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Filters & domain lists

Reusable query fragments and domain/URL lists you attach to taps to shape what they match — plus AI query generation.

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Filters and domain lists are reusable building blocks that keep your rules clean. Instead of pasting the same long NOT domain:… clause into every rule, define it once and apply it. Manage them all from the Filters page in the dashboard.

An organization can hold up to 50 filters, and each list-type filter can hold up to 5,000 entries.

Query filters

A query filter is a named, reusable query fragment. Define common logic once — a junk-URL exclusion, a language qualifier, a category set — and reference it from rules instead of repeating it.

Define a filter named no-junk:

NOT url:/.*\/page\/[0-9]+.*/ AND NOT url:*\/category\/* AND NOT url:*\/tag\/*

Then reference it from a rule by name with $:

title:tesla AND language:"en" AND $no-junk

Firehose expands the reference inline before the query is matched. A filter's own body is raw query syntax — filters can't reference other filters.

Domain and URL lists

A domain list or URL list is a named set of values that Firehose expands into a query clause and applies to a tap. A domain list [techcrunch.com, theverge.com] becomes:

(domain:techcrunch.com OR domain:theverge.com)

A URL list expands the same way against the url field. Attach a list to a tap in one of two modes:

  • Include — the tap only matches pages on those domains/URLs (the clause is AND-ed as a positive).
  • Exclude — the tap never matches pages on those domains/URLs (the clause is AND NOT-ed).

This lets you keep a curated source list (include) or a blocklist (exclude) and apply it across all of a tap's rules without editing each rule. Add and remove entries individually, or import a list in bulk.

A URL list narrows which crawled pages a tap matches — it doesn't schedule crawls of those URLs. A tap matches a URL only when the crawler re-crawls it, on its own schedule. To watch specific pages for changes on a cadence you set, use URL Watch.

Excluded domains

The excluded domains list is an organization-level blocklist. Domains on it are suppressed across all of your rules, so you don't have to add the same NOT domain:… clause to each one. Use it for sources you never want to hear from again — content farms, aggregators, or known-noisy sites.

Manage it from the Excluded domains page. You can import and export in bulk, including the Google Disavow file format, so an existing blocklist can be reused.

Excluded domains apply at the organization level — to every tap. For a list that should only affect one tap, attach an exclude-mode domain list to that tap instead.

AI query generation

Writing queries by hand has a learning curve, so Firehose can generate one from a plain-language description. In the rule or filter editor, choose Generate query and describe your intent — for example, "news articles about electric vehicles in English from the last day, excluding pagination pages." Firehose produces a validated query plus a short explanation:

"EV news in English, last 24h, no pagination"
        │  generate
        ▼
title:"electric vehicle" AND language:"en" AND recent:24h
  AND NOT url:/.*\/page\/[0-9]+.*/

Treat the output as a strong first draft. The generator knows the field vocabulary, but you know your use case — adjust fields, add a query filter, or tighten the recency window before saving.

Next steps

Rules & query syntax

The grammar your filters and rules are written in.

The live feed

Watch what your taps match in the dashboard.