The Agent's reply includes a card with the family's name, the number of terms, and every label and query. Before the card appears, Claira checks every query against Nuix's search syntax: quotes and parentheses balance, operators are valid and in a valid place, NOT is used as AND NOT or NOT w/n, no word starts with a wildcard, and reserved characters are used only as operators. A query that fails is corrected before you see it. If a term still cannot be written correctly, the card lists it as left out, with its query, and it is not in the file.

To change the family, say what you want: "add a term for mould", "drop the proximity terms", "use British spellings too". The Agent shows a new card under its new reply; earlier cards stay as they were.

The card stays with the chat. Reopen the chat later and you can download the file again. Anyone who can open the chat can download it, including teammates reading a shared chat.

Step 3: Download and import into Nuix DiscoverCopy Anchor Link

Click Download spreadsheet. The Excel file is named after the family and the date, for example Claira-Search-Terms-Waterproofing defects-20260921.xlsx. It has no header row: the term label is in column A and the term query in column B, one term per row. Every cell is plain text, so a query such as ==== is never read as a formula.

In Nuix Discover:

1. Create the search term family, giving it the name on the card (or open an existing family to add the terms to it).
2. Choose Add search terms > Add terms from a file.
3. Click Browse, select the file and upload it.

Nuix uses column A as each term's label and column B as its query.

Step 4: Review before relying on itCopy Anchor Link

Sample-test the imported terms. Wildcards can be broad (seal* also finds sealer, sealants and anything else starting with seal), so confirm each term query behaves sensibly on the corpus before you use the family for scoping or negotiation.

ExampleCopy Anchor Link

For a waterproofing defect issue, the card shows terms like these:

Notes and known limitationsCopy Anchor Link

• It is free. Generating search terms costs no tokens, like the rest of Agent Mode.
• One family per request. A family holds up to 200 terms. For a second family, ask again.
• Claira does not change Nuix. It cannot create or edit search term families in Discover; you import the file.
• Queries follow the documents' language. Labels are in the language of your conversation; queries are written in the language of the documents, and in each of them when the documents are in more than one.
• Some term queries can subsume others. The last line of the example hits a subset of what waterproof* already hits; families are still often kept separate for reporting. Decide per matter.
• Reserved characters (% # & ? = ~) are operators in Nuix and are not searchable as text.
• Local model. When your local model cannot use tools, the Agent cannot show the card; it writes each term as a label and a query separated by a tab instead, which you can paste into two Excel columns (no header row) and import the same way.

SourceCopy Anchor Link

Syntax summarised from Nuix's official documentation: Search technology and query syntax (Nuix Discover / RMC), Nuix Discover version 10.20.005.

Need help? Contact support@claira.to