Create or update a watch

  • POST also PUT /_watcher/watch/{id}
Auth

When a watch is registered, a new document that represents the watch is added to the .watches index and its trigger is immediately registered with the relevant trigger engine. Typically for the schedule trigger, the scheduler is the trigger engine.

Important

You must use Kibana or this API to create a watch. Do not add a watch directly to the .watches index by using the Elasticsearch index API. If Elasticsearch security features are enabled, do not give users write privileges on the .watches index.

When you add a watch you can also define its initial active state by setting the active parameter.

When Elasticsearch security features are enabled, your watch can index or search only on indices for which the user that stored the watch has privileges. If the user is able to read index a, but not index b, the same will apply when the watch runs.

Required authorization

Cluster privileges manage_watcher

Path parameters

id string required

The identifier for the watch.

Query parameters

active boolean · default: true

The initial state of the watch. The default value is true, which means the watch is active by default.

if_primary_term number

Only update the watch if the last operation that has changed the watch has the specified primary term

if_seq_no number

Only update the watch if the last operation that has changed the watch has the specified sequence number

version number

Explicit version number for concurrency control

Request body

actions map string to object

The list of actions that will be run if the condition matches.

<string> object
action_type enum
Values: email webhook index logging slack pagerduty
condition object
always object
array_compare map string to object · min properties: 1 · max properties: 1
<string> object
path string required
compare map string to string to oneOf · min properties: 1 · max properties: 1
<string> map string to oneOf · min properties: 1 · max properties: 1
never object
script object
lang union anyOf · default: painless

Supported values include:

  • painless: Painless scripting language, purpose-built for Elasticsearch.
  • expression: Lucene’s expressions language, compiles a JavaScript expression to bytecode.
  • mustache: Mustache templated, used for templates.
  • java: Expert Java API
Values: painless expression mustache java
params map string to object
source union oneOf
One of:
id string
foreach string
max_iterations number
name string
throttle_period string
throttle_period_in_millis number
transform object
chain object[]
Same fields as transform in actions
script object
lang string · default: painless
params map string to object
source union oneOf
One of:
id string
request object required
body object
aggregations map string to {} Aggregation

Defines the aggregations that are run as part of the search request.

collapse object

Collapses search results the values of the specified field.

Same fields as collapse in SearchRequestBody
explain boolean · default: false

If true, the request returns detailed information about score computation as part of a hit.

ext map string to object

Configuration of search extensions defined by Elasticsearch plugins.

from number · default: 0

The starting document offset, which must be non-negative. By default, you cannot page through more than 10,000 hits using the from and size parameters. To page through more hits, use the search_after parameter.

highlight object

Specifies the highlighter to use for retrieving highlighted snippets from one or more fields in your search results.

Same fields as highlight in inner_hits
Reference
track_total_hits boolean | number · default: 10000

Number of hits matching the query to count accurately. If true, the exact number of hits is returned at the cost of some performance. If false, the response does not include the total number of hits matching the query.

indices_boost string to number[]

Boost the _score of documents from specified indices. The boost value is the factor by which scores are multiplied. A boost value greater than 1.0 increases the score. A boost value between 0 and 1.0 decreases the score.

Reference
docvalue_fields object[]

An array of wildcard (*) field patterns. The request returns doc values for field names matching these patterns in the hits.fields property of the response.

Reference
field string required

A wildcard pattern. The request returns values for field names matching this pattern.

format string

The format in which the values are returned.

include_unmapped boolean
knn union oneOf

The approximate kNN search to run.

object or object[]
Same options as knn in SearchRequestBody
Reference
rank object

The Reciprocal Rank Fusion (RRF) to use.

rrf object

The reciprocal rank fusion parameters

Reference
rank_constant number

How much influence documents in individual result sets per query have over the final ranked result set

rank_window_size number

Size of the individual result sets per query

min_score number

The minimum _score for matching documents. Documents with a lower _score are not included in search results or results collected by aggregations.

post_filter {} Query

Use the post_filter parameter to filter search results. The search hits are filtered after the aggregations are calculated. A post filter has no impact on the aggregation results.

profile boolean · default: false

Set to true to return detailed timing information about the execution of individual components in a search request. NOTE: This is a debugging tool and adds significant overhead to search execution.

Reference
query {} Query

The search definition using the Query DSL.

rescore union oneOf

Can be used to improve precision by reordering just the top (for example 100 - 500) documents returned by the query and post_filter phases.

object or object[]
Same options as rescore in SearchRequestBody
Reference
retriever object

A retriever is a specification to describe top documents returned from a search. A retriever replaces other elements of the search API that also return top documents such as query and knn.

Same fields as retriever in SearchRequestBody
Reference
script_fields map string to object

Retrieve a script evaluation (based on different fields) for each hit.

<string> object
script string required
ignore_failure boolean
search_after union[]

Used to retrieve the next page of hits using a set of sort values from the previous page.

Reference
size number · default: 10

The number of hits to return, which must not be negative. By default, you cannot page through more than 10,000 hits using the from and size parameters. To page through more hits, use the search_after property.

slice object

Split a scrolled search into multiple slices that can be consumed independently.

Reference
field string
id string required
max number required
sort union oneOf

A comma-separated list of

Same options as sort in inner_hits
Reference
_source union oneOf

The source fields that are returned for matching documents. These fields are returned in the hits._source property of the search response. If the stored_fields property is specified, the _source property defaults to false. Otherwise, it defaults to true.

One of:
Reference
fields object[]

An array of wildcard (*) field patterns. The request returns values for field names matching these patterns in the hits.fields property of the response.

field string required

A wildcard pattern. The request returns values for field names matching this pattern.

format string

The format in which the values are returned.

include_unmapped boolean
suggest object

Defines a suggester that provides similar looking terms based on a provided text.

Reference
text string

Global suggest text, to avoid repetition when the same text is used in several suggesters

terminate_after number · default: 0

The maximum number of documents to collect for each shard. If a query reaches this limit, Elasticsearch terminates the query early. Elasticsearch collects documents before sorting.

Important

Use with caution. Elasticsearch applies this property to each shard handling the request. When possible, let Elasticsearch perform early termination automatically. Avoid specifying this property for requests that target data streams with backing indices across multiple data tiers.

If set to 0 (default), the query does not terminate early.

timeout string

The period of time to wait for a response from each shard. If no response is received before the timeout expires, the request fails and returns an error. Defaults to no timeout.

track_scores boolean · default: false

If true, calculate and return document scores, even if the scores are not used for sorting.

version boolean · default: false

If true, the request returns the document version as part of a hit.

seq_no_primary_term boolean

If true, the request returns sequence number and primary term of the last modification of each hit.

Reference
stored_fields union oneOf

A comma-separated list of stored fields to return as part of a hit. If no fields are specified, no stored fields are included in the response. If this field is specified, the _source property defaults to false. You can pass _source: true to return both source fields and stored fields in the search response.

One of: string[] or string
Reference
pit object

Limit the search to a point in time (PIT). If you provide a PIT, you cannot specify an <index> in the request path.

id string required
keep_alive string
runtime_mappings object

One or more runtime fields in the search request. These fields take precedence over mapped fields with the same name.

Reference
stats string[]

The stats groups to associate with the search. Each group maintains a statistics aggregation for its associated searches. You can retrieve these stats using the indices stats API.

indices union oneOf
One of: string[] or string
indices_options object
allow_no_indices boolean

A setting that does two separate checks on the index expression. If false, the request returns an error (1) if any wildcard expression (including _all and *) resolves to zero matching indices or (2) if the complete set of resolved indices, aliases or data streams is empty after all expressions are evaluated. If true, index expressions that resolve to no indices are allowed and the request returns an empty result.

expand_wildcards union oneOf

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.

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: all open closed hidden none
ignore_unavailable boolean · default: false

If false, the request returns an error if it targets a concrete (non-wildcarded) index, alias, or data stream that is missing, closed, or otherwise unavailable. If true, unavailable concrete targets are silently ignored.

ignore_throttled boolean · default: true

If true, concrete, expanded or aliased indices are ignored when frozen.

search_type enum

Supported values include:

  • query_then_fetch: Documents are scored using local term and document frequencies for the shard. This is usually faster but less accurate.
  • dfs_query_then_fetch: Documents are scored using global term and document frequencies across all shards. This is usually slower but more accurate.
Values: query_then_fetch dfs_query_then_fetch
template object
explain boolean · default: false
id string

ID of the search template to use. If no source is specified, this parameter is required.

lang union anyOf · default: mustache

The language the template is written in. It is reported in the resolved search input of a watch record.

Supported values include:

  • painless: Painless scripting language, purpose-built for Elasticsearch.
  • expression: Lucene’s expressions language, compiles a JavaScript expression to bytecode.
  • mustache: Mustache templated, used for templates.
  • java: Expert Java API
Values: painless expression mustache java
params map string to object
profile boolean · default: false
source string

An inline search template. Supports the same parameters as the search API's request body. Also supports Mustache variables. If no id is specified, this parameter is required.

rest_total_hits_as_int boolean
timeout string
index object
index string
doc_id string
refresh enum
Values: true false wait_for
op_type enum · default: index

Supported values include:

  • index: Overwrite any documents that already exist.
  • create: Only index documents that do not already exist.
Values: index create
timeout string · default: 60s
execution_time_field string
logging object
level string
text string required
category string
email object
id string
bcc union string | string[]
body object
html string
text string
cc union string | string[]
from string
priority enum
Values: lowest low normal high highest
reply_to union string | string[]
sent_date union oneOf
One of: string or number
subject string required
to union string | string[] required
attachments map string to object
<string> object · min properties: 1 · max properties: 1
http object
content_type string
inline boolean
request object
auth object
basic object required
password string required
username string required
body string
connection_timeout string
headers map string to string
host string
method enum
Values: head get post put delete
params map string to string
path string
port number
proxy object
host string required
port number required
read_timeout string
scheme enum
Values: http https
url string
reporting object
url string required
inline boolean
retries number · default: 40
interval string · default: 15s
request object
Same fields as request in http
data object
format enum
Values: json yaml
pagerduty object
account string
attach_payload boolean required
client string
client_url string
contexts object[]
href string
src string
type enum required
Values: link image
description string required
event_type enum · default: trigger
Values: trigger resolve acknowledge
incident_key string required
proxy object
host string
port number
slack object
account string
message object required
attachments object[] required
author_icon string
author_name string required
color string
fallback string
fields object[]
short boolean required
title string required
value string required
image_url string
pretext string
text string
thumb_url string
title string required
ts number
dynamic_attachments object
attachment_template object required
Same fields as attachments in message
list_path string required
from string required
icon string
text string required
to string[] required
webhook object
auth object
basic object required
password string required
username string required
body string
connection_timeout string
headers map string to string
host string
method enum
Values: head get post put delete
params map string to string
path string
port number
proxy object
host string required
port number required
read_timeout string
scheme enum
Values: http https
url string
condition object

The condition that defines if the actions should be run.

always object
array_compare map string to object · min properties: 1 · max properties: 1
<string> object
path string required
compare map string to string to oneOf · min properties: 1 · max properties: 1
<string> map string to oneOf · min properties: 1 · max properties: 1
never object
script object
lang union anyOf · default: painless

Supported values include:

  • painless: Painless scripting language, purpose-built for Elasticsearch.
  • expression: Lucene’s expressions language, compiles a JavaScript expression to bytecode.
  • mustache: Mustache templated, used for templates.
  • java: Expert Java API
Values: painless expression mustache java
params map string to object
source union oneOf
Same options as source in script
id string
input object

The input that defines the input that loads the data for the watch.

chain object
inputs string to object[] required
Same fields as input
http object
extract string[]
request object
Same fields as request in http
response_content_type enum
Values: json yaml text
extract string[]
request object required
Same fields as request in search
timeout string
simple map string to object
transform object
Same fields as transform in actions
metadata object

Metadata JSON that will be copied into the history entries.

throttle_period string

The minimum time between actions being run. The default is 5 seconds. This default can be changed in the config file with the setting xpack.watcher.throttle.period.default_period. If both this value and the throttle_period_in_millis parameter are specified, Watcher uses the last parameter included in the request.

throttle_period_in_millis number

Minimum time in milliseconds between actions being run. Defaults to 5000. If both this value and the throttle_period parameter are specified, Watcher uses the last parameter included in the request.

transform object

The transform that processes the watch payload to prepare it for the watch actions.

Same fields as transform in actions
trigger object

The trigger that defines when the watch should run.

schedule object
timezone string
cron string
daily object
at union oneOf[] required
One of:
hourly object
minute number[] required
interval string
monthly union oneOf
object or object[]
at string[] required
on number[] required
weekly union oneOf
object or object[]
at string[] required
on enum[] required
Values: sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday
yearly union oneOf
object or object[]
at string[] required
int enum[] required
Values: january february march april may june july august september october november december
on number[] required

Response

application/json
created boolean required
_id string required
_primary_term number required
_seq_no number required
_version number required