Elasticsearch 101: refresh interval

📅 Published: Mar 26, 2025 • Thomas Queste

A quick guide to the Elasticsearch refresh_interval setting.

What is the refresh interval?

Controls how often indexed documents become searchable
Documents are stored in all cases, just not indexed
Default is to refresh every second
Documents are invisible to search until refresh occurs
Refresh is a background process making new documents visible

Values

Default: 1 second (1s)
Set to -1 to disable automatic refreshes
Set to null to restore to default settings from the index settings, or the global default of 1s
Custom value (e.g. 30s) for specific workloads

Typical usage

Disable automatic refreshes during heavy indexing by setting it to -1
Call the _refresh API manually when needed (the end of your operation…)

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