# filtering.ini The `filtering.ini` config file, located at `/etc/squirro/filtering.ini` configures the filtering process, which is responsible for search tagging and alerts. ## Batching The filtering process runs asynchronously, batching the actual execution of filtering steps. The `[batch]` section in the `filtering.ini` configuration file, can be used to change the default of this batching. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | | Key | Usage | Default | | `size` | How many items to collect for each batch. It is recommended to increase this for high-throughput setups, which can profit from bigger batches. | 20 | | `flush_timeout_in_seconds` | Number of seconds to wait before triggering a batch, even if the batch size has not been reached yet. Can be decreased, especially when the item delivery is very bursty. So if the items of a batch usually come together, and then the pipeline will be quiet for a while, reducing this can reduce latency. | 60 | ## Actions The `[actions]` section tunes the actions that run when a filter matches an item, including the emails that alerts send. For more information, see the [Email Alerts](../../../search/features/email-alerts.md#search-email-alerts) page. | Key | Usage | Default | | --- | --- | --- | | `email_items_history` | How many recently reported items each alert remembers, so that it does not report the same item twice. Increase this for alerts that match a high volume of items. | 200 | | `timeout_seconds` | How long to wait for a webhook action to respond before giving up. | 10 | ## Applying Changes After editing this configuration file, the service `sqfilteringd` has to be restarted (see [Services](../../operations/services.md#admin-services)).