Filtering

Filtering

After a shopper searches or browses, Nobi shows a row of filter dropdowns above the product grid. Each dropdown represents one attribute from your catalog (Color, Size, Material, Product Type, and so on) and lets the shopper narrow results without leaving the page.
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What visitors see and do

Filtering with natural language

Visitors can chat with Nobi and request new search results simply by asking. When they do this, Nobi will send a new message with new products in response to their query.

Filtering with dropdowns

In addition to simply asking, visitors can also use Nobi’s filtering dropdowns to update existing search results without having to send a new message. Filters are populated based on the data in the product catalog and are updated in real time. As a visitor selects a new filter value, other filter values will be removed when they are no longer applicable.
Here are some key points:
  • One dropdown per attribute Nobi has been told to surface for your store.
  • Dropdowns sit above the product grid and stay visible as the shopper scrolls.
  • Dropdowns whose values are already selected appear first, so the shopper sees their active filters at a glance.
Selecting values:
  • Clicking a dropdown opens the list of values present in the current result set, with the highest-count values first.
  • A shopper can select more than one value in the same dropdown. The dropdown header shows a count badge (1, 2, 3, and so on) reflecting how many values they have selected.
  • Each selection re-runs the search and updates the product grid immediately.
  • Numeric attributes like Size sort in number order (8, 8.5, 9, 10) instead of alphabetically, so shoe and clothing sizes line up the way shoppers expect.
Clearing values:
  • Unchecking a value in the dropdown removes that one filter.
  • A Clear All button at the end of the row wipes every selection at once.
  • Cleared selections stay cleared on Show More and on follow-up searches. The shopper's intent is preserved across the rest of the session.
When nothing matches:
If a shopper picks a combination that returns zero products, Nobi tells them and suggests unchecking a filter to see more options. The applied filters stay visible so the shopper can decide which to relax rather than starting over.

How filters combine with the search

Auto-applied filters

When a shopper types something like "black boots," Nobi may automatically apply Color = Black so the shopper does not have to set it manually. The Color dropdown shows the value as already selected, and the shopper can remove it the same way as any other filter.

Show More

The Show More button under the product grid loads additional products that match the current filter state. Whatever the shopper has selected (or cleared) at the moment they click Show More is what the additional results respect.

How values combine

  • Within a single dropdown, multiple selections combine with OR. Picking Red and Blue under Color shows products that are either color.
  • Across different dropdowns, selections combine with AND. Picking Color = Red and Size = M shows products that are both.

Where the filter dropdowns come from

Nobi builds the filter row automatically from the data in your product catalog. You don't have to define filters or write any configuration to get a working filter dropdown for every meaningful attribute.

What Nobi inspects

When Nobi syncs your catalog, it walks every product and product variant and pulls candidate filter values from three sources:
  • Structured variant options like Color, Size, Material, and Style. These come from your platform's native variant fields (for example, Shopify variant options or your feed's standard attributes).
  • Variant attributes and metafields. Any custom key/value pair you've attached to a product or variant becomes a candidate filter, including things like Fabric, Toe Type, Heel Height, or Compatibility.
  • Product tags. Tags are treated as values too. If a product is tagged "Cowboy" and "Boots," both tags become candidate values that Nobi can group under attribute keys (for example, a Subclass dropdown).

How attributes become dropdowns

Nobi groups all the values it found by their attribute key. Every distinct key becomes a candidate dropdown. The values that appear inside each dropdown are the distinct values seen across the products in the current result set, sorted by how many products use them (highest count first), or numerically when the values are numbers (sizes, widths).
Because the values are pulled live from the result set, dropdowns naturally adapt to whatever the shopper is browsing. A search for "sweaters" surfaces sweater colors and fabrics; a search for "watches" surfaces strap material and case size.

What gets shown by default and what you can override

Nobi runs a one-time classification pass on every attribute key it finds, deciding which keys are useful filter dropdowns for shoppers and which are internal noise. Keys like "sku," "barcode," or supplier codes are hidden by default; keys like Color, Size, and Material are shown by default.
You can override any of those decisions from the Filters tab in your Nobi dashboard. See the next section for how.

How merchants control which filters appear

The Filter Configuration tab in your Nobi dashboard lists every attribute key Nobi has detected in your catalog. Each key has a Show or Hide toggle.
  • Toggling Show makes the attribute appear as a dropdown to shoppers.
  • Toggling Hide removes that dropdown.
  • Changes take effect on the next shopper search. No redeploy or cache purge needed.
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Use Hide to suppress noisy attributes that would not help a shopper narrow results (internal SKUs, supplier codes, raw tags) and Show to surface the attributes that genuinely matter for your category.

Styling filters

To learn more about how to style the filter UX, see our page on Styling Filters.