# Why am I not getting matches? > The usual reasons a stream or feed stays empty — crawl coverage, url: filters, the quality filter, the recency window, a too-strict query, or no credit. An empty stream almost always comes down to one of a few causes. Work down this list in order — they're roughly most to least common. ## The crawler hasn't reached matching pages yet Firehose matches pages **as the crawler crawls them** — it doesn't poll or fetch on demand. A brand-new rule only starts matching pages crawled *after* it's active, and a narrow topic may simply not have been crawled yet. This is normal, not a failure. **Fix:** give it time. A new rule only matches pages crawled *after* it goes active, so there's nothing to replay yet — come back later and use [`since`](/stream/streaming) (e.g. `?since=24h`) to see what matched while you were away. If you suspect the rule is too narrow, widen it by dropping extra clauses. ## A `url:` rule filters pages; it doesn't fetch them This is the single most common misunderstanding. A `url:` clause **filters which crawled pages match** — it does **not** tell Firehose to crawl that URL. If the crawler hasn't re-crawled the page, a change to it never reaches your stream, no matter how precise the `url:` filter is. **Fix:** to watch specific known URLs on a cadence you control, use [URL Watch](/url-watch/overview). ## The quality filter is dropping your results Rules have `quality` **on by default**. It limits results to pages published in the **last 7 days** and drops pagination, tag/category index pages, and URLs with query parameters. On an older or index-heavy source, that can remove everything. **Fix:** set `quality: false` on the rule to receive everything that matches. See [Rules & query syntax](/stream/rules#quality--quality-filter). ```bash curl -s -X PUT https://api.firehose.com/v1/rules/1 \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $FIREHOSE_TAP_TOKEN" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"quality": false}' ``` ## The recency window is too narrow `recent:1h` on a low-volume topic can match nothing for long stretches. **Fix:** widen the window (`recent:24h`, `recent:7d`) while you're confirming the rule works, then tighten it once matches are flowing. ## The query is stricter than you think A few query behaviors silently exclude pages (see [Rules & query syntax](/stream/rules)): - **Keyword fields are case-sensitive.** `url`, `domain`, `page_category`, `page_type`, and `language` match an exact token — `language:"EN"` won't match `en`. Text fields like `title` and `added` are lowercased, so they aren't case-sensitive. - **`added` is the default field.** A bare term like `tesla` matches text from *inserted* content, not the whole page. Use `title:tesla` to match titles. - **An `exclude`-mode domain/URL list, or org-wide [excluded domains](/dashboard/filters#excluded-domains), may be removing your sources.** Check what's attached to the tap. ## The organization is out of credit If the prepaid balance is exhausted, new stream connections return [`402`](/api-reference/errors-and-limits) and no matches are delivered. **Fix:** top up. See [How billing works](/billing/how-billing-works). ## Next steps Confirm your fields, operators, and recency are doing what you expect. The stream connects but drops, 401s, or 402s.