Refresh an index

GET /_refresh
Api key auth Basic auth Bearer auth

A refresh makes recent operations performed on one or more indices available for search. For data streams, the API runs the refresh operation on the stream’s backing indices.

By default, Elasticsearch periodically refreshes indices every second, but only on indices that have received one search request or more in the last 30 seconds. You can change this default interval with the index.refresh_interval setting.

Refresh requests are synchronous and do not return a response until the refresh operation completes.

Refreshes are resource-intensive. To ensure good cluster performance, it's recommended to wait for Elasticsearch's periodic refresh rather than performing an explicit refresh when possible.

If your application workflow indexes documents and then runs a search to retrieve the indexed document, it's recommended to use the index API's refresh=wait_for query parameter option. This option ensures the indexing operation waits for a periodic refresh before running the search.

Query parameters

  • allow_no_indices boolean

    If false, the request returns an error if any wildcard expression, index alias, or _all value targets only missing or closed indices. This behavior applies even if the request targets other open indices.

  • expand_wildcards string | array[string]

    Type of index that wildcard patterns can match. If the request can target data streams, this argument determines whether wildcard expressions match hidden data streams. Supports comma-separated values, such as open,hidden. Valid values are: all, open, closed, hidden, none.

    Supported values include:

    • all: Match any data stream or index, including hidden ones.
    • open: Match open, non-hidden indices. Also matches any non-hidden data stream.
    • closed: Match closed, non-hidden indices. Also matches any non-hidden data stream. Data streams cannot be closed.
    • hidden: Match hidden data streams and hidden indices. Must be combined with open, closed, or both.
    • none: Wildcard expressions are not accepted.

    Values are all, open, closed, hidden, or none.

  • ignore_unavailable boolean

    If false, the request returns an error if it targets a missing or closed index.

Responses

  • 200 application/json
    Hide response attribute Show response attribute object
    • _shards object
      Hide _shards attributes Show _shards attributes object
      • failed number Required
      • successful number Required
      • total number Required
      • failures array[object]
        Hide failures attributes Show failures attributes object
        • index string
        • node string
        • reason object Required
          Hide reason attributes Show reason attributes object
          • type string Required

            The type of error

          • reason string | null

            A human-readable explanation of the error, in English.

            One of:
            string-1 string string-2 string | null
          • stack_trace string

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

          • caused_by object
          • root_cause array[object]
          • suppressed array[object]
        • shard number Required
        • status string
      • skipped number
GET /_refresh 
curl \
 --request GET 'http://api.example.com/_refresh' \
 --header "Authorization: $API_KEY"