Configuration

Configuration

You can configure MeiliSearch with environment variables and command-line options.

The configuration options described here affect your entire MeiliSearch instance, not just a single index. For index settings, see settings.

Configuring an instance with command-line options

Pass command-line options and their respective values when launching a MeiliSearch instance.

./meilisearch --db-path ./meilifiles --http-addr '127.0.0.1:7700'

Server is listening on: http://127.0.0.1:7700

In the previous example, ./meilisearch is the command that launches a MeiliSearch instance and --http-addr is the option that sets the URL and port this instance will use. All command-line options are prepended with --.

Configuring an instance with environment variables

In order to configure a MeiliSearch instance using environment variables, you have to set the environment variable prior to launching the instance. If it’s your first time doing this you may want to read more about setting and listing environment variables (opens new window), or use a command-line option instead.

Environment variables are always identical to the corresponding command-line option, but prepended with MEILI_ and written in all uppercase. Some options (e.g. --import-snapshots) are not available as environment variables.

export MEILI_DB_PATH=./meilifiles
export MEILI_HTTP_ADDR=127.0.0.1:7700
./meilisearch

Server is listening on: http://127.0.0.1:7700

Usage

Command-line options take precedence over environment variables. If the same configuration option is specified both as a command-line option and as an environment variable, MeiliSearch will use the command-line option and its respective value.

All configuration options must specify a value. Using a command-line option or environment variable without specifying a value will throw an error and interrupt the launch process.

./meilisearch --schedule-snapshot

error: The argument '--schedule-snapshot <schedule-snapshot>' requires a value but none was supplied

Options

General

Advanced

Database path

Environment variable: MEILI_DB_PATH
CLI option: --db-path
Default value: "data.ms/"

Designates the location where database files will be created and retrieved.

Environment

Environment variable: MEILI_ENV
CLI option: --env
Default value: development

Configures the instance’s environment. Value must be either production or development.

production:

Setting a master key is mandatory
Logging is disabled
The web interface is disabled

development:

Setting a master key is optional
Logs are printed to the standard output
The web interface is enabled

TIP

When the server environment is set to development, providing a master key is not mandatory. This is useful when debugging and prototyping, but dangerous otherwise since API routes are unprotected.

HTTP address & port binding

Environment variable: MEILI_HTTP_ADDR
CLI option: --http-addr
Default value: "127.0.0.1:7700"

Sets the HTTP address and port MeiliSearch will use.

Master key

Environment variable: MEILI_MASTER_KEY
CLI option: --master-key
Default value: None

Sets the instance’s master key, automatically protecting all routes except GET /health.

NOTE

You must supply an alphanumeric string when using this option.

Providing a master key is mandatory when --env is set to production; if none is given, then MeiliSearch will throw an error and refuse to launch.

If no master key is provided in a development environment, all routes will be unprotected and publicly accessible.

Learn more about MeiliSearch’s use of security keys.

Disable analytics

Environment variable: MEILI_NO_ANALYTICS
CLI option: --no-analytics
Default value: false

Deactivates MeiliSearch’s built-in telemetry when set to true.

MeiliSearch collects the following data from all instances that do not explicitly opt-out:

Application version
Environment (development or production)
Number of days instance has been active since creation
Database size
Last update time
Number of updates
Number of documents per index

All collected data is used solely for the purpose of improving MeiliSearch.

Dumps destination

Environment variable: MEILI_DUMPS_DIR
CLI option: --dumps-dir
Default value: dumps/

Sets the directory where MeiliSearch will create dump files.

Learn more about creating dumps.

Import dump

Environment variable: N/A
CLI option: --import-dump
Default value: none

Imports the dump file located at the specified path. Path must point to a .dump file.

MeiliSearch will only launch once the dump data has been fully indexed. The time this takes depends on the size of the dump file.

This option is not available as an environment variable.

Log level

Environment variable: MEILI_LOG_LEVEL
CLI option: --log-level
Default value: 'INFO'

Defines how much detail should be present in MeiliSearch’s logs.

MeiliSearch currently supports four log levels, listed in order of increasing verbosity:

'ERROR': only log unexpected events indicating MeiliSearch is not functioning as expected
'WARN:' log all unexpected events, regardless of their severity
'INFO:' log all events. This is the default value of --log-level
'DEBUG': log all events and including detailed information on MeiliSearch’s internal processes. Useful when diagnosing issues and debugging

Max index size

Environment variable: MEILI_MAX_INDEX_SIZE
CLI option: --max-index-size
Default value: 107374182400 (100 GiB)

Sets the maximum size of the index. Value must be given in bytes or explicitly stating a base unit. For example, the default value can be written as 107374182400, '107.7Gb', or '107374 Mb'.

The index stores processed data and is different from the update database, which handles pending updates.

Learn more about MeiliSearch’s database and storage engine.

Max UDB size

Environment variable: MEILI_MAX_UDB_SIZE
CLI option: --max-udb-size
Default value: 107374182400 (100 GiB)

Sets the maximum size of the update database. Value must be given in bytes or explicitly stating a base unit. For example, the default value can be written as 107374182400, '107.7Gb', or '107374 Mb'.

The update database handles pending updates. This is different from the index database, which only stores processed data.

Learn more about MeiliSearch’s database and storage engine.

Payload limit size

Environment variable: MEILI_HTTP_PAYLOAD_SIZE_LIMIT
CLI option: --http-payload-size-limit
Default value: 104857600 (~100MB)

Sets the maximum size of accepted JSON payloads. Value must be given in bytes or explicitly stating a base unit. For example, the default value can be written as 107374182400, '107.7Gb', or '107374 Mb'.

Schedule snapshot creation

Environment variable: MEILI_SCHEDULE_SNAPSHOT
CLI option: --schedule-snapshot
Default value: false

Activates scheduled snapshots when set to true. Snapshots are disabled by default.

Learn more about snapshots.

Snapshot destination

Environment variable: MEILI_SNAPSHOT_DIR
CLI option: --snapshot-dir
Default value: snapshots/

Sets the directory where MeiliSearch will store snapshots.

Snapshot interval

Environment variable: MEILI_SNAPSHOT_INTERVAL_SEC
CLI option: --snapshot-interval-sec
Default value: 86400 (1 day)

Defines the interval between each snapshot. Value must be given in seconds.

Import snapshot

Environment variable: N/A
CLI option: --import-snapshot
Default value: None

Launches MeiliSearch after importing a previously-generated snapshot at the given filepath.

This command will throw an error if:

A database already exists
No valid snapshot can be found in the specified path

This behavior can be modified with the --ignore-snapshot-if-db-exists and --ignore-missing-snapshot options, respectively.

This option is not available as an environment variable.

Ignore missing snapshot

Environment variable: N/A
CLI option: --ignore-missing-snapshot
Default value: false

Prevents a MeiliSearch instance from throwing an error when --import-snapshot does not point to a valid snapshot file.

This command will throw an error if --import-snapshot is not defined.

This option is not available as an environment variable.

Ignore snapshot if DB exists

Environment variable: N/A
CLI option: --ignore-snapshot-if-db-exists
Default value: false

Prevents a MeiliSearch instance with an existing database from throwing an error when using --import-snapshot. Instead, the snapshot will be ignored and MeiliSearch will launch using the existing database.

This command will throw an error if --import-snapshot is not defined.

This option is not available as an environment variable.

SSL authentication path

Environment variable: MEILI_SSL_AUTH_PATH
CLI option: --ssl-auth-path
Default value: None

Enables client authentication in the specified path.

SSL certificates path

Environment variable: MEILI_SSL_CERT_PATH
CLI option: --ssl-cert-path
Default value: None

Sets the server’s SSL certificates.

Value must be a path to PEM-formatted certificates. The first certificate should certify the KEYFILE supplied by --ssl-key-path. The last certificate should be a root CA.

SSL key path

Environment variable: MEILI_SSL_KEY_PATH
CLI option: --ssl-key-path
Default value: None

Sets the server’s SSL keyfiles.

Value must be a path to an RSA private key or PKCS8-encoded private key, both in PEM format.

SSL OCSP path

Environment variable: MEILI_SSL_OCSP_PATH
CLI option: --ssl-ocsp-path
Default value: None

Sets the server’s OCSP file. Optional

Reads DER-encoded OCSP response from OCSPFILE and staple to certificate.

SSL require auth

Environment variable: MEILI_SSL_REQUIRE_AUTH
CLI option: --ssl-require-auth
Default value: None

Makes SSL authentication mandatory.

Sends a fatal alert if the client does not complete client authentication.

SSL resumption

Environment variable: MEILI_SSL_RESUMPTION
CLI option: --ssl-resumption
Default value: None

Activates SSL session resumption.

SSL tickets

Environment variable: MEILI_SSL_TICKETS
CLI option: --ssl-tickets
Default value: None

Activates SSL tickets.