Search backend

Marmot searches with PostgreSQL out of the box. Add Elasticsearch for fuzzy matching across every field of a record, including metadata, descriptions, documentation and schemas.

Connect Elasticsearch

search:
  elasticsearch:
    enabled: true
    addresses:
      - "http://localhost:9200"
    index: "marmot"

Or with environment variables:

MARMOT_SEARCH_ELASTICSEARCH_ENABLED=true
MARMOT_SEARCH_ELASTICSEARCH_ADDRESSES=http://localhost:9200
MARMOT_SEARCH_ELASTICSEARCH_INDEX=marmot

Options

Each key has an environment variable: MARMOT_ followed by the key in capitals with dots as underscores, such as MARMOT_SEARCH_ELASTICSEARCH_ADDRESSES.

Key	Description	Default
search.elasticsearch.enabled	Enable Elasticsearch for text search	false
search.elasticsearch.addresses	List of Elasticsearch node URLs	-
search.elasticsearch.username	HTTP Basic Auth username	-
search.elasticsearch.password	HTTP Basic Auth password	-
search.elasticsearch.index	Name of the Elasticsearch index	marmot
search.elasticsearch.bulk_size	Number of documents per bulk indexing batch	500
search.elasticsearch.flush_interval	Interval between bulk flushes in milliseconds	1000
search.elasticsearch.reindex_on_start	Run a full reindex from PostgreSQL to Elasticsearch on startup	false
search.elasticsearch.shards	Number of primary shards for the index	cluster default
search.elasticsearch.replicas	Number of replicas for the index	cluster default

TLS

Connect to a cluster over TLS with a CA certificate, and optionally a client certificate:

search:
  elasticsearch:
    enabled: true
    addresses:
      - "https://es.example.com:9200"
    tls:
      ca_cert_path: "/etc/ssl/certs/es-ca.pem"
      cert_path: "/etc/ssl/certs/es-client.pem"
      key_path: "/etc/ssl/private/es-client-key.pem"

Key	Description	Default
search.elasticsearch.tls.ca_cert_path	Path to CA certificate for verifying the ES server	-
search.elasticsearch.tls.cert_path	Path to client certificate for mutual TLS	-
search.elasticsearch.tls.key_path	Path to client private key for mutual TLS	-
search.elasticsearch.tls.insecure_skip_verify	Skip server certificate verification; development only	false

If Elasticsearch is down at startup

Marmot checks Elasticsearch once, when it starts. If the cluster isn't reachable, it logs an error and searches with PostgreSQL only until you restart it.

Shards and replicas

Marmot uses the cluster's shard and replica counts unless you set them for its index:

search:
  elasticsearch:
    enabled: true
    addresses:
      - "http://localhost:9200"
    shards: 3
    replicas: 1

They only apply when Marmot creates the index. To change them later, delete the index and let Marmot recreate it, or use the Elasticsearch split and shrink APIs.

Index existing data

When you add Elasticsearch to an instance that already has data, set reindex_on_start to fill the index when Marmot starts:

search:
  elasticsearch:
    enabled: true
    addresses:
      - "http://localhost:9200"
    reindex_on_start: true

Or open Settings → System and, under Search index, select Reindex search.

Next steps

• Search and the query language: what people can search for.
• Configuration reference: every other setting.