---
title: Link and manage projects for cross-project search
description: This page explains how to link Elastic Cloud Serverless projects for cross-project search (CPS), manage your linked projects, and unlink projects you...
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/tree/main/deploy-manage/cross-project-search-config/cps-config-link-and-manage
products:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless: Preview
  - Elastic Stack: Unavailable
---

# Link and manage projects for cross-project search
This page explains how to link Elastic Cloud Serverless projects for cross-project search (CPS), manage your linked projects, and unlink projects you no longer need to search across.
For more details about CPS configuration, refer to [Configure cross-project search](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/tree/main/deploy-manage/cross-project-search-config). For information about using CPS, refer to [Cross-project search](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/tree/main/explore-analyze/cross-project-search).

## Before you begin

Before you link projects for cross-project search, review these prerequisites and key concepts:
- Review the [architecture patterns](/elastic/docs-content/tree/main/deploy-manage/cross-project-search-config#cps-arch) to choose the right linking topology for your organization.
- Review the [default cross-project search scope](/elastic/docs-content/tree/main/deploy-manage/cross-project-search-config/cps-config-access-and-scope#cps-default-search-scope) for each space and make any necessary adjustments. If you don't set default CPS scopes at the space level, all searches from the origin project will query data from **every** linked project by default, right after you link projects.
- Review [user access and programmatic access](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/tree/main/deploy-manage/cross-project-search-config/cps-config-access-and-scope) for each linked project. Users and API keys need to have the appropriate permissions to access the linked projects.


### How linking works

In cross-project search configurations, project links are unidirectional and independent:
- Searches that run from a linked project do **not** run against the origin project. If you need bidirectional search, link the projects twice, in both directions.
- Linking projects is not transitive. If Project A links to Project B, and Project B links to Project C, Project A cannot automatically search Project C. Each link is independent.


## Link projects

To link projects, use the cross-project search linking wizard in the Elastic Cloud UI:
1. Make sure you've completed the tasks in the [Before you begin](#before-you-begin) section.
2. On the home screen, find the project you want to use as the origin project and click **Manage**.
   <warning>
   At this time, you should not use an Elastic Security project as an origin project for cross-project search in production. Some Elastic Security features are not fully functional when CPS is enabled on an Elastic Security origin project. You can still link Elastic Security projects _to_ an origin project of another type.
   </warning>
3. Use the sidebar to navigate to the **Cross-project search** page.
4. Click **Link projects**. Browse or search for projects to link to the origin project. Only compatible projects appear in the project list. You can filter by type, cloud provider, region, and tags.
5. Select the checkbox for each project you want to link. You can link up to 20 projects to each origin project.
   If a project you expected to link to is missing from the list, it might not meet the [requirements](/elastic/docs-content/tree/main/deploy-manage/cross-project-search-config#cps-compatibility), or you might not have the necessary [permissions](/elastic/docs-content/tree/main/deploy-manage/cross-project-search-config/cps-config-access-and-scope#manage-user-and-api-key-access) on the linked project.
6. Complete the remaining steps in the wizard to review and save your selections. In the last step, you can click **View API request** to see the equivalent API request for linking to the selected projects.


## Manage linked projects

On the origin project's **Cross-project search** page, you can reconfigure cross-project search as needed:
- **Link additional projects:**  Click **Link projects** to add more linked projects, up to the 20-project maximum for the origin project.
- **Unlink projects:** Remove connections by [unlinking projects](#cps-unlink-projects).
- **Open space settings in Kibana:**  Click **Manage spaces** to set or adjust the default [CPS scope](/elastic/docs-content/tree/main/deploy-manage/cross-project-search-config/cps-config-access-and-scope#cps-default-search-scope) for the space.


## Unlink projects

To remove a linked project from the current CPS configuration, navigate to the **Cross-project search** page. Select the checkbox next to the projects you want to disconnect, then click **Unlink**.
After you confirm, searches from the origin project will no longer include data from the unlinked projects.
<note>
  You can't delete a project that's linked to an origin project. To delete a linked project, first unlink it from every origin project it's connected to, then delete it.
</note>


## Link and unlink projects using APIs

You can also link and unlink projects programmatically using the Elastic Cloud API. In the linking wizard, click **View API request** in the review step to see the equivalent API call for your current selection.