.polysearch File Extension

What kind of file is a .polysearch?

A .polysearch file represents a saved search, also called a smart folder, in Poly. It uses Poly's application/vnd.polyapp.search type. Opening the item runs its stored query and shows the files that currently match instead of displaying a fixed set of files.

The item stores a search definition rather than a document or archive. It has no conventional file body, text encoding, or magic bytes. Its filters, sort choices, permitted search locations, and cached results belong to the saved-search record in Poly.

How do I open a .polysearch on my computer?

Open it with Poly on Windows or macOS. Both systems let applications associate a proprietary filename extension with the app that understands it.¹² In Poly, opening the item evaluates its definition and displays a live, read-only collection of results.

Create one from the Poly CLI with poly mksearch. A browser, text editor, or archive utility cannot recover the query from the placeholder's bytes. If a copied item no longer opens correctly, return to the Poly workspace where the saved search is stored.

Poly support for .polysearch

Poly treats .polysearch as a first-class saved-search object. You can rename, move, tag, and share it like another file, but you cannot place files inside it. The item takes no blob-storage quota and is searchable by filename. Poly does not create document text, thumbnails, or semantic embeddings from the query definition.

The Poly agent can search accessible workspace content independently, but it does not read a .polysearch item as a document. Files returned by the saved search can still have their own previews, searchable content, transcripts, and agent support.

Search results respect current permissions. Cached results can provide an offline view, but they may be stale until Poly reconnects and runs the query again. See Saved Searches for examples and current creation options.

History of .polysearch

Poly created .polysearch for its saved-search association. The application/vnd.polyapp.search name follows the vnd. vendor-tree convention described by RFC 6838.³ It is not listed in IANA's media-type registry, so it is a Poly-specific identifier rather than an open interchange standard.⁴ No reliable public first-release date is documented.

Working with .polysearch and alternatives

Use .polysearch when you want a live collection that updates as matching files change. For a portable record, save the query options used to create it. You can also run the query and copy or export its current results into CSV, Markdown, or plain text.

A result export is only a snapshot. It will not update automatically and does not preserve the smart-folder behavior. Changing research.polysearch to research.json does not reveal the definition because the useful query data is stored with the Poly object, not encoded as JSON in the placeholder.