Bulk index or delete documents
Generally available
All methods and paths for this operation:
Perform multiple index, create, delete, and update actions in a single request.
This reduces overhead and can greatly increase indexing speed.
If the Elasticsearch security features are enabled, you must have the following index privileges for the target data stream, index, or index alias:
- To use the
createaction, you must have thecreate_doc,create,index, orwriteindex privilege. Data streams support only thecreateaction. - To use the
indexaction, you must have thecreate,index, orwriteindex privilege. - To use the
deleteaction, you must have thedeleteorwriteindex privilege. - To use the
updateaction, you must have theindexorwriteindex privilege. - To automatically create a data stream or index with a bulk API request, you must have the
auto_configure,create_index, ormanageindex privilege. - To make the result of a bulk operation visible to search using the
refreshparameter, you must have themaintenanceormanageindex privilege.
Automatic data stream creation requires a matching index template with data stream enabled.
The actions are specified in the request body using a newline delimited JSON (NDJSON) structure:
action_and_meta_data\n
optional_source\n
action_and_meta_data\n
optional_source\n
....
action_and_meta_data\n
optional_source\n
The index and create actions expect a source on the next line and have the same semantics as the op_type parameter in the standard index API.
A create action fails if a document with the same ID already exists in the target
An index action adds or replaces a document as necessary.
NOTE: Data streams support only the create action.
To update or delete a document in a data stream, you must target the backing index containing the document.
An update action expects that the partial doc, upsert, and script and its options are specified on the next line.
A delete action does not expect a source on the next line and has the same semantics as the standard delete API.
NOTE: The final line of data must end with a newline character (\n).
Each newline character may be preceded by a carriage return (\r).
When sending NDJSON data to the _bulk endpoint, use a Content-Type header of application/json or application/x-ndjson.
Because this format uses literal newline characters (\n) as delimiters, make sure that the JSON actions and sources are not pretty printed.
If you provide a target in the request path, it is used for any actions that don't explicitly specify an _index argument.
A note on the format: the idea here is to make processing as fast as possible.
As some of the actions are redirected to other shards on other nodes, only action_meta_data is parsed on the receiving node side.
Client libraries using this protocol should try and strive to do something similar on the client side, and reduce buffering as much as possible.
There is no "correct" number of actions to perform in a single bulk request. Experiment with different settings to find the optimal size for your particular workload. Note that Elasticsearch limits the maximum size of a HTTP request to 100mb by default so clients must ensure that no request exceeds this size. It is not possible to index a single document that exceeds the size limit, so you must pre-process any such documents into smaller pieces before sending them to Elasticsearch. For instance, split documents into pages or chapters before indexing them, or store raw binary data in a system outside Elasticsearch and replace the raw data with a link to the external system in the documents that you send to Elasticsearch.
Client suppport for bulk requests
Some of the officially supported clients provide helpers to assist with bulk requests and reindexing:
- Go: Check out
esutil.BulkIndexer - Perl: Check out
Search::Elasticsearch::Client::5_0::BulkandSearch::Elasticsearch::Client::5_0::Scroll - Python: Check out
elasticsearch.helpers.* - JavaScript: Check out
client.helpers.* - .NET: Check out
BulkAllObservable - PHP: Check out bulk indexing.
- Ruby: Check out
Elasticsearch::Helpers::BulkHelper
Submitting bulk requests with cURL
If you're providing text file input to curl, you must use the --data-binary flag instead of plain -d.
The latter doesn't preserve newlines. For example:
$ cat requests
{ "index" : { "_index" : "test", "_id" : "1" } }
{ "field1" : "value1" }
$ curl -s -H "Content-Type: application/x-ndjson" -XPOST localhost:9200/_bulk --data-binary "@requests"; echo
{"took":7, "errors": false, "items":[{"index":{"_index":"test","_id":"1","_version":1,"result":"created","forced_refresh":false}}]}
Optimistic concurrency control
Each index and delete action within a bulk API call may include the if_seq_no and if_primary_term parameters in their respective action and meta data lines.
The if_seq_no and if_primary_term parameters control how operations are run, based on the last modification to existing documents. See Optimistic concurrency control for more details.
Versioning
Each bulk item can include the version value using the version field.
It automatically follows the behavior of the index or delete operation based on the _version mapping.
It also support the version_type.
Routing
Each bulk item can include the routing value using the routing field.
It automatically follows the behavior of the index or delete operation based on the _routing mapping.
NOTE: Data streams do not support custom routing unless they were created with the allow_custom_routing setting enabled in the template.
Wait for active shards
When making bulk calls, you can set the wait_for_active_shards parameter to require a minimum number of shard copies to be active before starting to process the bulk request.
Refresh
Control when the changes made by this request are visible to search.
NOTE: Only the shards that receive the bulk request will be affected by refresh.
Imagine a _bulk?refresh=wait_for request with three documents in it that happen to be routed to different shards in an index with five shards.
The request will only wait for those three shards to refresh.
The other two shards that make up the index do not participate in the _bulk request at all.
You might want to disable the refresh interval temporarily to improve indexing throughput for large bulk requests. Refer to the linked documentation for step-by-step instructions using the index settings API.
Query parameters
-
True or false if to include the document source in the error message in case of parsing errors.
-
If
true, the response will include the ingest pipelines that were run for each index or create. -
The pipeline identifier to use to preprocess incoming documents. If the index has a default ingest pipeline specified, setting the value to
_noneturns off the default ingest pipeline for this request. If a final pipeline is configured, it will always run regardless of the value of this parameter. -
If
true, Elasticsearch refreshes the affected shards to make this operation visible to search. Ifwait_for, wait for a refresh to make this operation visible to search. Iffalse, do nothing with refreshes. Valid values:true,false,wait_for.Values are
true,false, orwait_for. -
A custom value that is used to route operations to a specific shard.
-
Indicates whether to return the
_sourcefield (trueorfalse) or contains a list of fields to return. -
A comma-separated list of source fields to exclude from the response. You can also use this parameter to exclude fields from the subset specified in
_source_includesquery parameter. If the_sourceparameter isfalse, this parameter is ignored. -
A comma-separated list of source fields to include in the response. If this parameter is specified, only these source fields are returned. You can exclude fields from this subset using the
_source_excludesquery parameter. If the_sourceparameter isfalse, this parameter is ignored. -
The period each action waits for the following operations: automatic index creation, dynamic mapping updates, and waiting for active shards. The default is
1m(one minute), which guarantees Elasticsearch waits for at least the timeout before failing. The actual wait time could be longer, particularly when multiple waits occur.Values are
-1or0. -
The number of shard copies that must be active before proceeding with the operation. Set to
allor any positive integer up to the total number of shards in the index (number_of_replicas+1). The default is1, which waits for each primary shard to be active.Values are
allorindex-setting. -
If
true, the request's actions must target an index alias. -
If
true, the request's actions must target a data stream (existing or to be created).
Body
object
Required
-
Index the specified document. If the document exists, it replaces the document and increments the version. The following line must contain the source data to be indexed.
-
Index the specified document if it does not already exist. The following line must contain the source data to be indexed.
-
Perform a partial document update. The following line must contain the partial document and update options.
-
Remove the specified document from the index.
POST _bulk
{ "index" : { "_index" : "test", "_id" : "1" } }
{ "field1" : "value1" }
{ "delete" : { "_index" : "test", "_id" : "2" } }
{ "create" : { "_index" : "test", "_id" : "3" } }
{ "field1" : "value3" }
{ "update" : {"_id" : "1", "_index" : "test"} }
{ "doc" : {"field2" : "value2"} }resp = client.bulk(
operations=[
{
"index": {
"_index": "test",
"_id": "1"
}
},
{
"field1": "value1"
},
{
"delete": {
"_index": "test",
"_id": "2"
}
},
{
"create": {
"_index": "test",
"_id": "3"
}
},
{
"field1": "value3"
},
{
"update": {
"_id": "1",
"_index": "test"
}
},
{
"doc": {
"field2": "value2"
}
}
],
)const response = await client.bulk({
operations: [
{
index: {
_index: "test",
_id: "1",
},
},
{
field1: "value1",
},
{
delete: {
_index: "test",
_id: "2",
},
},
{
create: {
_index: "test",
_id: "3",
},
},
{
field1: "value3",
},
{
update: {
_id: "1",
_index: "test",
},
},
{
doc: {
field2: "value2",
},
},
],
});response = client.bulk(
body: [
{
"index": {
"_index": "test",
"_id": "1"
}
},
{
"field1": "value1"
},
{
"delete": {
"_index": "test",
"_id": "2"
}
},
{
"create": {
"_index": "test",
"_id": "3"
}
},
{
"field1": "value3"
},
{
"update": {
"_id": "1",
"_index": "test"
}
},
{
"doc": {
"field2": "value2"
}
}
]
)$resp = $client->bulk([
"body" => array(
[
"index" => [
"_index" => "test",
"_id" => "1",
],
],
[
"field1" => "value1",
],
[
"delete" => [
"_index" => "test",
"_id" => "2",
],
],
[
"create" => [
"_index" => "test",
"_id" => "3",
],
],
[
"field1" => "value3",
],
[
"update" => [
"_id" => "1",
"_index" => "test",
],
],
[
"doc" => [
"field2" => "value2",
],
],
),
]);curl -X POST -H "Authorization: ApiKey $ELASTIC_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '[{"index":{"_index":"test","_id":"1"}},{"field1":"value1"},{"delete":{"_index":"test","_id":"2"}},{"create":{"_index":"test","_id":"3"}},{"field1":"value3"},{"update":{"_id":"1","_index":"test"}},{"doc":{"field2":"value2"}}]' "$ELASTICSEARCH_URL/_bulk"{ "index" : { "_index" : "test", "_id" : "1" } }
{ "field1" : "value1" }
{ "delete" : { "_index" : "test", "_id" : "2" } }
{ "create" : { "_index" : "test", "_id" : "3" } }
{ "field1" : "value3" }
{ "update" : {"_id" : "1", "_index" : "test"} }
{ "doc" : {"field2" : "value2"} }{ "update" : {"_id" : "1", "_index" : "index1", "retry_on_conflict" : 3} }
{ "doc" : {"field" : "value"} }
{ "update" : { "_id" : "0", "_index" : "index1", "retry_on_conflict" : 3} }
{ "script" : { "source": "ctx._source.counter += params.param1", "lang" : "painless", "params" : {"param1" : 1}}, "upsert" : {"counter" : 1}}
{ "update" : {"_id" : "2", "_index" : "index1", "retry_on_conflict" : 3} }
{ "doc" : {"field" : "value"}, "doc_as_upsert" : true }
{ "update" : {"_id" : "3", "_index" : "index1", "_source" : true} }
{ "doc" : {"field" : "value"} }
{ "update" : {"_id" : "4", "_index" : "index1"} }
{ "doc" : {"field" : "value"}, "_source": true}{ "update": {"_id": "5", "_index": "index1"} }
{ "doc": {"my_field": "foo"} }
{ "update": {"_id": "6", "_index": "index1"} }
{ "doc": {"my_field": "foo"} }
{ "create": {"_id": "7", "_index": "index1"} }
{ "my_field": "foo" }{ "index" : { "_index" : "my_index", "_id" : "1", "dynamic_templates": {"work_location": "geo_point"}} }
{ "field" : "value1", "work_location": "41.12,-71.34", "raw_location": "41.12,-71.34"}
{ "create" : { "_index" : "my_index", "_id" : "2", "dynamic_templates": {"home_location": "geo_point"}} }
{ "field" : "value2", "home_location": "41.12,-71.34"}{
"took": 30,
"errors": false,
"items": [
{
"index": {
"_index": "test",
"_id": "1",
"_version": 1,
"result": "created",
"_shards": {
"total": 2,
"successful": 1,
"failed": 0
},
"status": 201,
"_seq_no" : 0,
"_primary_term": 1
}
},
{
"delete": {
"_index": "test",
"_id": "2",
"_version": 1,
"result": "not_found",
"_shards": {
"total": 2,
"successful": 1,
"failed": 0
},
"status": 404,
"_seq_no" : 1,
"_primary_term" : 2
}
},
{
"create": {
"_index": "test",
"_id": "3",
"_version": 1,
"result": "created",
"_shards": {
"total": 2,
"successful": 1,
"failed": 0
},
"status": 201,
"_seq_no" : 2,
"_primary_term" : 3
}
},
{
"update": {
"_index": "test",
"_id": "1",
"_version": 2,
"result": "updated",
"_shards": {
"total": 2,
"successful": 1,
"failed": 0
},
"status": 200,
"_seq_no" : 3,
"_primary_term" : 4
}
}
]
}{
"took": 486,
"errors": true,
"items": [
{
"update": {
"_index": "index1",
"_id": "5",
"status": 404,
"error": {
"type": "document_missing_exception",
"reason": "[5]: document missing",
"index_uuid": "aAsFqTI0Tc2W0LCWgPNrOA",
"shard": "0",
"index": "index1"
}
}
},
{
"update": {
"_index": "index1",
"_id": "6",
"status": 404,
"error": {
"type": "document_missing_exception",
"reason": "[6]: document missing",
"index_uuid": "aAsFqTI0Tc2W0LCWgPNrOA",
"shard": "0",
"index": "index1"
}
}
},
{
"create": {
"_index": "index1",
"_id": "7",
"_version": 1,
"result": "created",
"_shards": {
"total": 2,
"successful": 1,
"failed": 0
},
"_seq_no": 0,
"_primary_term": 1,
"status": 201
}
}
]
}{
"items": [
{
"update": {
"error": {
"type": "document_missing_exception",
"reason": "[5]: document missing",
"index_uuid": "aAsFqTI0Tc2W0LCWgPNrOA",
"shard": "0",
"index": "index1"
}
}
},
{
"update": {
"error": {
"type": "document_missing_exception",
"reason": "[6]: document missing",
"index_uuid": "aAsFqTI0Tc2W0LCWgPNrOA",
"shard": "0",
"index": "index1"
}
}
}
]
}