fix(web): unescape quoted keyword search terms

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 ### Fixed
 - Made the default home page configurable with `DEFAULT_HOME_VIEW_PAGE`, defaulting to Code Search and supporting Ask. [#1677](https://github.com/sourcebot-dev/sourcebot/pull/1677)
 - Require authentication for the streaming and blocking Ask APIs in Public SaaS deployments. [#1679](https://github.com/sourcebot-dev/sourcebot/pull/1679)
+- Fixed keyword search treating backslash escapes in quoted terms (e.g. `"foo \"bar\""`) as literal characters. [#1688](https://github.com/sourcebot-dev/sourcebot/pull/1688)
 
 ## [5.1.14] - 2026-09-17
 

packages/web/src/features/search/parser.test.ts

@@ -42,4 +42,86 @@ describe('parseQuerySyntaxIntoIR', () => {
         expect(JSON.stringify(ir)).toContain('org/repo-a');
         expect(JSON.stringify(ir)).toContain('org/repo-b');
     });
+
+    describe('quoted keyword terms', () => {
+        const prisma = {} as unknown as PrismaClient;
+
+        it('unescapes escaped quotes so the literal phrase is searched', async () => {
+            const ir = await parseQuerySyntaxIntoIR({
+                query: '"foo \\"bar\\""',
+                options: {},
+                prisma,
+            });
+
+            expect(ir).toMatchObject({
+                query: 'substring',
+                substring: { pattern: 'foo "bar"' },
+            });
+        });
+
+        it('unescapes escaped backslashes', async () => {
+            const ir = await parseQuerySyntaxIntoIR({
+                query: '"path\\\\to\\\\file"',
+                options: {},
+                prisma,
+            });
+
+            expect(ir).toMatchObject({
+                query: 'substring',
+                substring: { pattern: 'path\\to\\file' },
+            });
+        });
+
+        it('unescapes a backslash-escaped newline', async () => {
+            const ir = await parseQuerySyntaxIntoIR({
+                query: '"line1\\\nline2"',
+                options: {},
+                prisma,
+            });
+
+            expect(ir).toMatchObject({
+                query: 'substring',
+                substring: { pattern: 'line1\nline2' },
+            });
+        });
+
+        it('preserves backslashes before other characters', async () => {
+            const ir = await parseQuerySyntaxIntoIR({
+                query: '"C:\\temp"',
+                options: {},
+                prisma,
+            });
+
+            expect(ir).toMatchObject({
+                query: 'substring',
+                substring: { pattern: 'C:\\temp' },
+            });
+        });
+
+        it('unescapes a quoted content: value', async () => {
+            const ir = await parseQuerySyntaxIntoIR({
+                query: 'content:"say \\"hi\\""',
+                options: {},
+                prisma,
+            });
+
+            expect(ir).toMatchObject({
+                query: 'substring',
+                substring: { pattern: 'say "hi"' },
+            });
+        });
+
+        it('leaves escapes to the regex engine in regex mode', async () => {
+            const ir = await parseQuerySyntaxIntoIR({
+                query: '"foo \\"bar\\""',
+                options: { isRegexEnabled: true },
+                prisma,
+            });
+
+            expect(ir).toMatchObject({
+                query: 'regexp',
+                regexp: { regexp: 'foo \\"bar\\"' },
+            });
+        });
+    });
 });

packages/web/src/features/search/parser.ts

@@ -71,6 +71,16 @@ const findLinguistLanguage = (value: string): string => {
     return languageKeyLowerCaseMap.get(value.toLowerCase()) ?? value;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Quoted strings may escape quotes, backslashes, and line terminators. Keyword
+ * search matches patterns literally, so those escapes are resolved here. Other
+ * backslashes remain literal (e.g. in Windows paths). In regex mode escapes
+ * are left in place for the regex engine to interpret.
+ */
+const unescapeQuotedString = (value: string): string => {
+    return value.replace(/\\(["\\\r\n])/g, '$1');
+}
+
 /**
  * Given a query string, parses it into the query intermediate representation.
  */
@@ -221,7 +231,7 @@ const transformTreeToIR = async ({
                     query: "regexp"
                 } : {
                     substring: {
-                        pattern: termText,
+                        pattern: node.type.id === QuotedTerm ? unescapeQuotedString(termText) : termText,
                         case_sensitive: isCaseSensitivityEnabled,
                         file_name: false,
                         content: true
@@ -252,7 +262,9 @@ const transformTreeToIR = async ({
         }
 
         // Get the value part after the colon and remove quotes if present
-        const value = fullText.substring(colonIndex + 1).replace(/^"|"$/g, '');
+        const rawValue = fullText.substring(colonIndex + 1);
+        const isQuoted = rawValue.length >= 2 && rawValue.startsWith('"') && rawValue.endsWith('"');
+        const value = rawValue.replace(/^"|"$/g, '');
 
         switch (prefixTypeId) {
             case FileExpr:
@@ -296,7 +308,7 @@ const transformTreeToIR = async ({
                     query: "regexp"
                 } : {
                     substring: {
-                        pattern: value,
+                        pattern: isQuoted ? unescapeQuotedString(value) : value,
                         case_sensitive: isCaseSensitivityEnabled,
                         file_name: false,
                         content: true