Elasticsearch bool clauses accept either one query object or an array. They also preserve the nested bool boundary: excluding a bool that requires both status = deleted and tenant = internal means NOT (status = deleted AND tenant = internal), not status != deleted AND tenant != internal.

The gateway previously handled only the array form of must_not. A scalar negative clause was silently omitted. When a nested bool appeared inside must_not or should, its inner must_not clauses were also discarded, and multiple required conditions under one negation were flattened into separate exclusions. Those cases widened or narrowed the result set without warning.

The Qdrant filter translator now builds one explicit filter condition for each nested clause. Required and excluded children stay grouped before the parent applies negation or min_should. The regression covers scalar double negation, a negative bool inside should, and the distinction between NOT (A AND B) and NOT A AND NOT B.

Run the focused check without Qdrant:

cargo test bool_negative_clauses_preserve_scalar_and_nested_semantics

The emitted shapes were also exercised against the pinned Qdrant 1.15.5 image. With one deleted and one live point, double negation selected only deleted; the negative should alternative selected only live.

This correction covers filter-only term, terms, range, exists, IDs, and nested bool conditions. Text queries under must_not or filter-only should remain rejected because translating their scoring and exclusion semantics safely requires a different execution path.