---
title: Circuit breaker errors
description: Elasticsearch uses circuit breakers to prevent nodes from running out of JVM heap memory. If Elasticsearch estimates an operation would exceed a circuit...
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/troubleshoot/elasticsearch/circuit-breaker-errors
products:
  - Elasticsearch
applies_to:
  - Elastic Stack: Generally available
---

# Circuit breaker errors
Elasticsearch uses [circuit breakers](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/reference/elasticsearch/configuration-reference/circuit-breaker-settings) to prevent nodes from running out of JVM heap memory. If Elasticsearch estimates an operation would exceed a circuit breaker, it stops the operation and returns an error.
By default, the [parent circuit breaker](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/reference/elasticsearch/configuration-reference/circuit-breaker-settings#parent-circuit-breaker) triggers at 95% JVM memory usage. To prevent errors, we recommend taking steps to reduce memory pressure if usage consistently exceeds 85%.
See [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3wYlRVbMSw) for a walkthrough of diagnosing circuit breaker errors.
<admonition title="Simplify monitoring with AutoOps">
  AutoOps is a [monitoring](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/deploy-manage/monitor) tool that simplifies cluster management through performance recommendations, resource utilization visibility, and real-time issue detection with resolution paths. Learn more about [AutoOps](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/deploy-manage/monitor/autoops).
</admonition>


## Diagnose circuit breaker errors

**Error messages**
A circuit breaker trips to prevent a request from executing in order to protect the node's stability. When a request triggers a circuit breaker, Elasticsearch [rejects the request](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/troubleshoot/elasticsearch/rejected-requests) with a `429` HTTP status code error.
```js
{
  'error': {
    'type': 'circuit_breaking_exception',
    'reason': '[parent] Data too large, data for [<http_request>] would be [123848638/118.1mb], which is larger than the limit of [123273216/117.5mb], real usage: [120182112/114.6mb], new bytes reserved: [3666526/3.4mb]',
    'bytes_wanted': 123848638,
    'bytes_limit': 123273216,
    'durability': 'TRANSIENT'
  },
  'status': 429
}
```

Elasticsearch also writes circuit breaker errors to [`elasticsearch.log`](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/deploy-manage/monitor/logging-configuration/elasticsearch-log4j-configuration-self-managed). This is helpful when automated processes, such as allocation, trigger a circuit breaker.
```txt
Caused by: org.elasticsearch.common.breaker.CircuitBreakingException: [parent] Data too large, data for [<transport_request>] would be [num/numGB], which is larger than the limit of [num/numGB], usages [request=0/0b, fielddata=num/numKB, in_flight_requests=num/numGB, accounting=num/numGB]
```

**Check circuit breaker statistics**
To get statistics about the circuit breaker per node, use one of the following:
- You can use the [get node statistics](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-nodes-stats) API:
  ```json
  ```
  The response provides the following information:
  - Estimated memory used for the operation.
- Memory limit for the circuit breaker.
- Total number of times the circuit breaker has been triggered and prevented an out of memory error since node uptime.
- And an overhead which is a constant that all estimates for the circuit breaker are multiplied with to calculate a final estimate.
- <applies-to>Elastic Stack: Generally available since 9.3</applies-to> Starting with Elasticsearch version 9.3, you can use the [get circuit breakers statistics](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-cat-circuit-breaker) API:
  ```json
  ```
  This API provides a concise, human-readable tabular output that is useful for quick monitoring and troubleshooting. The response includes the following information for each circuit breaker:
  - The circuit breaker name (for example, `request`, `fielddata`, `in_flight_requests`).
- The node ID where the circuit breaker is located.
- Estimated memory currently in use by the circuit breaker.
- Memory limit configured for the circuit breaker.
- Total number of times the circuit breaker has been triggered.
- Overhead factor applied to memory estimates.

**Check JVM memory usage**
If you’ve enabled Stack Monitoring, you can view JVM memory usage in Kibana. In the main menu, click **Stack Monitoring**. On the Stack Monitoring **Overview** page, click **Nodes**. The **JVM Heap** column lists the current memory usage for each node.
You can also use the [cat nodes API](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-cat-nodes) to get the current `heap.percent` for each node.
```json
```

To get the JVM memory usage for each circuit breaker, use the [node stats API](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-nodes-stats).
```json
```


## Prevent circuit breaker errors

**Reduce JVM memory pressure**
High JVM memory pressure often causes circuit breaker errors. See [High JVM memory pressure](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/troubleshoot/elasticsearch/high-jvm-memory-pressure).
**Avoid using fielddata on `text` fields**
For high-cardinality `text` fields, fielddata can use a large amount of JVM memory. To avoid this, Elasticsearch disables fielddata on `text` fields by default. If you’ve enabled fielddata and triggered the [fielddata circuit breaker](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/reference/elasticsearch/configuration-reference/circuit-breaker-settings#fielddata-circuit-breaker), consider disabling it and using a `keyword` field instead. See [`fielddata` mapping parameter](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/reference/elasticsearch/mapping-reference/text#fielddata-mapping-param).
**Clear the fielddata cache**
If you’ve triggered the fielddata circuit breaker and can’t disable fielddata, use the [clear cache API](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-indices-clear-cache) to clear the fielddata cache. This may disrupt any in-flight searches that use fielddata.
```json
```


## Memory evaluation

Circuit breakers may either directly evaluate memory usage estimates or indirectly limit operations that are likely to cause excessive memory consumption. For example, the `script` circuit breaker checks memory indirectly by rate-limiting Painless/Mustache script compilations. However, even with circuit breakers in place, nodes can still encounter out-of-memory (OOM) conditions. This can occur, for example, because:
- Circuit breaker relies on point-in-time memory usage estimations.
- Parallel operations may still heap DOS-attack the node even with `parent` circuit breakers.
- Certain dynamic operations can quickly consume substantial memory. For example [aggregations](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/explore-analyze/query-filter/aggregations) and [complex queries](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3016/reference/query-languages/query-dsl/compound-queries).
  Circuit breakers protect the node's JVM heap. OOM can still trigger due to non-heap memory, for example within the compilation or thread stacks.