fix(core): use updated_at for recent_activity filter and ordering (#812)

Signed-off-by: claude[bot] <41898282+claude[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Signed-off-by: Drew Cain <groksrc@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: phernandez <paul@basicmachines.co>
Co-authored-by: claude[bot] <41898282+claude[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Co-authored-by: phernandez <paul@basicmachines.co>

src/basic_memory/repository/postgres_search_repository.py

@@ -774,7 +774,8 @@ class PostgresSearchRepository(SearchRepositoryBase):
         # Handle date filter
         if after_date:
             params["after_date"] = after_date
-            conditions.append("search_index.created_at > :after_date")
+            # Filter on updated_at so recently-edited notes are included even when created_at is old
+            conditions.append("search_index.updated_at > :after_date")
             # order by most recent first
             order_by_clause = ", search_index.updated_at DESC"
 
@@ -945,7 +946,7 @@ class PostgresSearchRepository(SearchRepositoryBase):
                 {score_expr} as score
             FROM {from_clause}
             WHERE {where_clause}
-            ORDER BY score DESC, search_index.id ASC {order_by_clause}
+            ORDER BY score DESC {order_by_clause}, search_index.id ASC
             LIMIT :limit
             OFFSET :offset
         """

src/basic_memory/repository/sqlite_search_repository.py

@@ -789,7 +789,8 @@ class SQLiteSearchRepository(SearchRepositoryBase):
         # Handle date filter using datetime() for proper comparison
         if after_date:
             params["after_date"] = after_date
-            conditions.append("datetime(search_index.created_at) > datetime(:after_date)")
+            # Filter on updated_at so recently-edited notes are included even when created_at is old
+            conditions.append("datetime(search_index.updated_at) > datetime(:after_date)")
 
             # order by most recent first
             order_by_clause = ", search_index.updated_at DESC"

tests/services/test_search_service.py

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 """Tests for search service."""
 
-from datetime import datetime
+from datetime import datetime, timezone
 
 import pytest
 from sqlalchemy import text
@@ -174,12 +174,12 @@ async def test_after_date(search_service, test_graph):
     )
     for r in results:
         # Handle both string (SQLite) and datetime (Postgres) formats
-        created_at = (
-            r.created_at
-            if isinstance(r.created_at, datetime)
-            else datetime.fromisoformat(r.created_at)
+        updated_at = (
+            r.updated_at
+            if isinstance(r.updated_at, datetime)
+            else datetime.fromisoformat(r.updated_at)
         )
-        assert created_at > past_date
+        assert updated_at > past_date
 
     # Should not find with future date
     future_date = datetime(2030, 1, 1).astimezone()
@@ -192,6 +192,71 @@ async def test_after_date(search_service, test_graph):
     assert len(results) == 0
 
 
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_after_date_uses_updated_at(search_service):
+    """Regression: after_date should filter on updated_at, not created_at.
+
+    An entity created before the timeframe but updated within it must appear
+    in recent-activity results. A stale entity (updated_at also old) must not.
+    """
+    cutoff = datetime(2020, 1, 1, tzinfo=timezone.utc)
+    old_created = datetime(2015, 6, 1, tzinfo=timezone.utc)
+    recently_updated = datetime(2023, 3, 15, tzinfo=timezone.utc)
+    stale_updated = datetime(2018, 6, 1, tzinfo=timezone.utc)
+
+    project_id = search_service.repository.project_id
+
+    # Leave metadata at its None default — SearchIndexRow.to_insert only
+    # JSON-serializes truthy metadata, so passing {} would slip an
+    # un-serialized dict into the SQLite bind and raise ProgrammingError.
+    recently_updated_row = SearchIndexRow(
+        project_id=project_id,
+        id=99001,
+        type="entity",
+        file_path="test/recently_updated.md",
+        title="Recently Updated Entity",
+        content_snippet="recently updated content",
+        permalink="test/recently-updated-entity",
+        created_at=old_created,
+        updated_at=recently_updated,
+    )
+    stale_row = SearchIndexRow(
+        project_id=project_id,
+        id=99002,
+        type="entity",
+        file_path="test/stale.md",
+        title="Stale Entity",
+        content_snippet="stale content",
+        permalink="test/stale-entity",
+        created_at=old_created,
+        updated_at=stale_updated,
+    )
+
+    await search_service.repository.index_item(recently_updated_row)
+    await search_service.repository.index_item(stale_row)
+
+    results = await search_service.search(
+        SearchQuery(after_date=cutoff.isoformat())
+    )
+
+    permalinks = {r.permalink for r in results}
+    # recently-updated entity must appear despite old created_at
+    assert "test/recently-updated-entity" in permalinks
+    # stale entity must not appear (updated_at is before cutoff)
+    assert "test/stale-entity" not in permalinks
+
+    # results should be ordered newest updated_at first
+    updated_ats = []
+    for r in results:
+        ua = (
+            r.updated_at
+            if isinstance(r.updated_at, datetime)
+            else datetime.fromisoformat(r.updated_at)
+        )
+        updated_ats.append(ua.replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc) if ua.tzinfo is None else ua)
+    assert updated_ats == sorted(updated_ats, reverse=True)
+
+
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 async def test_search_type(search_service, test_graph):
     """Test search filters."""