The Elasticsearch REST API is an HTTP-based API that allows you to interact with Elasticsearch using HTTP requests. The API provides a set of endpoints that allow you to perform CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations on Elasticsearch indices, documents, and other resources.
The Elasticsearch REST API supports the following HTTP methods:
– GET: Used to retrieve data from Elasticsearch, such as search results or document metadata.
– POST: Used to create new documents or update existing documents in Elasticsearch, as well as to perform other operations like reindexing or bulk indexing.
– PUT: Used to create new indices, update index settings, or add mappings to an index.
– DELETE: Used to delete documents, indices, and other resources from Elasticsearch.
In addition to these basic methods, the Elasticsearch REST API also supports a range of query parameters and request body options that allow you to fine-tune your requests and customize your search results.
Here’s an example of a simple HTTP request to retrieve all documents from an Elasticsearch index using the GET method:
GET http://localhost:9200/my_index/_search
This request will retrieve all documents from the “my_index” index using the default search parameters. The response will include a list of matching documents, as well as information about the search execution time and other metadata.
The Elasticsearch REST API is a powerful tool for interacting with Elasticsearch and performing a wide range of operations. You can use the API directly from the command line or build custom applications that interact with Elasticsearch using HTTP requests.