SerializeQueryParams

controllers.application.js

import Ember from 'ember';

export default Ember.Controller.extend({
  appName: 'Ember Twiddle',
  queryParams: [ 'q' ],
  q: 'defaultValue'
});

routes.application.js

import Ember from 'ember';

export default Ember.Route.extend({
  serializeQueryParam(value, key, ...args) {
    if (key === 'q' && value === 'forbidden') {
      value = null;
    }
    return this._super(value, key, ...args);
  },
  
  model(params, { queryParams }) {
    return {
      fromTransition: queryParams.q || 'null',
      fromController: this.controllerFor(this.routeName).get('q')
    };
  }
});

styles.app.css

body {
  margin: 12px 16px;
  font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
  font-size: 12pt;
}

a, output {
  border: 1px solid grey;
  display: inline-block;
  padding: 5px;
}

br { font-size: 1.5em; }

templates.application.hbs

<h1>Welcome to {{appName}}</h1>
<br>
q from controller directly: <output>{{q}}</output>
<br>
q from transition in <code>model</code> hook: <output>{{model.fromTransition}}</output>
<br>
q from controller in <code>model</code> hook: <output>{{model.fromController}}</output>
<br>
{{link-to '/?q=null' 'index' (query-params q=null)}}
{{link-to '/?q=something' 'index' (query-params q='something')}}
{{link-to '/?q=forbidden' 'index' (query-params q='forbidden')}}
<br>

twiddle.json

{
  "version": "0.10.6",
  "EmberENV": {
    "FEATURES": {}
  },
  "options": {
    "use_pods": false,
    "enable-testing": false
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "jquery": "https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.3/jquery.js",
    "ember": "2.9.0",
    "ember-data": "2.9.0",
    "ember-template-compiler": "2.9.0",
    "ember-testing": "2.9.0"
  },
  "addons": {}
}