Run a scrolling search

  • POST also GET /_search/scroll/{scroll_id}
  • POST also GET /_search/scroll
Auth
Important

The scroll API is no longer recommend for deep pagination. If you need to preserve the index state while paging through more than 10,000 hits, use the search_after parameter with a point in time (PIT).

The scroll API gets large sets of results from a single scrolling search request. To get the necessary scroll ID, submit a search API request that includes an argument for the scroll query parameter. The scroll parameter indicates how long Elasticsearch should retain the search context for the request. The search response returns a scroll ID in the _scroll_id response body parameter. You can then use the scroll ID with the scroll API to retrieve the next batch of results for the request. If the Elasticsearch security features are enabled, the access to the results of a specific scroll ID is restricted to the user or API key that submitted the search.

You can also use the scroll API to specify a new scroll parameter that extends or shortens the retention period for the search context.

Important

Results from a scrolling search reflect the state of the index at the time of the initial search request. Subsequent indexing or document changes only affect later search and scroll requests.

Read the reference documentation

Required authorization

Index privileges read

Path parameters

scroll_id string optional deprecated

The scroll ID

Leave it out to use /_search/scroll.

Query parameters

scroll string · default: 1d

The period to retain the search context for scrolling.

scroll_id string deprecated

The scroll ID

rest_total_hits_as_int boolean · default: false

If true, the API response’s hit.total property is returned as an integer. If false, the API response’s hit.total property is returned as an object.

Request body

scroll string · default: 1d

The period to retain the search context for scrolling.

scroll_id string required

The scroll ID of the search.

Response

application/json
took number required

The number of milliseconds it took Elasticsearch to run the request. This value is calculated by measuring the time elapsed between receipt of a request on the coordinating node and the time at which the coordinating node is ready to send the response. It includes:

  • Communication time between the coordinating node and data nodes
  • Time the request spends in the search thread pool, queued for execution
  • Actual run time

It does not include:

  • Time needed to send the request to Elasticsearch
  • Time needed to serialize the JSON response
  • Time needed to send the response to a client
timed_out boolean required

If true, the request timed out before completion; returned results may be partial or empty.

_shards object required

A count of shards used for the request.

failed number required

The number of shards the operation or search attempted to run on but failed.

successful number required

The number of shards the operation or search succeeded on.

total number required

The number of shards the operation or search will run on overall.

failures object[]
index string
node string
reason object required
type string required

The type of error

reason union string nullable

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

One of: string
stack_trace string

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

caused_by object
Same fields as reason in failures
root_cause object[]
Same fields as reason in failures
suppressed object[]
Same fields as reason in failures
shard number
status string
primary boolean
skipped number
hits object required

The returned documents and metadata.

total union oneOf

Total hit count information, present only if track_total_hits wasn't false in the search request.

One of:
relation enum required

Supported values include:

  • eq: Accurate
  • gte: Lower bound, including returned events or sequences
Values: eq gte
value number required
hits object[] required
_index string required
_id string
_score union number | string nullable
_explanation object
description string required
details object[] required
description string required
details object[]
Same fields as details in _explanation
value number required
value number required
fields map string to object
highlight map string to string
inner_hits map string to object
<string> object
hits object required
Same fields as hits
matched_queries union oneOf
One of: string[] or string to number
_nested object
field string required
offset number required
_nested object
Same fields as _nested in hits
_ignored string[]
ignored_field_values map string to oneOf
_shard string
_node string
_routing string
_source object
_rank number
_seq_no number
_primary_term number
_version number
sort union[]
max_score union number | string nullable
aggregations map string to {} Aggregation result
_clusters object
skipped number required
successful number required
total number required
running number required
partial number required
failed number required
details map string to object
<string> object
status enum required
Values: running successful partial skipped failed
indices string required
took number
timed_out boolean required
_shards object
Same fields as _shards
failures object[]
Same fields as failures in _shards
fields map string to object
max_score number
num_reduce_phases number
profile object
shards object[] required
aggregations object[] required
breakdown object required
build_aggregation number required
build_aggregation_count number required
build_leaf_collector number required
build_leaf_collector_count number required
collect number required
collect_count number required
initialize number required
initialize_count number required
post_collection number
post_collection_count number
reduce number required
reduce_count number required
description string required
time_in_nanos number required
type string required
debug object
segments_with_multi_valued_ords number
collection_strategy string
segments_with_single_valued_ords number
total_buckets number
built_buckets number
result_strategy string
has_filter boolean
delegate string
delegate_debug object
Same fields as debug in aggregations
chars_fetched number
extract_count number
extract_ns number
values_fetched number
collect_analyzed_ns number
collect_analyzed_count number
surviving_buckets number
ordinals_collectors_used number
ordinals_collectors_overhead_too_high number
string_hashing_collectors_used number
numeric_collectors_used number
empty_collectors_used number
deferred_aggregators string[]
segments_with_doc_count_field number
segments_with_deleted_docs number
filters object[]
results_from_metadata number
query string
specialized_for string
segments_counted_in_constant_time number
segments_counted number
segments_collected number
map_reducer string
brute_force_used number
dynamic_pruning_attempted number
dynamic_pruning_used number
skipped_due_to_no_data number
children object[]
Same fields as aggregations in shards
cluster string required
dfs object
statistics object
type string required
description string required
time string
time_in_nanos number required
breakdown object required
collection_statistics number required
collection_statistics_count number required
create_weight number required
create_weight_count number required
rewrite number required
rewrite_count number required
term_statistics number required
term_statistics_count number required
debug map string to object
children object[]
Same fields as statistics in dfs
knn object[]
vector_operations_count number
query object[] required
type string required
description string required
time string
time_in_nanos number required
breakdown object required
advance number required
advance_count number required
build_scorer number required
build_scorer_count number required
compute_max_score number required
compute_max_score_count number required
count_weight number required
count_weight_count number required
create_weight number required
create_weight_count number required
match number required
match_count number required
next_doc number required
next_doc_count number required
score number required
score_count number required
set_min_competitive_score number required
set_min_competitive_score_count number required
shallow_advance number required
shallow_advance_count number required
debug map string to object
children object[]
Same fields as query in knn
rewrite_time number required
collector object[] required
name string required
reason string required
time string
time_in_nanos number required
children object[]
Same fields as collector in knn
fetch object
type string required
description string required
time_in_nanos number required
breakdown object required
load_source number
load_source_count number
load_stored_fields number
load_stored_fields_count number
next_reader number
next_reader_count number
process_count number
process number
debug object
stored_fields string[]
fast_path number
children object[]
Same fields as fetch in shards
id string required
index string required
node_id string required
searches object[] required
collector object[] required
name string required
reason string required
time_in_nanos number required
children object[]
Same fields as collector in searches
query object[] required
breakdown object required
advance number required
advance_count number required
build_scorer number required
build_scorer_count number required
create_weight number required
create_weight_count number required
match number required
match_count number required
shallow_advance number required
shallow_advance_count number required
next_doc number required
next_doc_count number required
score number required
score_count number required
compute_max_score number required
compute_max_score_count number required
count_weight number required
count_weight_count number required
set_min_competitive_score number required
set_min_competitive_score_count number required
description string required
time_in_nanos number required
type string required
children object[]
Same fields as query in searches
rewrite_time number required
shard_id number required
pit_id string
_scroll_id string

The identifier for the search and its search context. You can use this scroll ID with the scroll API to retrieve the next batch of search results for the request. This property is returned only if the scroll query parameter is specified in the request.

Reference
suggest map string to oneOf
terminated_early boolean