diff --git a/docs/src/python/polars_arrow.md b/docs/src/python/polars_arrow.md
index 9d6d8c33..51a281a3 100644
--- a/docs/src/python/polars_arrow.md
+++ b/docs/src/python/polars_arrow.md
@@ -9,23 +9,50 @@ LanceDB supports [Polars](https://github.com/pola-rs/polars), a blazingly fast D
 
 First, we connect to a LanceDB database.
 
+=== "Sync API"
+
+    ```py
+    --8<-- "python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py:import-lancedb"
+    --8<-- "python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py:connect_to_lancedb"
+    ```
+
+=== "Async API"
+
+    ```py
+    --8<-- "python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py:import-lancedb"
+    --8<-- "python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py:connect_to_lancedb_async"
+    ```
 
-```py
---8<-- "python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py:import-lancedb"
---8<-- "python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py:connect_to_lancedb"
-```
 
 We can load a Polars `DataFrame` to LanceDB directly.
 
-```py
---8<-- "python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py:import-polars"
---8<-- "python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py:create_table_polars"
-```
+=== "Sync API"
+
+    ```py
+    --8<-- "python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py:import-polars"
+    --8<-- "python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py:create_table_polars"
+    ```
+
+=== "Async API"
+
+    ```py
+    --8<-- "python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py:import-polars"
+    --8<-- "python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py:create_table_polars_async"
+    ```
+
 We can now perform similarity search via the LanceDB Python API.
 
-```py
---8<-- "python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py:vector_search_polars"
-```
+=== "Sync API"
+
+    ```py
+    --8<-- "python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py:vector_search_polars"
+    ```
+
+=== "Async API"
+
+    ```py
+    --8<-- "python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py:vector_search_polars_async"
+    ```
 
 In addition to the selected columns, LanceDB also returns a vector
 and also the `_distance` column which is the distance between the query
@@ -112,4 +139,3 @@ The reason it's beneficial to not convert the LanceDB Table
 to a DataFrame is because the table can potentially be way larger
 than memory, and Polars LazyFrames allow us to work with such
 larger-than-memory datasets by not loading it into memory all at once.
-
diff --git a/python/python/lancedb/table.py b/python/python/lancedb/table.py
index 48513e7f..a752deaa 100644
--- a/python/python/lancedb/table.py
+++ b/python/python/lancedb/table.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import asyncio
 import inspect
 import warnings
 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@ from .dependencies import _check_for_pandas
 import pyarrow as pa
 import pyarrow.compute as pc
 import pyarrow.fs as pa_fs
+import numpy as np
 from lance import LanceDataset
 from lance.dependencies import _check_for_hugging_face
 
@@ -39,6 +41,8 @@ from .index import BTree, IvfFlat, IvfPq, Bitmap, LabelList, HnswPq, HnswSq, FTS
 from .merge import LanceMergeInsertBuilder
 from .pydantic import LanceModel, model_to_dict
 from .query import (
+    AsyncFTSQuery,
+    AsyncHybridQuery,
     AsyncQuery,
     AsyncVectorQuery,
     LanceEmptyQueryBuilder,
@@ -2702,6 +2706,19 @@ class AsyncTable:
         """
         return await self._inner.schema()
 
+    async def embedding_functions(self) -> Dict[str, EmbeddingFunctionConfig]:
+        """
+        Get the embedding functions for the table
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        funcs: Dict[str, EmbeddingFunctionConfig]
+            A mapping of the vector column to the embedding function
+            or empty dict if not configured.
+        """
+        schema = await self.schema()
+        return EmbeddingFunctionRegistry.get_instance().parse_functions(schema.metadata)
+
     async def count_rows(self, filter: Optional[str] = None) -> int:
         """
         Count the number of rows in the table.
@@ -2931,6 +2948,234 @@ class AsyncTable:
 
         return LanceMergeInsertBuilder(self, on)
 
+    @overload
+    async def search(
+        self,
+        query: Optional[Union[str]] = None,
+        vector_column_name: Optional[str] = None,
+        query_type: Literal["auto"] = ...,
+        ordering_field_name: Optional[str] = None,
+        fts_columns: Optional[Union[str, List[str]]] = None,
+    ) -> Union[AsyncHybridQuery | AsyncFTSQuery | AsyncVectorQuery]: ...
+
+    @overload
+    async def search(
+        self,
+        query: Optional[Union[str]] = None,
+        vector_column_name: Optional[str] = None,
+        query_type: Literal["hybrid"] = ...,
+        ordering_field_name: Optional[str] = None,
+        fts_columns: Optional[Union[str, List[str]]] = None,
+    ) -> AsyncHybridQuery: ...
+
+    @overload
+    async def search(
+        self,
+        query: Optional[Union[VEC, "PIL.Image.Image", Tuple]] = None,
+        vector_column_name: Optional[str] = None,
+        query_type: Literal["auto"] = ...,
+        ordering_field_name: Optional[str] = None,
+        fts_columns: Optional[Union[str, List[str]]] = None,
+    ) -> AsyncVectorQuery: ...
+
+    @overload
+    async def search(
+        self,
+        query: Optional[str] = None,
+        vector_column_name: Optional[str] = None,
+        query_type: Literal["fts"] = ...,
+        ordering_field_name: Optional[str] = None,
+        fts_columns: Optional[Union[str, List[str]]] = None,
+    ) -> AsyncFTSQuery: ...
+
+    @overload
+    async def search(
+        self,
+        query: Optional[Union[VEC, str, "PIL.Image.Image", Tuple]] = None,
+        vector_column_name: Optional[str] = None,
+        query_type: Literal["vector"] = ...,
+        ordering_field_name: Optional[str] = None,
+        fts_columns: Optional[Union[str, List[str]]] = None,
+    ) -> AsyncVectorQuery: ...
+
+    async def search(
+        self,
+        query: Optional[Union[VEC, str, "PIL.Image.Image", Tuple]] = None,
+        vector_column_name: Optional[str] = None,
+        query_type: QueryType = "auto",
+        ordering_field_name: Optional[str] = None,
+        fts_columns: Optional[Union[str, List[str]]] = None,
+    ) -> AsyncQuery:
+        """Create a search query to find the nearest neighbors
+        of the given query vector. We currently support [vector search][search]
+        and [full-text search][experimental-full-text-search].
+
+        All query options are defined in [AsyncQuery][lancedb.query.AsyncQuery].
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        query: list/np.ndarray/str/PIL.Image.Image, default None
+            The targetted vector to search for.
+
+            - *default None*.
+            Acceptable types are: list, np.ndarray, PIL.Image.Image
+
+            - If None then the select/where/limit clauses are applied to filter
+            the table
+        vector_column_name: str, optional
+            The name of the vector column to search.
+
+            The vector column needs to be a pyarrow fixed size list type
+
+            - If not specified then the vector column is inferred from
+            the table schema
+
+            - If the table has multiple vector columns then the *vector_column_name*
+            needs to be specified. Otherwise, an error is raised.
+        query_type: str
+            *default "auto"*.
+            Acceptable types are: "vector", "fts", "hybrid", or "auto"
+
+            - If "auto" then the query type is inferred from the query;
+
+                - If `query` is a list/np.ndarray then the query type is
+                "vector";
+
+                - If `query` is a PIL.Image.Image then either do vector search,
+                or raise an error if no corresponding embedding function is found.
+
+            - If `query` is a string, then the query type is "vector" if the
+              table has embedding functions else the query type is "fts"
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        LanceQueryBuilder
+            A query builder object representing the query.
+        """
+
+        def is_embedding(query):
+            return isinstance(query, (list, np.ndarray, pa.Array, pa.ChunkedArray))
+
+        async def get_embedding_func(
+            vector_column_name: Optional[str],
+            query_type: QueryType,
+            query: Optional[Union[VEC, str, "PIL.Image.Image", Tuple]],
+        ) -> Tuple[str, EmbeddingFunctionConfig]:
+            schema = await self.schema()
+            vector_column_name = infer_vector_column_name(
+                schema=schema,
+                query_type=query_type,
+                query=query,
+                vector_column_name=vector_column_name,
+            )
+            funcs = EmbeddingFunctionRegistry.get_instance().parse_functions(
+                schema.metadata
+            )
+            func = funcs.get(vector_column_name)
+            if func is None:
+                error = ValueError(
+                    f"Column '{vector_column_name}' has no registered "
+                    "embedding function."
+                )
+                if len(funcs) > 0:
+                    add_note(
+                        error,
+                        "Embedding functions are registered for columns: "
+                        f"{list(funcs.keys())}",
+                    )
+                else:
+                    add_note(
+                        error, "No embedding functions are registered for any columns."
+                    )
+                raise error
+            return vector_column_name, func
+
+        async def make_embedding(embedding, query):
+            if embedding is not None:
+                loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
+                # This function is likely to block, since it either calls an expensive
+                # function or makes an HTTP request to an embeddings REST API.
+                return (
+                    await loop.run_in_executor(
+                        None,
+                        embedding.function.compute_query_embeddings_with_retry,
+                        query,
+                    )
+                )[0]
+            else:
+                return None
+
+        if query_type == "auto":
+            # Infer the query type.
+            if is_embedding(query):
+                vector_query = query
+                query_type = "vector"
+            elif isinstance(query, str):
+                try:
+                    (
+                        indices,
+                        (vector_column_name, embedding_conf),
+                    ) = await asyncio.gather(
+                        self.list_indices(),
+                        get_embedding_func(vector_column_name, "auto", query),
+                    )
+                except ValueError as e:
+                    if "Column" in str(
+                        e
+                    ) and "has no registered embedding function" in str(e):
+                        # If the column has no registered embedding function,
+                        # then it's an FTS query.
+                        query_type = "fts"
+                    else:
+                        raise e
+                else:
+                    if embedding_conf is not None:
+                        vector_query = await make_embedding(embedding_conf, query)
+                        if any(
+                            i.columns[0] == embedding_conf.source_column
+                            and i.index_type == "FTS"
+                            for i in indices
+                        ):
+                            query_type = "hybrid"
+                        else:
+                            query_type = "vector"
+                    else:
+                        query_type = "fts"
+            else:
+                # it's an image or something else embeddable.
+                query_type = "vector"
+        elif query_type == "vector":
+            if is_embedding(query):
+                vector_query = query
+            else:
+                vector_column_name, embedding_conf = await get_embedding_func(
+                    vector_column_name, query_type, query
+                )
+                vector_query = await make_embedding(embedding_conf, query)
+        elif query_type == "hybrid":
+            if is_embedding(query):
+                raise ValueError("Hybrid search requires a text query")
+            else:
+                vector_column_name, embedding_conf = await get_embedding_func(
+                    vector_column_name, query_type, query
+                )
+                vector_query = await make_embedding(embedding_conf, query)
+
+        if query_type == "vector":
+            builder = self.query().nearest_to(vector_query)
+            if vector_column_name:
+                builder = builder.column(vector_column_name)
+            return builder
+        elif query_type == "fts":
+            return self.query().nearest_to_text(query, columns=fts_columns or [])
+        elif query_type == "hybrid":
+            builder = self.query().nearest_to(vector_query)
+            if vector_column_name:
+                builder = builder.column(vector_column_name)
+            return builder.nearest_to_text(query, columns=fts_columns or [])
+        else:
+            raise ValueError(f"Unknown query type: '{query_type}'")
+
     def vector_search(
         self,
         query_vector: Union[VEC, Tuple],
diff --git a/python/python/tests/docs/test_binary_vector.py b/python/python/tests/docs/test_binary_vector.py
index ed03cadd..5691bbf6 100644
--- a/python/python/tests/docs/test_binary_vector.py
+++ b/python/python/tests/docs/test_binary_vector.py
@@ -75,6 +75,6 @@ async def test_binary_vector_async():
 
     query = np.random.randint(0, 2, size=256)
     packed_query = np.packbits(query)
-    await tbl.query().nearest_to(packed_query).distance_type("hamming").to_arrow()
+    await (await tbl.search(packed_query)).distance_type("hamming").to_arrow()
     # --8<-- [end:async_binary_vector]
     await db.drop_table("my_binary_vectors")
diff --git a/python/python/tests/docs/test_distance_range.py b/python/python/tests/docs/test_distance_range.py
index a405c682..26f2ca4c 100644
--- a/python/python/tests/docs/test_distance_range.py
+++ b/python/python/tests/docs/test_distance_range.py
@@ -53,13 +53,13 @@ async def test_binary_vector_async():
     query = np.random.random(256)
 
     # Search for the vectors within the range of [0.1, 0.5)
-    await tbl.query().nearest_to(query).distance_range(0.1, 0.5).to_arrow()
+    await (await tbl.search(query)).distance_range(0.1, 0.5).to_arrow()
 
     # Search for the vectors with the distance less than 0.5
-    await tbl.query().nearest_to(query).distance_range(upper_bound=0.5).to_arrow()
+    await (await tbl.search(query)).distance_range(upper_bound=0.5).to_arrow()
 
     # Search for the vectors with the distance greater or equal to 0.1
-    await tbl.query().nearest_to(query).distance_range(lower_bound=0.1).to_arrow()
+    await (await tbl.search(query)).distance_range(lower_bound=0.1).to_arrow()
 
     # --8<-- [end:async_distance_range]
     await db.drop_table("my_table")
diff --git a/python/python/tests/docs/test_embeddings_optional.py b/python/python/tests/docs/test_embeddings_optional.py
index 89eababb..5197a88a 100644
--- a/python/python/tests/docs/test_embeddings_optional.py
+++ b/python/python/tests/docs/test_embeddings_optional.py
@@ -28,3 +28,24 @@ def test_embeddings_openai():
     actual = table.search(query).limit(1).to_pydantic(Words)[0]
     print(actual.text)
     # --8<-- [end:openai_embeddings]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.slow
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_embeddings_openai_async():
+    uri = "memory://"
+    # --8<-- [start:async_openai_embeddings]
+    db = await lancedb.connect_async(uri)
+    func = get_registry().get("openai").create(name="text-embedding-ada-002")
+
+    class Words(LanceModel):
+        text: str = func.SourceField()
+        vector: Vector(func.ndims()) = func.VectorField()
+
+    table = await db.create_table("words", schema=Words, mode="overwrite")
+    await table.add([{"text": "hello world"}, {"text": "goodbye world"}])
+
+    query = "greetings"
+    actual = await (await table.search(query)).limit(1).to_pydantic(Words)[0]
+    print(actual.text)
+    # --8<-- [end:async_openai_embeddings]
diff --git a/python/python/tests/docs/test_guide_index.py b/python/python/tests/docs/test_guide_index.py
index c9dd5a86..77729493 100644
--- a/python/python/tests/docs/test_guide_index.py
+++ b/python/python/tests/docs/test_guide_index.py
@@ -72,8 +72,7 @@ async def test_ann_index_async():
     # --8<-- [end:create_ann_index_async]
     # --8<-- [start:vector_search_async]
     await (
-        async_tbl.query()
-        .nearest_to(np.random.random((32)))
+        (await async_tbl.search(np.random.random((32))))
         .limit(2)
         .nprobes(20)
         .refine_factor(10)
@@ -82,18 +81,14 @@ async def test_ann_index_async():
     # --8<-- [end:vector_search_async]
     # --8<-- [start:vector_search_async_with_filter]
     await (
-        async_tbl.query()
-        .nearest_to(np.random.random((32)))
+        (await async_tbl.search(np.random.random((32))))
         .where("item != 'item 1141'")
         .to_pandas()
     )
     # --8<-- [end:vector_search_async_with_filter]
     # --8<-- [start:vector_search_async_with_select]
     await (
-        async_tbl.query()
-        .nearest_to(np.random.random((32)))
-        .select(["vector"])
-        .to_pandas()
+        (await async_tbl.search(np.random.random((32)))).select(["vector"]).to_pandas()
     )
     # --8<-- [end:vector_search_async_with_select]
 
@@ -164,7 +159,7 @@ async def test_scalar_index_async():
         {"book_id": 3, "vector": [5.0, 6]},
     ]
     async_tbl = await async_db.create_table("book_with_embeddings_async", data)
-    (await async_tbl.query().where("book_id != 3").nearest_to([1, 2]).to_pandas())
+    (await (await async_tbl.search([1, 2])).where("book_id != 3").to_pandas())
     # --8<-- [end:vector_search_with_scalar_index_async]
     # --8<-- [start:update_scalar_index_async]
     await async_tbl.add([{"vector": [7, 8], "book_id": 4}])
diff --git a/python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py b/python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py
index a9dfbf95..d8f6a732 100644
--- a/python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py
+++ b/python/python/tests/docs/test_python.py
@@ -126,19 +126,17 @@ async def test_pandas_and_pyarrow_async():
 
     query_vector = [100, 100]
     # Pandas DataFrame
-    df = await async_tbl.query().nearest_to(query_vector).limit(1).to_pandas()
+    df = await (await async_tbl.search(query_vector)).limit(1).to_pandas()
     print(df)
     # --8<-- [end:vector_search_async]
     # --8<-- [start:vector_search_with_filter_async]
     # Apply the filter via LanceDB
-    results = (
-        await async_tbl.query().nearest_to([100, 100]).where("price < 15").to_pandas()
-    )
+    results = await (await async_tbl.search([100, 100])).where("price < 15").to_pandas()
     assert len(results) == 1
     assert results["item"].iloc[0] == "foo"
 
     # Apply the filter via Pandas
-    df = results = await async_tbl.query().nearest_to([100, 100]).to_pandas()
+    df = results = await (await async_tbl.search([100, 100])).to_pandas()
     results = df[df.price < 15]
     assert len(results) == 1
     assert results["item"].iloc[0] == "foo"
@@ -188,3 +186,26 @@ def test_polars():
     # --8<-- [start:print_table_lazyform]
     print(ldf.first().collect())
     # --8<-- [end:print_table_lazyform]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_polars_async():
+    uri = "data/sample-lancedb"
+    db = await lancedb.connect_async(uri)
+
+    # --8<-- [start:create_table_polars_async]
+    data = pl.DataFrame(
+        {
+            "vector": [[3.1, 4.1], [5.9, 26.5]],
+            "item": ["foo", "bar"],
+            "price": [10.0, 20.0],
+        }
+    )
+    table = await db.create_table("pl_table_async", data=data)
+    # --8<-- [end:create_table_polars_async]
+    # --8<-- [start:vector_search_polars_async]
+    query = [3.0, 4.0]
+    result = await (await table.search(query)).limit(1).to_polars()
+    print(result)
+    print(type(result))
+    # --8<-- [end:vector_search_polars_async]
diff --git a/python/python/tests/docs/test_search.py b/python/python/tests/docs/test_search.py
index a3f4c60a..fe276fe4 100644
--- a/python/python/tests/docs/test_search.py
+++ b/python/python/tests/docs/test_search.py
@@ -117,12 +117,11 @@ async def test_vector_search_async():
         for i, row in enumerate(np.random.random((10_000, 1536)).astype("float32"))
     ]
     async_tbl = await async_db.create_table("vector_search_async", data=data)
-    (await async_tbl.query().nearest_to(np.random.random((1536))).limit(10).to_list())
+    (await (await async_tbl.search(np.random.random((1536)))).limit(10).to_list())
     # --8<-- [end:exhaustive_search_async]
     # --8<-- [start:exhaustive_search_async_cosine]
     (
-        await async_tbl.query()
-        .nearest_to(np.random.random((1536)))
+        await (await async_tbl.search(np.random.random((1536))))
         .distance_type("cosine")
         .limit(10)
         .to_list()
@@ -145,13 +144,13 @@ async def test_vector_search_async():
     async_tbl = await async_db.create_table("documents_async", data=data)
     # --8<-- [end:create_table_async_with_nested_schema]
     # --8<-- [start:search_result_async_as_pyarrow]
-    await async_tbl.query().nearest_to(np.random.randn(1536)).to_arrow()
+    await (await async_tbl.search(np.random.randn(1536))).to_arrow()
     # --8<-- [end:search_result_async_as_pyarrow]
     # --8<-- [start:search_result_async_as_pandas]
-    await async_tbl.query().nearest_to(np.random.randn(1536)).to_pandas()
+    await (await async_tbl.search(np.random.randn(1536))).to_pandas()
     # --8<-- [end:search_result_async_as_pandas]
     # --8<-- [start:search_result_async_as_list]
-    await async_tbl.query().nearest_to(np.random.randn(1536)).to_list()
+    await (await async_tbl.search(np.random.randn(1536))).to_list()
     # --8<-- [end:search_result_async_as_list]
 
 
@@ -219,9 +218,7 @@ async def test_fts_native_async():
 
     # async API uses our native FTS algorithm
     await async_tbl.create_index("text", config=FTS())
-    await (
-        async_tbl.query().nearest_to_text("puppy").select(["text"]).limit(10).to_list()
-    )
+    await (await async_tbl.search("puppy")).select(["text"]).limit(10).to_list()
     # [{'text': 'Frodo was a happy puppy', '_score': 0.6931471824645996}]
     # ...
     # --8<-- [end:basic_fts_async]
@@ -235,18 +232,11 @@ async def test_fts_native_async():
     )
     # --8<-- [end:fts_config_folding_async]
     # --8<-- [start:fts_prefiltering_async]
-    await (
-        async_tbl.query()
-        .nearest_to_text("puppy")
-        .limit(10)
-        .where("text='foo'")
-        .to_list()
-    )
+    await (await async_tbl.search("puppy")).limit(10).where("text='foo'").to_list()
     # --8<-- [end:fts_prefiltering_async]
     # --8<-- [start:fts_postfiltering_async]
     await (
-        async_tbl.query()
-        .nearest_to_text("puppy")
+        (await async_tbl.search("puppy"))
         .limit(10)
         .where("text='foo'")
         .postfilter()
@@ -347,14 +337,8 @@ async def test_hybrid_search_async():
     # Create a fts index before the hybrid search
     await async_tbl.create_index("text", config=FTS())
     text_query = "flower moon"
-    vector_query = embeddings.compute_query_embeddings(text_query)[0]
     # hybrid search with default re-ranker
-    await (
-        async_tbl.query()
-        .nearest_to(vector_query)
-        .nearest_to_text(text_query)
-        .to_pandas()
-    )
+    await (await async_tbl.search("flower moon", query_type="hybrid")).to_pandas()
     # --8<-- [end:basic_hybrid_search_async]
     # --8<-- [start:hybrid_search_pass_vector_text_async]
     vector_query = [0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5]
diff --git a/python/python/tests/test_query.py b/python/python/tests/test_query.py
index 1cdd23d1..47ad6f05 100644
--- a/python/python/tests/test_query.py
+++ b/python/python/tests/test_query.py
@@ -1,25 +1,35 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 # SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright The LanceDB Authors
 
+from typing import List, Union
 import unittest.mock as mock
 from datetime import timedelta
 from pathlib import Path
 
 import lancedb
-from lancedb.index import IvfPq, FTS
-from lancedb.rerankers.cross_encoder import CrossEncoderReranker
+from lancedb.db import AsyncConnection
+from lancedb.embeddings.base import TextEmbeddingFunction
+from lancedb.embeddings.registry import get_registry, register
+from lancedb.index import FTS, IvfPq
+import lancedb.pydantic
 import numpy as np
 import pandas.testing as tm
 import pyarrow as pa
+import pyarrow.compute as pc
 import pytest
 import pytest_asyncio
 from lancedb.pydantic import LanceModel, Vector
 from lancedb.query import (
+    AsyncFTSQuery,
+    AsyncHybridQuery,
     AsyncQueryBase,
+    AsyncVectorQuery,
     LanceVectorQueryBuilder,
     Query,
 )
+from lancedb.rerankers.cross_encoder import CrossEncoderReranker
 from lancedb.table import AsyncTable, LanceTable
+from utils import exception_output
 
 
 @pytest.fixture(scope="module")
@@ -716,3 +726,101 @@ async def test_query_with_f16(tmp_path: Path):
     tbl = await db.create_table("test", df)
     results = await tbl.vector_search([np.float16(1), np.float16(2)]).to_pandas()
     assert len(results) == 2
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_query_search_auto(mem_db_async: AsyncConnection):
+    nrows = 1000
+    data = pa.table(
+        {
+            "text": [str(i) for i in range(nrows)],
+        }
+    )
+
+    @register("test2")
+    class TestEmbedding(TextEmbeddingFunction):
+        def ndims(self):
+            return 4
+
+        def generate_embeddings(
+            self, texts: Union[List[str], np.ndarray]
+        ) -> List[np.array]:
+            embeddings = []
+            for text in texts:
+                vec = np.array([float(text) / 1000] * self.ndims())
+                embeddings.append(vec)
+            return embeddings
+
+    registry = get_registry()
+    func = registry.get("test2").create()
+
+    class TestModel(LanceModel):
+        text: str = func.SourceField()
+        vector: Vector(func.ndims()) = func.VectorField()
+
+    tbl = await mem_db_async.create_table("test", data, schema=TestModel)
+
+    funcs = await tbl.embedding_functions()
+    assert len(funcs) == 1
+
+    # No FTS or vector index
+    # Search for vector -> vector query
+    q = [0.1] * 4
+    query = await tbl.search(q)
+    assert isinstance(query, AsyncVectorQuery)
+
+    # Search for string -> vector query
+    query = await tbl.search("0.1")
+    assert isinstance(query, AsyncVectorQuery)
+
+    await tbl.create_index("text", config=FTS())
+
+    query = await tbl.search("0.1")
+    assert isinstance(query, AsyncHybridQuery)
+
+    data_with_vecs = await tbl.to_arrow()
+    data_with_vecs = data_with_vecs.replace_schema_metadata(None)
+    tbl2 = await mem_db_async.create_table("test2", data_with_vecs)
+    with pytest.raises(
+        Exception,
+        match=(
+            "Cannot perform full text search unless an INVERTED index has "
+            "been created"
+        ),
+    ):
+        query = await (await tbl2.search("0.1")).to_arrow()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_query_search_specified(mem_db_async: AsyncConnection):
+    nrows, ndims = 1000, 16
+    data = pa.table(
+        {
+            "text": [str(i) for i in range(nrows)],
+            "vector": pa.FixedSizeListArray.from_arrays(
+                pc.random(nrows * ndims).cast(pa.float32()), ndims
+            ),
+        }
+    )
+    table = await mem_db_async.create_table("test", data)
+    await table.create_index("text", config=FTS())
+
+    # Validate that specifying fts, vector or hybrid gets the right query.
+    q = [0.1] * ndims
+    query = await table.search(q, query_type="vector")
+    assert isinstance(query, AsyncVectorQuery)
+
+    query = await table.search("0.1", query_type="fts")
+    assert isinstance(query, AsyncFTSQuery)
+
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Unknown query type: 'foo'"):
+        await table.search("0.1", query_type="foo")
+
+    with pytest.raises(
+        ValueError, match="Column 'vector' has no registered embedding function"
+    ) as e:
+        await table.search("0.1", query_type="vector")
+
+    assert "No embedding functions are registered for any columns" in exception_output(
+        e
+    )
diff --git a/python/python/tests/test_remote_db.py b/python/python/tests/test_remote_db.py
index 2d962cf0..34590259 100644
--- a/python/python/tests/test_remote_db.py
+++ b/python/python/tests/test_remote_db.py
@@ -338,6 +338,7 @@ def test_query_sync_empty_query():
             "filter": "true",
             "vector": [],
             "columns": ["id"],
+            "prefilter": False,
             "version": None,
         }
 
@@ -412,6 +413,7 @@ def test_query_sync_fts():
                 "columns": [],
             },
             "k": 10,
+            "prefilter": True,
             "vector": [],
             "version": None,
         }
@@ -429,6 +431,7 @@ def test_query_sync_fts():
             },
             "k": 42,
             "vector": [],
+            "prefilter": True,
             "with_row_id": True,
             "version": None,
         }
@@ -455,6 +458,7 @@ def test_query_sync_hybrid():
                 },
                 "k": 42,
                 "vector": [],
+                "prefilter": True,
                 "with_row_id": True,
                 "version": None,
             }