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    Update to the latest Meilisearch version

    Currently, Meilisearch databases are only compatible with the version of Meilisearch used to create them. The following guide will walk you through using a dump to migrate an existing database from an older version of Meilisearch to the most recent one.

    If you're updating your Meilisearch instance on cloud platforms like DigitalOcean, AWS, or GCP, ensure that you can connect to your cloud instance via SSH. Depending on the user you are connecting with (root, admin, etc.), you may need to prefix some commands with sudo.

    If migrating to the latest version of Meilisearch will cause you to skip multiple versions, this may require changes to your codebase. Refer to our version-specific update warnings for more details.

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    If you are running Meilisearch as a systemctl service using v0.22 or above, try our migration script.

    Updating Meilisearch Cloud

    Log into your Meilisearch Cloud account and navigate to the project you want to update.

    Click on the project you want to update. Look for the "General settings" section at the top of the page.

    Whenever a new version of Meilisearch is available, you will see an update button next to the "Meilisearch version" field.

    Button to update Meilisearch version to 1.0.2

    To update to the latest Meilisearch release, click the "Update to v.X.Y.Z" button.

    This will open a pop-up with more information about the update process. Read it, then click on "Update". The "Status" of your project will change from "running" to "updating".

    Project update in progress

    Once the project has been successfully updated, you will receive an email confirming the update and "Status" will change back to "running".

    Updating a self-hosted Meilisearch instance
    WARNING

    This guide only works for v0.15 and above. If you are using an older Meilisearch release, please contact support for more information.

    Step 1: Export data

    Verify your database version

    First, verify the version of Meilisearch that's compatible with your database using the get version endpoint:

    curl \
  -X GET 'http://<your-domain-name>/version' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer API_KEY'

    The response should look something like this:

    {
  "commitSha": "stringOfLettersAndNumbers",
  "commitDate": "YYYY-MM-DDTimestamp",
  "pkgVersion": "x.y.z"
}
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    If you get the missing_authorization_header error, you might be using v0.24 or below. For each command, replace the Authorization: Bearer header with the X-Meili-API-Key: API_KEY header:

    curl \
  -X GET 'http://<your-domain-name>/version' \
  -H 'X-Meili-API-Key: API_KEY'

    If your pkgVersion is 0.21 or above, you can jump to creating the dump. If not, proceed to the next step.

    Set all fields as displayed attributes
    NOTE

    If your dump was created in Meilisearch v0.21 or above, skip this step.

    When creating dumps using Meilisearch versions below v0.21, all fields must be displayed in order to be saved in the dump.

    Start by verifying that all attributes are included in the displayed attributes list:

    # whenever you see {index_uid}, replace it with your index's unique id
curl \
  -X GET 'http://<your-domain-name>/indexes/{index_uid}/settings/displayed-attributes' \
  -H 'X-Meili-API-Key: API_KEY'

    If the response for all indexes is {'displayedAttributes': '["*"]'}, you can move on to the next step.

    If the response is anything else, save the current list of displayed attributes in a text file and then reset the displayed attributes list to its default value (["*"]):

    curl \
  -X DELETE 'http://<your-domain-name>/indexes/{index_uid}/settings/displayed-attributes' \
  -H 'X-Meili-API-Key: API_KEY'

    This command returns an updateId. Use the get update endpoint to track the status of the operation:

     # replace {indexUid} with the uid of your index and {updateId} with the updateId returned by the previous request
  curl \
    -X GET 'http://<your-domain-name>/indexes/{indexUid}/updates/{updateId}'
    -H 'X-Meili-API-Key: API_KEY'

    Once the status is processed, you're good to go. Repeat this process for all indexes, then move on to creating your dump.

    Create the dump

    Before creating your dump, make sure that your dump directory is somewhere accessible. By default, dumps are created in a folder called dumps at the root of your Meilisearch directory.

    Cloud platforms like DigitalOcean, AWS, and GCP are configured to store dumps in the /var/opt/meilisearch/dumps directory.

    If you're unsure where your Meilisearch directory is located, try this:

    which meilisearch

    It should return something like this:

    /absolute/path/to/your/meilisearch/directory
    _geo field in v0.27, v0.28, and v0.29

    Due to an error allowing malformed _geo fields in Meilisearch v0.27, v0.28, and v0.29, you might not be able to import your dump. Please ensure the _geo field follows the correct format before creating your dump.

    You can then create a dump of your database:

    curl \
  -X POST 'http://<your-domain-name>/dumps' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer API_KEY'
# -H 'X-Meili-API-Key: API_KEY' for v0.24 or below

    The server should return a response that looks like this:

    {
  "taskUid": 1,
  "indexUid": null,
  "status": "enqueued",
  "type": "dumpCreation",
  "enqueuedAt": "2022-06-21T16:10:29.217688Z"
}

    Use the taskUid to track the status of your dump. Keep in mind that the process can take some time to complete.

    Meilisearch v0.27 and below

    For v0.27 and below, the response to your request returns a dump uid. Use it with the /dumps/:dump_uid/status route to track the request status:

      curl \
    -X GET 'http://<your-domain-name>/dumps/:dump_uid/status'
    -H 'Authorization: Bearer API_KEY' 
  # -H 'X-Meili-API-Key: API_KEY' for v0.24 or below

    Once the dumpCreation task shows "status": "succeeded", you're ready to move on.

    Step 2: Prepare for migration

    Stop the Meilisearch instance

    Stop your Meilisearch instance.

    If you're running Meilisearch locally, you can stop the program with Ctrl + c.

    Create a backup

    Instead of deleting data.ms, we suggest creating a backup in case something goes wrong. data.ms should be at the root of the Meilisearch binary unless you chose another location.

    On cloud platforms, you will find the data.ms folder at /var/lib/meilisearch/data.ms.

    Move the binary of the current Meilisearch installation and database to the /tmp folder:

    mv /path/to/your/meilisearch/directory/meilisearch/data.ms /tmp/
mv /path/to/your/meilisearch/directory/meilisearch /tmp/

    Install the desired version of Meilisearch

    Install the latest version of Meilisearch using:

    curl -L https://install.meilisearch.com | sh

    Give execute permission to the Meilisearch binary:

    chmod +x meilisearch

    For cloud platforms, move the new Meilisearch binary to the /usr/bin directory:

    mv meilisearch /usr/bin/meilisearch

    Step 3: Import data

    Launch Meilisearch and import the dump

    Execute the command below to import the dump at launch:

    # replace {dump_uid.dump} with the name of your dump file
./meilisearch --import-dump dumps/{dump_uid.dump} --master-key="MASTER_KEY"
# Or, if you chose another location for data files and dumps before the update, also add the same parameters
./meilisearch --import-dump dumps/{dump_uid.dump} --master-key="MASTER_KEY" --db-path PATH_TO_DB_DIR/data.ms --dump-dir PATH_TO_DUMP_DIR/dumps

    Importing a dump requires indexing all the documents it contains. Depending on the size of your dataset, this process can take a long time and cause a spike in memory usage.

    Restart Meilisearch as a service

    If you're running a cloud instance, press Ctrl+C to stop Meilisearch once your dump has been correctly imported. Next, execute the following command to run the script to configure Meilisearch and restart it as a service:

    meilisearch-setup

    If required, set displayedAttributes back to its previous value using the update displayed attributes endpoint.

    Conclusion

    Now that your updated Meilisearch instance is up and running, verify that the dump import was successful and no data was lost.

    If everything looks good, then congratulations! You successfully migrated your database to the latest version of Meilisearch. Be sure to check out the changelogs.

    If something went wrong, you can always roll back to the previous version. Feel free to reach out for help if the problem continues. If you successfully migrated your database but are having problems with your codebase, be sure to check out our version-specific warnings.

    Delete backup files or rollback (optional)

    Delete the Meilisearch binary and data.ms folder created by the previous steps. Next, move the backup files back to their previous location using:

    mv /tmp/meilisearch /path/to/your/meilisearch/directory/meilisearch
mv /tmp/data.ms /path/to/your/meilisearch/directory/meilisearch/data.ms

    For cloud platforms run the configuration script at the root of your Meilisearch directory:

    meilisearch-setup

    If all went well, you can delete the backup files using:

    rm -r /tmp/meilisearch
rm -r /tmp/data.ms

    You can also delete the dump file if desired:

    rm /path/to/your/meilisearch/directory/meilisearch/dumps/{dump_uid.dump}

    Version-specific warnings

    After migrating to the most recent version of Meilisearch, your code-base may require some changes. This section contains warnings for some of the most impactful version-specific changes. For full changelogs, see the releases tab on GitHub.