Update the project page

I found that there are docs for a README template → , and a Project Page template → .

And, there's now a button on Project Edit pgaes to Copy README.md or README.txt file to the description

Here's a proposal for a new project page... feedback welcome!

Elasticsearch is a powerful, distributed, RESTful search and analytics engine based on Apache Lucene that supports full-text search, vector search, retrieval augmented generation (RAG), facets → , spellchecking → , hit highlighting, auto-completion → , location-based searching → , and more.

This modules provides a Search API → backend for Elasticsearch, using the official Elasticsearch PHP Client.

Note that, in January 2021, Amazon forked Elasticsearch (then at version 7.10.2)
to create OpenSearch, and the two projects have diverged over time. If you are using OpenSearch, please consider using the Search API OpenSearch module → instead.

Requirements

Elasticsearch Connector requires the Search API → module to function.

Recommended modules

The following modules are optional, but can extend the functionality of Elasticsearch Connector:

• The Facets module → , which allows site builders to easily create and manage faceted search interfaces.
• The Geofield module → , which allows storing, managing and representing dynamic geographic data in Drupal.
• The Search API Autocomplete module → , which provides autocomplete functionality for searches.
• The Search API Location module → , which allows location-based searching.
• The Search API Spellcheck module → , which suggests corrections to misspelled words in the search query ("Did you mean ...?").

Roadmap

The ElasticSearch Connector maintainers intend to support ElasticSearch only, i.e.: we do not intend to support OpenSearch, because the Search API OpenSearch module → does that already.

The maintainers intend to support versions of this module that are compatible with the currently-supported versions of Elasticsearch. For more information, please see Elasticsearch's documentation on Elastic Product End of Life Dates.

Known problems

If you find a problem, please let us know by adding an issue → !

In the 8.0.* release series, changing the mapping of an existing field or deleting a field will cause the search index to be cleared, and all items queued for re-indexing. This is a limitation of Elasticsearch: see the Elasticsearch documentation on their Update mapping API for more details. We plan to mitigate this by using Elasticsearch's Aliases API to automatically creating a new index and reindexing to it in ✨ Support Aliases API and zero downtime mapping updates Active .

Credits

NodeSpark → , Google Summer of Code (GSoC) → 2014, FFW → , and Utilis.io sponsored initial development of Elasticsearch Connector.

Fame Helsinki → , Ontario Digital Service → , and Consensus Enterprises → sponsored maintenance and support for Elasticsearch 8.

This module was created by Nikolay Ignatov (skek) → who maintains the list of maintainers. If you would like to become a maintainer yourself, please reach out to him directly.

Similar projects and how they are different

• Search API OpenSearch → provides a Search API backend for OpenSearch. OpenSearch was created as a fork from Elasticsearch version 7.10.2, but the two projects have diverged, and there are breaking changes in the API for indexing and querying.
• Azure search → provides a Search API backend for Microsoft Azure AI Search. Microsoft Azure AI Search has a different set of features, and a different API for indexing and querying than Elasticsearch.
• Search API Solr → provides a Search API backend for Apache Solr, another Lucene-based search engine. Solr has a different set of features, and a different API for indexing and querying than Elasticsearch.

Note that there are several modules that extend Elasticsearch Connector → :

• Elasticsearch - Search API → provides a framework to set up custom Elasticsearch based search pages.
• Search API Elasticsearch Synonym → provides a way to enter synonyms for Elasticsearch in Solr format.
• Elastic Enterprise Search → provides a way to connect to Elastic Enterprise Search, an additional Elastic service that adds APIs and UIs to those already provided by Elasticsearch. A previous (now deprecated) version of Elastic Enterprise Search was named Elastic AppSearch → .

Dependencies

In order to function, this module requires a connection to an Elasticsearch cluster:

• Elasticsearch B.V., the company that created Elasticsearch and sponsors its development, offers Elasticsearch as a Service through a product called Elastic Cloud (which can be hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and/or Microsoft Azure, and has a 14-day free trial).
• Some hosting providers (e.g.: Platform.sh, Lagoon) offer Elasticsearch plugins.
• You can also self-host Elasticsearch with Docker or Kubernetes.
• To test with a single-node cluster in CI, see this project's .gitlab-ci.yml on the 8.0.x branch.
• For local development, both ddev and lando provide officially-supported plugins; or you can run it locally.

Looks good, I'll update the project page soon.

I'll add https://www.drupal.org/project/search_api_elasticsearch_synonym → to list of modules that extend Elasticsearch Connector. Currently it relies on events provided by 8.x-7.x, so I should work on 📌 Deprecate events and hooks in 8.x-7.x Active and 📌 Add index to AlterSettingsEvent for backward compatibility Active so the upgrade would be easier for modules extending Elasticsearch Connector.

The project page has button to copy the description from codebase's README.md file so I think it makes sense to also update the file.

Modified the roadmap table to also include the maintenance status of various versions. Wonder if we should make even stronger recommendation for 8.0.x version.