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REST API

Read documents

GET/v1alpha1/indexes/{name}/documentsdocuments.read

Reads documents back out of an index in primary key order, returning them as originally indexed. Whole-number keys return in numeric order with negative numbers first, and text keys return in UTF-8 byte order.

Set the Accept request header to select the response format. The default format is application/json, which also applies to Accept: */*. The format application/x-ndjson returns one document per line with no outer wrapper, matching byte-for-byte the format accepted by the indexing endpoint. A newline-delimited body contains only documents, so the line count indicates whether more documents are available rather than a next key.

Every response is bounded, so reading an entire index requires a sequence of requests, each passing the previous response's next key in the after parameter. A single request reads from a point-in-time snapshot of the index and sees committed data only. Across multiple requests, documents indexed under keys that the read has already passed are omitted from subsequent responses.

Read requests are served directly by whichever node receives them, using data that the node has pulled from storage, and are never forwarded to the writer.

Path parameters

namestringrequired
Name of the index to read, optionally naming one generation as books@2.

Query parameters

afterstring
Primary key to resume reading after. The specified key is omitted from the response. Formatted as text matching the key in the path of a delete (for example, numeric keys are written as numbers). If no document exists under this key, reading resumes from where the key would be positioned in the order. Omit to start at the first document.
limitstringinteger
Maximum number of documents to return.
Default
100
Range
1 to 10000

Headers

X-Exofind-Freshnessany
A freshness token an earlier response returned. The documents are read only once the node holds the state it names.

Responses

200
The documents, in primary key order.
ScanResponse

A batch of documents read from an index. A single request reads from a point-in-time snapshot and sees committed data only, so uncommitted writes are not visible. For more information, see Reading documents.

documentsany[]
Documents in primary key order, formatted as originally indexed. Whole-number keys return in numeric order, with negative numbers first. Text keys return in UTF-8 byte order.
nextstring
Primary key to pass as the after parameter on the next request. Present only when the response returns as many documents as requested by limit. If a batch ends exactly on the last document of the index, next is returned and the subsequent request returns an empty documents array without a next field.
Example
"2"
freshnessstring
A freshness token for the state the documents were read from. Pass it in the X-Exofind-Freshness header of the next request, and that request is answered from this state or a later one whichever node it lands on. Opaque; pass it back unchanged. See Freshness.
Example
"AQoIcHJvZHVjdHMSATIYBw"
400
The index cannot be scanned, or the limit parameter is out of range.
ErrorResponse

The body of every failed request. Error codes use colon-separated namespaces such as index:field:name_invalid, are stable across API versions, and are never renamed or reused, so clients match on code rather than on message. See Errors.

codestring
Identifies the failure type. For validation failures, this is validation and the individual problems are listed in errors. For all other failures, this matches the code of the single entry in errors.
Example
"validation"
messagestring
Human-readable message for log output. Match on code rather than on message. When a validation failure contains one problem, this is that problem's message. When it contains several, it reads Request contains N errors.
Example
"Request contains 2 errors"
All problems found in the request. A validation failure reports every field with a problem, so a caller can fix them in one pass rather than one request at a time.
Example
{
"code": "index:field:primary_key:multiple_unsupported",
"message": "Field `id` is marked as a primary key and multiple, primary keys can not have multiple values",
"path": "id"
}
4 properties
codestring
The error code identifying this specific problem.
Example
"index:field:primary_key:multiple_unsupported"
messagestring
Human-readable description of this problem.
Example
"Field `id` is marked as a primary key and multiple, primary keys can not have multiple values"
pathstring
Location of the offending value in the request, such as fields.title or documents[1].nonexistent. Names join with ., one element of a list reads [n] counted from zero, and a key of a free-form map such as metadata goes in brackets and double quotes when it holds a dot or a bracket, as metadata["build.sha"]. A field inside an object field carries its own dotted path, so a path here reaches a field the same way a query does. Omitted when the problem applies to the request as a whole. See API conventions.
Example
"id"
argumentsmap of string
The values the message was rendered with, so a client can render a message of its own from the code.
1 property
<key>string
Error codes
index:no_primary_key
The index definition declares no primary key, so documents cannot be scanned in key order.
document:source_not_kept
The index does not store document copies, so a scan has nothing to return.
request:limit_out_of_range
The `limit` parameter is not a whole number from 1 to 10000.
search:value_invalid
The `after` parameter cannot be read as the type of the primary key field.
search:freshness:invalid
The `X-Exofind-Freshness` header carries a token the engine did not issue. Pass a token back unchanged.
search:freshness:version_unsupported
The freshness token was issued in a format version this node does not read. The `version` argument carries it; send the request to a node of the release that issued the token.
search:freshness:index_mismatch
The freshness token is of another index than the one in the path. The `index` argument carries the index the token is of.
401
The request carries no credential this node accepts. Absent, malformed, unknown and lapsed keys are all answered alike, so a refusal cannot be used to find out which keys exist. The response carries WWW-Authenticate: Bearer.
ErrorResponse

The body of every failed request. Error codes use colon-separated namespaces such as index:field:name_invalid, are stable across API versions, and are never renamed or reused, so clients match on code rather than on message. See Errors.

codestring
Identifies the failure type. For validation failures, this is validation and the individual problems are listed in errors. For all other failures, this matches the code of the single entry in errors.
Example
"validation"
messagestring
Human-readable message for log output. Match on code rather than on message. When a validation failure contains one problem, this is that problem's message. When it contains several, it reads Request contains N errors.
Example
"Request contains 2 errors"
All problems found in the request. A validation failure reports every field with a problem, so a caller can fix them in one pass rather than one request at a time.
Example
{
"code": "index:field:primary_key:multiple_unsupported",
"message": "Field `id` is marked as a primary key and multiple, primary keys can not have multiple values",
"path": "id"
}
4 properties
codestring
The error code identifying this specific problem.
Example
"index:field:primary_key:multiple_unsupported"
messagestring
Human-readable description of this problem.
Example
"Field `id` is marked as a primary key and multiple, primary keys can not have multiple values"
pathstring
Location of the offending value in the request, such as fields.title or documents[1].nonexistent. Names join with ., one element of a list reads [n] counted from zero, and a key of a free-form map such as metadata goes in brackets and double quotes when it holds a dot or a bracket, as metadata["build.sha"]. A field inside an object field carries its own dotted path, so a path here reaches a field the same way a query does. Omitted when the problem applies to the request as a whole. See API conventions.
Example
"id"
argumentsmap of string
The values the message was rendered with, so a client can render a message of its own from the code.
1 property
<key>string
Error codes
auth:unauthenticated
The request carries no credential this node accepts.
403
The API key does not have the documents.read permission.
ErrorResponse

The body of every failed request. Error codes use colon-separated namespaces such as index:field:name_invalid, are stable across API versions, and are never renamed or reused, so clients match on code rather than on message. See Errors.

codestring
Identifies the failure type. For validation failures, this is validation and the individual problems are listed in errors. For all other failures, this matches the code of the single entry in errors.
Example
"validation"
messagestring
Human-readable message for log output. Match on code rather than on message. When a validation failure contains one problem, this is that problem's message. When it contains several, it reads Request contains N errors.
Example
"Request contains 2 errors"
All problems found in the request. A validation failure reports every field with a problem, so a caller can fix them in one pass rather than one request at a time.
Example
{
"code": "index:field:primary_key:multiple_unsupported",
"message": "Field `id` is marked as a primary key and multiple, primary keys can not have multiple values",
"path": "id"
}
4 properties
codestring
The error code identifying this specific problem.
Example
"index:field:primary_key:multiple_unsupported"
messagestring
Human-readable description of this problem.
Example
"Field `id` is marked as a primary key and multiple, primary keys can not have multiple values"
pathstring
Location of the offending value in the request, such as fields.title or documents[1].nonexistent. Names join with ., one element of a list reads [n] counted from zero, and a key of a free-form map such as metadata goes in brackets and double quotes when it holds a dot or a bracket, as metadata["build.sha"]. A field inside an object field carries its own dotted path, so a path here reaches a field the same way a query does. Omitted when the problem applies to the request as a whole. See API conventions.
Example
"id"
argumentsmap of string
The values the message was rendered with, so a client can render a message of its own from the code.
1 property
<key>string
Error codes
auth:forbidden
The key is accepted but does not hold the `documents.read` permission.
404
No index with the specified name exists on this node, or the API key lacks permissions on the index.
ErrorResponse

The body of every failed request. Error codes use colon-separated namespaces such as index:field:name_invalid, are stable across API versions, and are never renamed or reused, so clients match on code rather than on message. See Errors.

codestring
Identifies the failure type. For validation failures, this is validation and the individual problems are listed in errors. For all other failures, this matches the code of the single entry in errors.
Example
"validation"
messagestring
Human-readable message for log output. Match on code rather than on message. When a validation failure contains one problem, this is that problem's message. When it contains several, it reads Request contains N errors.
Example
"Request contains 2 errors"
All problems found in the request. A validation failure reports every field with a problem, so a caller can fix them in one pass rather than one request at a time.
Example
{
"code": "index:field:primary_key:multiple_unsupported",
"message": "Field `id` is marked as a primary key and multiple, primary keys can not have multiple values",
"path": "id"
}
4 properties
codestring
The error code identifying this specific problem.
Example
"index:field:primary_key:multiple_unsupported"
messagestring
Human-readable description of this problem.
Example
"Field `id` is marked as a primary key and multiple, primary keys can not have multiple values"
pathstring
Location of the offending value in the request, such as fields.title or documents[1].nonexistent. Names join with ., one element of a list reads [n] counted from zero, and a key of a free-form map such as metadata goes in brackets and double quotes when it holds a dot or a bracket, as metadata["build.sha"]. A field inside an object field carries its own dotted path, so a path here reaches a field the same way a query does. Omitted when the problem applies to the request as a whole. See API conventions.
Example
"id"
argumentsmap of string
The values the message was rendered with, so a client can render a message of its own from the code.
1 property
<key>string
Error codes
index:not_found
The node holds no such index, or the key has no permission on it.
503
The request raced the index being closed to free local resources. Repeating the request reopens the index.
ErrorResponse

The body of every failed request. Error codes use colon-separated namespaces such as index:field:name_invalid, are stable across API versions, and are never renamed or reused, so clients match on code rather than on message. See Errors.

codestring
Identifies the failure type. For validation failures, this is validation and the individual problems are listed in errors. For all other failures, this matches the code of the single entry in errors.
Example
"validation"
messagestring
Human-readable message for log output. Match on code rather than on message. When a validation failure contains one problem, this is that problem's message. When it contains several, it reads Request contains N errors.
Example
"Request contains 2 errors"
All problems found in the request. A validation failure reports every field with a problem, so a caller can fix them in one pass rather than one request at a time.
Example
{
"code": "index:field:primary_key:multiple_unsupported",
"message": "Field `id` is marked as a primary key and multiple, primary keys can not have multiple values",
"path": "id"
}
4 properties
codestring
The error code identifying this specific problem.
Example
"index:field:primary_key:multiple_unsupported"
messagestring
Human-readable description of this problem.
Example
"Field `id` is marked as a primary key and multiple, primary keys can not have multiple values"
pathstring
Location of the offending value in the request, such as fields.title or documents[1].nonexistent. Names join with ., one element of a list reads [n] counted from zero, and a key of a free-form map such as metadata goes in brackets and double quotes when it holds a dot or a bracket, as metadata["build.sha"]. A field inside an object field carries its own dotted path, so a path here reaches a field the same way a query does. Omitted when the problem applies to the request as a whole. See API conventions.
Example
"id"
argumentsmap of string
The values the message was rendered with, so a client can render a message of its own from the code.
1 property
<key>string
Error codes
index:closed
The request raced the index being closed to free local resources. Sending it again reopens the index.
search:freshness:unavailable
The node did not reach the state the freshness token asks for within `EXOFIND_SEARCH_FRESHNESS_WAIT`. Send the request again after the `Retry-After` header.

Authorization

Permission
documents.read
Checked on
The index the path names
Roles
writer, admin

An API key sent as a bearer token, such as Authorization: Bearer exok_4ff6b760264c1918_ePQcdT1O9HSATZoXfDbT8hhHGsP9VpZH. A key carries grants that pair permissions with index patterns; the permission each endpoint needs is named beside it. Nodes running with EXOFIND_AUTH_MODE=none accept requests without a credential, and a node with EXOFIND_AUTH_ANONYMOUS_KEY set serves requests that carry none with the permissions of that key.

Exofind is built by Level Four AB and is available under the Apache License 2.0.