Get a document by its ID

GET /{index}/_doc/{id}

Auth

Get a document and its source or stored fields from an index.

By default, this API is realtime and is not affected by the refresh rate of the index (when data will become visible for search). In the case where stored fields are requested with the stored_fields parameter and the document has been updated but is not yet refreshed, the API will have to parse and analyze the source to extract the stored fields. To turn off realtime behavior, set the realtime parameter to false.

Source filtering

By default, the API returns the contents of the _source field unless you have used the stored_fields parameter or the _source field is turned off. You can turn off _source retrieval by using the _source parameter:

GET my-index-000001/_doc/0?_source=false

If you only need one or two fields from the _source, use the _source_includes or _source_excludes parameters to include or filter out particular fields. This can be helpful with large documents where partial retrieval can save on network overhead Both parameters take a comma separated list of fields or wildcard expressions. For example:

GET my-index-000001/_doc/0?_source_includes=*.id&_source_excludes=entities

If you only want to specify includes, you can use a shorter notation:

GET my-index-000001/_doc/0?_source=*.id

Routing

If routing is used during indexing, the routing value also needs to be specified to retrieve a document. For example:

GET my-index-000001/_doc/2?routing=user1

This request gets the document with ID 2, but it is routed based on the user. The document is not fetched if the correct routing is not specified.

Distributed

The GET operation is hashed into a specific shard ID. It is then redirected to one of the replicas within that shard ID and returns the result. The replicas are the primary shard and its replicas within that shard ID group. This means that the more replicas you have, the better your GET scaling will be.

Versioning support

You can use the version parameter to retrieve the document only if its current version is equal to the specified one.

Internally, Elasticsearch has marked the old document as deleted and added an entirely new document. The old version of the document doesn't disappear immediately, although you won't be able to access it. Elasticsearch cleans up deleted documents in the background as you continue to index more data.

Required authorization

Index privileges read

Path parameters

index string required: The name of the index that contains the document.
id string required: A unique document identifier.

Query parameters

preference string

The node or shard the operation should be performed on. By default, the operation is randomized between the shard replicas.

If it is set to _local, the operation will prefer to be run on a local allocated shard when possible. If it is set to a custom value, the value is used to guarantee that the same shards will be used for the same custom value. This can help with "jumping values" when hitting different shards in different refresh states. A sample value can be something like the web session ID or the user name.

realtime boolean · default: true

If true, the request is real-time as opposed to near-real-time.

refresh boolean · default: false

If true, the request refreshes the relevant shards before retrieving the document. Setting it to true should be done after careful thought and verification that this does not cause a heavy load on the system (and slow down indexing).

routing union string | string[]

A custom value used to route operations to a specific shard. Not allowed when index.slice.enabled is true for the target index; use _slice instead.

_source union oneOf

Indicates whether to return the _source field (true or false) or lists the fields to return.

One of: boolean or string

_source_excludes union string | string[]

A comma-separated list of source fields to exclude from the response. You can also use this parameter to exclude fields from the subset specified in _source_includes query parameter. If the _source parameter is false, this parameter is ignored.

_source_exclude_vectors boolean · default: false

Whether vectors should be excluded from _source

_source_includes union string | string[]

A comma-separated list of source fields to include in the response. If this parameter is specified, only these source fields are returned. You can exclude fields from this subset using the _source_excludes query parameter. If the _source parameter is false, this parameter is ignored.

stored_fields union string | string[]

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 parameter defaults to false. Only leaf fields can be retrieved with the stored_fields option. Object fields can't be returned; if specified, the request fails.

version number

The version number for concurrency control. It must match the current version of the document for the request to succeed.

version_type enum

The version type.

Supported values include:

internal: Use internal versioning that starts at 1 and increments with each update or delete.
external: Only index the document if the specified version is strictly higher than the version of the stored document or if there is no existing document.
external_gte: Only index the document if the specified version is equal or higher than the version of the stored document or if there is no existing document. NOTE: The external_gte version type is meant for special use cases and should be used with care. If used incorrectly, it can result in loss of data.

Values: internal external external_gte

Responses

application/json

_index string required: The name of the index the document belongs to.
fields map string to object: If the stored_fields parameter is set to true and found is true, it contains the document fields stored in the index.
_ignored string[]
found boolean required: Indicates whether the document exists.
_id string required: The unique identifier for the document.
_primary_term number: The primary term assigned to the document for the indexing operation.
_routing string: The explicit routing, if set.
_seq_no number: The sequence number assigned to the document for the indexing operation. Sequence numbers are used to ensure an older version of a document doesn't overwrite a newer version.
_source object: If found is true, it contains the document data formatted in JSON. If the _source parameter is set to false or the stored_fields parameter is set to true, it is excluded.
_version number: The document version, which is ncremented each time the document is updated.

application/json

One of:

_index string required: The name of the index the document belongs to.
fields map string to object: If the stored_fields parameter is set to true and found is true, it contains the document fields stored in the index.
_ignored string[]
found boolean required: Indicates whether the document exists.
_id string required: The unique identifier for the document.
_primary_term number: The primary term assigned to the document for the indexing operation.
_routing string: The explicit routing, if set.
_seq_no number: The sequence number assigned to the document for the indexing operation. Sequence numbers are used to ensure an older version of a document doesn't overwrite a newer version.
_source object: If found is true, it contains the document data formatted in JSON. If the _source parameter is set to false or the stored_fields parameter is set to true, it is excluded.
_version number: The document version, which is ncremented each time the document is updated.