# Empty search does not return descriptive message

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/empty-search-does-not-return-descriptive-message/168699>\
**Category:** Development\
**Created:** [October 30, 2020, 12:21am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/empty-search-does-not-return-descriptive-message/168699 "2020-10-30T00:21:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 3

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**Author:** ![heyallan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/heyallan/32/198583_2.png) [@heyallan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/heyallan)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2020, 10:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/empty-search-does-not-return-descriptive-message/168699/3 "2020-10-31T22:34:18Z")

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Thanks @sam

As it stands:

- Empty search is a dead spot in the API
- Search endpoint accepts a search term but also metadata arguments (user, categories, tags, etc.)
- Metadata arguments are not documented in the API
- Front-end validates the search correctly, but back-end API validates it partially (allowing empty search to go through)
- Response message should be descriptive in any case

I hope this overview helps.  
IMO this a bug. I’d be surprised if this is the intended behavior.  
Thanks anyway ✌

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