Bulk index or delete documents Generally available

PUT /{index}/_bulk
Api key auth

All methods and paths for this operation:

POST /_bulk

PUT /_bulk
POST /{index}/_bulk
PUT /{index}/_bulk

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 create action, you must have the create_doc, create, index, or write index privilege. Data streams support only the create action.
  • To use the index action, you must have the create, index, or write index privilege.
  • To use the delete action, you must have the delete or write index privilege.
  • To use the update action, you must have the index or write index privilege.
  • To automatically create a data stream or index with a bulk API request, you must have the auto_configure, create_index, or manage index privilege.
  • To make the result of a bulk operation visible to search using the refresh parameter, you must have the maintenance or manage index 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::Bulk and Search::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.

External documentation

Path parameters

  • index string Required

    The name of the data stream, index, or index alias to perform bulk actions on.

Query parameters

  • include_source_on_error boolean

    True or false if to include the document source in the error message in case of parsing errors.

  • list_executed_pipelines boolean

    If true, the response will include the ingest pipelines that were run for each index or create.

  • pipeline string

    The pipeline identifier to use to preprocess incoming documents. If the index has a default ingest pipeline specified, setting the value to _none turns 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.

  • refresh string

    If true, Elasticsearch refreshes the affected shards to make this operation visible to search. If wait_for, wait for a refresh to make this operation visible to search. If false, do nothing with refreshes. Valid values: true, false, wait_for.

    Values are true, false, or wait_for.

  • routing string

    A custom value that is used to route operations to a specific shard.

  • _source boolean | string | array[string]

    Indicates whether to return the _source field (true or false) or contains a list of fields to return.

  • _source_excludes string | array[string]

    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_includes query parameter. If the _source parameter is false, this parameter is ignored.

  • _source_includes string | array[string]

    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_excludes query parameter. If the _source parameter is false, this parameter is ignored.

  • timeout string

    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.

    External documentation
  • wait_for_active_shards number | string

    The number of shard copies that must be active before proceeding with the operation. Set to all or any positive integer up to the total number of shards in the index (number_of_replicas+1). The default is 1, which waits for each primary shard to be active.

    Values are all or index-setting.

  • require_alias boolean

    If true, the request's actions must target an index alias.

  • require_data_stream boolean

    If true, the request's actions must target a data stream (existing or to be created).

application/json

Body object Required

One of:
OperationContainer object UpdateAction object object-3 object

Responses

  • 200 application/json
    Hide response attributes Show response attributes object
    • errors boolean Required

      If true, one or more of the operations in the bulk request did not complete successfully.

    • items array[object] Required

      The result of each operation in the bulk request, in the order they were submitted.

      Hide items attribute Show items attribute object
      • * object Additional properties
        Hide * attributes Show * attributes object

        • _id string | null

          The document ID associated with the operation.

          One of:
          string-1 string string-2 string | null
        • _index string Required

          The name of the index associated with the operation. If the operation targeted a data stream, this is the backing index into which the document was written.

        • status number Required

          The HTTP status code returned for the operation.

        • failure_store string

          Values are not_applicable_or_unknown, used, not_enabled, or failed.

        • error object

          Additional information about the failed operation. The property is returned only for failed operations.

          Hide error attributes Show error attributes object
          • type string Required

            The type of error

          • reason
          • stack_trace string

            The server stack trace. Present only if the error_trace=true parameter was sent with the request.

          • root_cause array[object]
          • suppressed array[object]
        • _primary_term number

          The primary term assigned to the document for the operation. This property is returned only for successful operations.

        • result string

          The result of the operation. Successful values are created, deleted, and updated.

        • _seq_no number

          The sequence number assigned to the document for the operation. Sequence numbers are used to ensure an older version of a document doesn't overwrite a newer version.

        • _shards object

          Shard information for the operation.

          Hide _shards attribute Show _shards attribute object
          • failures array[object]
        • _version number

          The document version associated with the operation. The document version is incremented each time the document is updated. This property is returned only for successful actions.

        • forced_refresh boolean
        • get object
          Hide get attributes Show get attributes object
          • fields object
          • found boolean Required
          • _primary_term number
          • _source object
    • took number Required

      The length of time, in milliseconds, it took to process the bulk request.

    • ingest_took number
PUT /{index}/_bulk 
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"
Request examples
Run `POST _bulk` to perform multiple 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"} }
When you run `POST _bulk` and use the `update` action, you can use `retry_on_conflict` as a field in the action itself (not in the extra payload line) to specify how many times an update should be retried in the case of a version conflict. 
{ "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}
To return only information about failed operations, run `POST /_bulk?filter_path=items.*.error`. 
{ "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" }
Run `POST /_bulk` to perform a bulk request that consists of index and create actions with the `dynamic_templates` parameter. The bulk request creates two new fields `work_location` and `home_location` with type `geo_point` according to the `dynamic_templates` parameter. However, the `raw_location` field is created using default dynamic mapping rules, as a text field in that case since it is supplied as a string in the JSON document. 
{ "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"}
Response examples (200) 
{
   "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
         }
      }
   ]
}
If you run `POST /_bulk` with operations that update non-existent documents, the operations cannot complete successfully. The API returns a response with an `errors` property value `true`. The response also includes an error object for any failed operations. The error object contains additional information about the failure, such as the error type and reason. 
{
  "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
      }
    }
  ]
}
An example response from `POST /_bulk?filter_path=items.*.error`, which returns only information about failed operations. 
{
  "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"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}