elastic/elasticsearch

What is it?

Key features

• 01Full-text, vector, and hybrid search over JSON documents
• 02Near real-time indexing and search
• 03REST API accessible from any HTTP client or official language clients
• 04Bulk indexing and data streams for timestamped data
• 05Distributed architecture with cluster-wide document access

Use cases

• Building retrieval-augmented generation pipelines over private documents
• Full-text search for application content or product catalogs
• Centralized log and metrics analysis
• Security event analysis and application performance monitoring

Quick start

1. 1

   Run the start-local script to set up Elasticsearch and Kibana in Docker

   curl -fsSL https://elastic.co/start-local | sh
2. 2

   Check the connection to Elasticsearch from the elastic-start-local folder

   source .env curl $ES_LOCAL_URL -H "Authorization: ApiKey ${ES_LOCAL_API_KEY}"
3. 3

   Create a new index using basic auth

   curl -u elastic:$ES_LOCAL_PASSWORD \ -X PUT \ http://localhost:9200/my-new-index \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json'

Things to know

• !The start-local setup is for local development and testing only, not production.
• !Local setup disables HTTPS and uses basic authentication.
• !The included trial license lasts one month before reverting to the Basic tier.

Topics

FAQ

What is elasticsearch?

Distributed, RESTful search and analytics engine that also serves as a scalable data store and vector database. Elasticsearch is a distributed search and analytics engine that stores JSON documents and makes them searchable in near real time. It supports full-text search, vector search, and hybrid search, and is used for use cases such as retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), logs, metrics, application performance monitoring, and security event analysis.

Is elasticsearch free to use? What license does it have?

elasticsearch is open source under the Other license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.

Is elasticsearch still maintained?

Actively maintained. The last commit to elasticsearch was on Oct 20, 2026.

What can I use elasticsearch for?

Building retrieval-augmented generation pipelines over private documents Full-text search for application content or product catalogs Centralized log and metrics analysis Security event analysis and application performance monitoring

How do I install elasticsearch?

Run the start-local script to set up Elasticsearch and Kibana in Docker: curl -fsSL https://elastic.co/start-local | sh Check the connection to Elasticsearch from the elastic-start-local folder: source .env curl $ES_LOCAL_URL -H "Authorization: ApiKey ${ES_LOCAL_API_KEY}" Create a new index using basic auth: curl -u elastic:$ES_LOCAL_PASSWORD \ -X PUT \ http://localhost:9200/my-new-index \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json'

Where can I get elasticsearch?

The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch