diff --git a/modules/qualify/qualify.go b/modules/qualify/qualify.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6ec0171
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/qualify/qualify.go
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+package qualify
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+)
+
+type Query map[string]Filter
+
+type Filter []string
+
+func (q Query) Query() string {
+	if query, ok := q["query"]; ok {
+		return strings.Join(query, " ")
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
+func (f Filter) Last() string {
+	return f[len(f)-1]
+}
+
+func Parse(text string, qualifiers ...string) Query {
+	queries := make(map[string]Filter)
+
+	for _, field := range fields(text) {
+		var key, value string
+		if k, v, ok := qualified(field, qualifiers...); ok {
+			key = k
+			value = trim(v)
+		} else {
+			key = "query"
+			value = trim(field)
+		}
+
+		if queries[key] == nil {
+			queries[key] = make([]string, 0)
+		}
+		queries[key] = append(queries[key], value)
+	}
+
+	return queries
+}
+
+func qualified(text string, qualifiers ...string) (string, string, bool) {
+	if len(qualifiers) == 0 && strings.Contains(text, ":") {
+		kv := strings.SplitN(text, ":", 2)
+		return kv[0], kv[1], true
+	}
+
+	for _, qualifier := range qualifiers {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(text, qualifier+":") {
+			return text[:len(qualifier)], text[len(qualifier)+1:], true
+		}
+	}
+	return "", "", false
+}
+
+func fields(text string) []string {
+	var f []string
+
+	var quotes bool
+	var last int
+	for idx, char := range text {
+		if char == '"' {
+			quotes = !quotes
+			continue
+		}
+
+		if char == ' ' {
+			if quotes {
+				continue
+			}
+			f = append(f, text[last:idx])
+			last = idx + 1
+		}
+	}
+	f = append(f, strings.TrimSpace(text[last:]))
+	return f
+}
+
+func trim(text string) string {
+	return strings.TrimPrefix(strings.TrimSuffix(strings.TrimSpace(text), `"`), `"`)
+}
diff --git a/modules/qualify/qualify_test.go b/modules/qualify/qualify_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..73db39d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/qualify/qualify_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+package qualify
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestMain(m *testing.M) {
+	os.Exit(m.Run())
+}
+
+func TestParse(t *testing.T) {
+	tt := []struct {
+		Query      string
+		Result     string
+		Qualifiers []string
+	}{
+		{"test", "query->test", nil},
+		{`"test"`, "query->test", nil},
+		{"author:jolheiser", "author->jolheiser", nil},
+		{`"this is a test" author:"jolheiser"`, "query->this is a test,author->jolheiser", nil},
+		{`"this is" "a test" query`, "query->this is|a test|query", nil},
+		{`label:"a bug" label:"a" label:"bug"`, "label->a bug|a|bug", nil},
+		{`author:"jolheiser""`, `author->jolheiser"`, nil},
+		{`author:""jolheiser""`, `author->"jolheiser"`, nil},
+		{"test:testing", "query->test:testing", []string{"label"}},
+	}
+
+	for idx, tc := range tt {
+		t.Run(strconv.Itoa(idx+1), func(t *testing.T) {
+			parsed := result(Parse(tc.Query, tc.Qualifiers...))
+			if parsed != tc.Result {
+				t.Logf("\nwant: %s\n got: %s", tc.Result, parsed)
+				t.Fail()
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func result(parsed Query) string {
+	res := make([]string, 0, len(parsed))
+	for key, values := range parsed {
+		res = append(res, fmt.Sprintf("%s->%s", key, strings.Join(values, "|")))
+	}
+	return strings.Join(res, ",")
+}
diff --git a/modules/sdk/issues.go b/modules/sdk/issues.go
index b7aeb09..b22b98f 100644
--- a/modules/sdk/issues.go
+++ b/modules/sdk/issues.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package sdk
 
 import (
 	"code.gitea.io/sdk/gitea"
+	"gitea.com/jolheiser/sip/modules/qualify"
 	"strings"
 )
 
@@ -87,34 +88,34 @@ func (f *IssueFilter) Match(issue *gitea.Issue) bool {
 
 func NewIssueFilter(query string) *IssueFilter {
 	filter := &IssueFilter{}
-	for _, q := range strings.Split(query, " ") {
-		kv := strings.Split(q, ":")
-		if len(kv) == 2 {
-			kv[0] = strings.ToLower(kv[0])
-			kv[1] = strings.ToLower(kv[1])
-			switch kv[0] {
-			case "is":
-				switch kv[1] {
-				case "open", "opened":
-					filter.State = Open
-				case "close", "closed":
-					filter.State = Closed
-				case "merge", "merged":
-					filter.State = Merged
-				default:
-					filter.State = None
-				}
-			case "author":
-				filter.Author = kv[1]
-			case "label":
-				filter.Labels = append(filter.Labels, kv[1])
-			case "milestone":
-				filter.Milestone = kv[1]
-			}
-			continue
+	filters := qualify.Parse(query, "is", "author", "label", "milestone")
+
+	if state, ok := filters["is"]; ok {
+		switch state.Last() {
+		case "open", "opened":
+			filter.State = Open
+		case "close", "closed":
+			filter.State = Closed
+		case "merge", "merged":
+			filter.State = Merged
+		default:
+			filter.State = None
 		}
-		filter.Query += " " + q
 	}
-	filter.Query = strings.TrimSpace(filter.Query)
+
+	if author, ok := filters["author"]; ok {
+		filter.Author = author.Last()
+	}
+
+	if label, ok := filters["label"]; ok {
+		filter.Labels = append(filter.Labels, label...)
+	}
+
+	if milestone, ok := filters["milestone"]; ok {
+		filter.Milestone = milestone.Last()
+	}
+
+	filter.Query = filters.Query()
+
 	return filter
 }
diff --git a/modules/sdk/issues_test.go b/modules/sdk/issues_test.go
index 9cf5768..4e4c09a 100644
--- a/modules/sdk/issues_test.go
+++ b/modules/sdk/issues_test.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ func TestIssueFilter(t *testing.T) {
 
 		{"is:closed milestone:0.1.0", &IssueFilter{State: Closed, Milestone: "0.1.0"}},
 		{"milestone:v1.0.0 keyword", &IssueFilter{Query: "keyword", Milestone: "v1.0.0"}},
+		{`label:"a bug" keyword`, &IssueFilter{Query: "keyword", Labels: []string{"a bug"}}},
 	}
 
 	for idx, tc := range tt {