User permissions for a search on content managed by a content management system (CMS) can be evaluated in a search engine based on a user identity of a user providing a query input for the query rather than after return of an initial results set to the CMS or some other front-end application. The search engine can constrain possible results returned from a search for the query input using a content index of a plurality of content items maintained in a repository of the content management system. The constraining can include limiting the search engine from adding a content item of the plurality of content items to a permissions-filtered results set unless the evaluating of the user permissions and the search for the query input against the content index do not exclude the content item. Other aspects can support index updating by selective use of a metadata index.