# How to Create a Custom Query with Outbound Feeds

Source: https://dev.arcxp.com/arc-io/developer-docs/how-to-create-a-custom-query-with-outbound-feeds/

Outbound Feeds leverages the `feeds-content-api` content source, which uses the [ Elasticsearch Query DSL](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl.html) JSON format to query the `/publish` endpoint of the [Content Operations API](https://dev.arcxp.com/api/content-administration/contentops-api/). The `feeds-content-api` content source returns the 100 most recently updated stories from the last two days when using its default settings. This page details the default query configuration for `feeds-content-api` and the resolver fields you can modify to create custom queries.

## Default query

The default query for the `feeds-content-api` content source is an array that contains two objects:

```
[{"term":{"type": "story"}},{"range":{"last_updated_date":{"gte":"now-2d","lte":"now"}}}]
```

Breaking down the array, the first object is as follows:

```
{
    "term": {
        "type": "story"
    }
}
```

The first object only includes the content if the Arc XP Native Specification (ANS) field is `“type” == “story”`.

The second object is as follows:

```
{
    "range": {
        "last_updated_date": {
            "gte": "now-2d",
            "lte": "now"
        }
    }
}
```

The second object includes the content if the ANS field `last_update_date` is between now and two days ago (`now-2d`).

## Custom queries

If you want to change the query used by the `feeds-content-api` content source, you must enter a valid JSON array of terms into the `Include-Terms` and `Exclude-Terms` fields of the resolver.

> **Tip:**
>
> For a list of ANS fields that you can use in a search, see [Content API query reference](https://dev.arcxp.com/publishing-platform/developer-docs/content-api/content-api-query-reference/).

The `Include-Terms` value becomes the queries `must` clause and the Exclude-Terms becomes the queries `must_not` clause. If you leave the `Include-Terms` field blank, the `feeds-content-api` content source uses the default query.

> **Important:**
>
> If you enter an invalid JSON, there are no issues while editing and saving the resolver, but the resolver returns an error after a request.

### Examples of custom queries

This section lists the steps to create custom queries taking the default query as a starting point and using different terms and parameters.

If you want to create a feed containing stories or galleries published in the last week, take the following steps:

1. Change the first `term` to `terms` and use an array to hold both “story” and “gallery”.
2. Change `last_updated_date` to `publish_date` and “2d” to “1w”.
Valid terms to use instead of “now” include: **y=year, M=month, w=week, d=day, h=hour**
Example:
```
[{"terms":{"type": ["story", "gallery"]}},{"range":{"publish_date":{"gte":"now-1w","lte":"now"}}}]  
```
3. Add more terms to the query by adding additional terms joined with a comma.
The following example limits a feed to stories created by your staff:
```
[{"term":{"type": "story"}},{"range":{"last_updated_date":{"gte":"now-2d","lte":"now"}}},{"term":{"source.source_type":"staff"}}]  
```

If you want to limit a feed to only stories with a featured image, use the `“exists”` term to make sure content has a `“promo_items.basic.url”`.

```
[{"term":{"type": "story"}},{"range":{"last_updated_date":{"gte":"now-2d","lte":"now"}}},{"exists":{"field":"promo_items.basic.URL"}}]
```

> **Note:**
>
> The `“exists”` term requires a newer version of Elasticsearch. Test that the `"exists"` term works, otherwise the Content-API rejects the query.
>
> If you use a custom query, you can still pass sections, authors, keywords and tags. The content source appends those values to your query.

## Sections

Section queries are different from other ANS fields. You **can not** use `taxonomy.sections` with a term statement like other fields. Because of this, the content source has a `Sections` field that takes a list of sections to include and a `Exclude-Sections` field that takes a list of sections to exclude. You can use `taxonomy.primary_section` in queries, but a piece of content can only have one `primary_section`.

## Analyzed fields

ElasticSearch has a special way of indexing some fields called “analyzed fields”, where each word in the field is tracked individually. For example, if you store the phrase “Chicago-Cubs” in an analyzed field (subtype, for example), it keeps track of each word separately. This is also true if you use spaces in an analyzed field. This enables you to search for either of the lower case values “chicago” or “cubs” and get a match on that record. But if you want to search for exactly “Chicago-Cubs” you must use either the [match\_phrase](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl-match-query-phrase.html) or [simple\_query\_string](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl-simple-query-string-query.html) queries. The `simple_query_string` query allows for the use of complex regex syntax like “&” and “|”. If you want to search for the phrase “Chicago-Cubs” in subtype, you must use the following query:

```
[{"match_phrase":{"subtype": "chicago-cubs"}}]
```

If you want to match on several phrases like “Chicago Cubs”, “Chicago Bears”, or “Chicago Bulls”, you must add quotes (\\”) around the words in the query string:

```
[{"simple_query_string":{"query": "\"chicago cubs\" | \"chicago bears\" | \"chicago bulls\"", "fields":["subtype"]}}]
```

Some analyzed fields like `taxonomy.tags.text` have a raw version that isn’t analyzed. If you want to search for the phrase “Chicago-Cubs” in `tags.text`, you can use a query like the following:

```
[{"term":{"taxonomy.tags.text.raw":"chicago-cubs"}}]
```

## Exclude-terms

To exclude content based on a field, the `Exclude-Terms` uses the exact same format as Include-Terms, but it goes into the `must_not` section of the query. You can just populate the `Exclude-Terms` field to add it to the default query. You can also combine it with a custom query in `Include-Terms`. If you want to exclude sponsored content while using the default query, enter the following in `Exclude-Terms`:

```
[{"term":{"sponsored": true}}]
```

You might want to include all types of content (story, video, gallery, and audio) in a feed except collections. Enter the following in `Exclude-Terms` to exclude “collections”:

```
[{"term":{"type":"collection"}}]
```

As with the `Include-Terms` field, if you use multiple terms in the `Exclude-Terms` field, they are logically _AND’d_ together. If the `content_code` is “premium” and the language is “es” in the `Exclude-Terms` field, the content is excluded:

```
[{"term":{"content_restrictions.content_code": "premium"}},{"term":{"language": "es"}}]
```