Bug: person search by distinct_id fails on /search page

Bug Description

Bug description

Searching by distinct_id on the /project/*/search page returns no results, even when the person exists.

When a user navigates directly to the search page (e.g., https://eu.posthog.com/project/114428/search) and searches for a person's distinct_id, no results are returned if the person has an email/name property that doesn't contain that distinct_id.

Important: This bug ONLY affects the search page at /project/*/search. It does NOT affect:

• The Cmd+K / sidebar search popup/modal
• The /persons page search

Example:

• Person has distinct_id: "test_bug_xyz789" and email: "alice@example.com"
• Searching for "test_bug_xyz789" on /project/*/search: No results
• Searching for "test_bug_xyz789" on /persons: Person found
• Searching via Cmd+K popup: Person found

How to reproduce

Prerequisites (if you don't already have a user that meets the criteria):

1. Ensure you do NOT have the NEW_SEARCH_UX feature flag enabled
2. Create a person with an email/name that doesn't contain the distinct_id:

   curl -X POST https://eu.posthog.com/capture/ \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "api_key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
       "distinct_id": "test_bug_xyz789",
       "event": "test_event",
       "properties": {
         "$set": {
           "email": "alice@example.com",
           "name": "Alice Smith"
         }
       }
     }'
   
   

Steps:

Navigate directly to: https://eu.posthog.com/project/YOUR_PROJECT_ID/search
In the search box, type: test_bug_xyz789 (the exact distinct_id)
Look for the "Persons" section in search results
Expected: Person "Alice Smith" should appear in results

Actual: No "Persons" section appears, or it's empty

Verify the person exists:

Go to /persons?search=test_bug_xyz789
Result: Person appears correctly (proves backend search works)
Verify Cmd+K search works:

Press Cmd+K (or click search in sidebar)
Type: test_bug_xyz789
Result: Person appears correctly (popup search doesn't have the bug)

Additional context

From: https://posthoghelp.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/47626 (moved to PostHog: https://us.posthog.com/project/2/support/tickets/50131)

Debug info

Kind: bug

Target area: customer_analytics

Report event: http://go/ticketByUUID/133749ab-67b2-420c-8a5c-7fb20cb8b502

Session: https://us.posthog.com/project/sTMFPsFhdP1Ssg/replay/019bda1a-9bd7-7c12-9143-69d20cb1f1ea?t=166

Exceptions: https://us.posthog.com/project/2/error_tracking?filterGroup=%7B%22type%22%3A%22AND%22%2C%22values%22%3A%5B%7B%22type%22%3A%22AND%22%2C%22values%22%3A%5B%7B%22key%22%3A%22%24session_id%22%2C%22value%22%3A%5B%22019bda1a-9bd7-7c12-9143-69d20cb1f1ea%22%5D%2C%22operator%22%3A%22exact%22%2C%22type%22%3A%22event%22%7D%5D%7D%5D%7D

Location: https://eu.posthog.com/project/5891/search?search=sea

Persons-on-events mode for project: person_id_override_properties_joined