A method for performing recursive searching of items of a data structure having a data mode includes creating an instance of a query definition, the instance of the query definition comprising a unique identifier, specifying one or more elements of the query definition, providing the query definition as an input to a query engine. The method further includes the operations of determining, by the query engine, query execution instructions based on the query definition, the query instructions specifying a recursive level-by-level search until a terminal node of the data structure is reached, obtaining results of a query executed based on the query execution instructions; and outputting query results.