diff --git a/packages/shared-core/src/filters.ts b/packages/shared-core/src/filters.ts
index 18ce4b6ed7..b10375acb0 100644
--- a/packages/shared-core/src/filters.ts
+++ b/packages/shared-core/src/filters.ts
@@ -163,9 +163,6 @@ export function recurseSearchFilters(
  * https://github.com/Budibase/budibase/issues/10118
  */
 export const cleanupQuery = (query: SearchFilters) => {
-  if (!query) {
-    return query
-  }
   for (let filterField of NoEmptyFilterStrings) {
     if (!query[filterField]) {
       continue
@@ -599,7 +596,7 @@ export const buildQuery = (
   const globalOperator: LogicalOperator =
     operatorMap[parsedFilter.logicalOperator as FilterGroupLogicalOperator]
 
-  const coreRequest: SearchFilters = {
+  return {
     ...(globalOnEmpty ? { onEmptyFilter: globalOnEmpty } : {}),
     [globalOperator]: {
       conditions: parsedFilter.groups?.map((group: SearchFilterGroup) => {
@@ -613,16 +610,12 @@ export const buildQuery = (
       }),
     },
   }
-  return coreRequest
 }
 
 // The frontend can send single values for array fields sometimes, so to handle
 // this we convert them to arrays at the controller level so that nothing below
 // this has to worry about the non-array values.
 export function fixupFilterArrays(filters: SearchFilters) {
-  if (!filters) {
-    return filters
-  }
   for (const searchField of Object.values(ArrayOperator)) {
     const field = filters[searchField]
     if (field == null || !isPlainObject(field)) {
diff --git a/packages/shared-core/src/utils.ts b/packages/shared-core/src/utils.ts
index b441791751..14b3c84425 100644
--- a/packages/shared-core/src/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/shared-core/src/utils.ts
@@ -11,10 +11,7 @@ import { removeKeyNumbering } from "./filters"
 
 // an array of keys from filter type to properties that are in the type
 // this can then be converted using .fromEntries to an object
-type WhitelistedFilters = [
-  keyof LegacyFilter,
-  LegacyFilter[keyof LegacyFilter]
-][]
+type AllowedFilters = [keyof LegacyFilter, LegacyFilter[keyof LegacyFilter]][]
 
 export function unreachable(
   value: never,
@@ -141,7 +138,7 @@ export const processSearchFilters = (
     groups: [],
   }
 
-  const filterWhitelistKeys = [
+  const filterAllowedKeys = [
     "field",
     "operator",
     "value",
@@ -181,10 +178,10 @@ export const processSearchFilters = (
         return acc
       }
 
-      const whiteListedFilterSettings: WhitelistedFilters =
-        filterPropertyKeys.reduce((acc: WhitelistedFilters, key) => {
+      const allowedFilterSettings: AllowedFilters = filterPropertyKeys.reduce(
+        (acc: AllowedFilters, key) => {
           const value = filter[key]
-          if (filterWhitelistKeys.includes(key)) {
+          if (filterAllowedKeys.includes(key)) {
             if (key === "field") {
               acc.push([key, removeKeyNumbering(value)])
             } else {
@@ -192,10 +189,12 @@ export const processSearchFilters = (
             }
           }
           return acc
-        }, [])
+        },
+        []
+      )
 
       const migratedFilter: LegacyFilter = Object.fromEntries(
-        whiteListedFilterSettings
+        allowedFilterSettings
       ) as LegacyFilter
 
       baseGroup.filters!.push(migratedFilter)