diff --git a/lib/logstorage/parser.go b/lib/logstorage/parser.go
index 29a05dff5..05e183c9e 100644
--- a/lib/logstorage/parser.go
+++ b/lib/logstorage/parser.go
@@ -714,13 +714,6 @@ func ParseQuery(s string) (*Query, error) {
 func ParseQueryAtTimestamp(s string, timestamp int64) (*Query, error) {
 	lex := newLexerAtTimestamp(s, timestamp)
 
-	// Verify the first token doesn't match pipe names.
-	firstToken := strings.ToLower(lex.rawToken)
-	if _, ok := pipeNames[firstToken]; ok {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("the query [%s] cannot start with pipe - it must start with mandatory filter; see https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/logsql/#query-syntax; "+
-			"if the filter isn't missing, then please put the first word of the filter into quotes: %q", s, firstToken)
-	}
-
 	q, err := parseQuery(lex)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -759,9 +752,17 @@ func parseQuery(lex *lexer) (*Query, error) {
 }
 
 func parseFilter(lex *lexer) (filter, error) {
-	if lex.isKeyword("|", "") {
+	if lex.isKeyword("|", ")", "") {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("missing query")
 	}
+
+	// Verify the first token in the filter doesn't match pipe names.
+	firstToken := strings.ToLower(lex.rawToken)
+	if _, ok := pipeNames[firstToken]; ok {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("query filter cannot start with pipe keyword %q; see https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victorialogs/logsql/#query-syntax; "+
+			"please put the first word of the filter into quotes", firstToken)
+	}
+
 	fo, err := parseFilterOr(lex, "")
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
diff --git a/lib/logstorage/parser_test.go b/lib/logstorage/parser_test.go
index 77e46ca46..7b22fa44b 100644
--- a/lib/logstorage/parser_test.go
+++ b/lib/logstorage/parser_test.go
@@ -1196,6 +1196,11 @@ func TestParseQuerySuccess(t *testing.T) {
 	// filter pipe
 	f(`* | filter error ip:12.3.4.5 or warn`, `* | filter error ip:12.3.4.5 or warn`)
 	f(`foo | stats by (host) count() logs | filter logs:>50 | sort by (logs desc) | limit 10`, `foo | stats by (host) count(*) as logs | filter logs:>50 | sort by (logs desc) | limit 10`)
+	f(`* | error`, `* | filter error`)
+	f(`* | "by"`, `* | filter "by"`)
+	f(`* | "stats"`, `* | filter "stats"`)
+	f(`* | "count"`, `* | filter "count"`)
+	f(`* | foo:bar AND baz:<10`, `* | filter foo:bar baz:<10`)
 
 	// extract pipe
 	f(`* | extract "foo<bar>baz"`, `* | extract "foo<bar>baz"`)
@@ -1237,7 +1242,7 @@ func TestParseQueryFailure(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Helper()
 		q, err := ParseQuery(s)
 		if q != nil {
-			t.Fatalf("expecting nil result; got %s", q)
+			t.Fatalf("expecting nil result; got [%s]", q)
 		}
 		if err == nil {
 			t.Fatalf("expecting non-nil error")
@@ -1635,6 +1640,9 @@ func TestParseQueryFailure(t *testing.T) {
 	// stats result names identical to by fields
 	f(`foo | stats by (x) count() x`)
 
+	// missing stats function
+	f(`foo | by (bar)`)
+
 	// invalid sort pipe
 	f(`foo | sort bar`)
 	f(`foo | sort by`)
@@ -1669,6 +1677,14 @@ func TestParseQueryFailure(t *testing.T) {
 	f(`foo | filter (`)
 	f(`foo | filter )`)
 
+	f(`foo | filter stats`)
+	f(`foo | filter fields`)
+	f(`foo | filter by`)
+	f(`foo | count`)
+	f(`foo | filter count`)
+	f(`foo | (`)
+	f(`foo | )`)
+
 	// invalid extract pipe
 	f(`foo | extract`)
 	f(`foo | extract bar`)