Elasticsearch Shell

A powerful, interactive REPL for Elasticsearch with auto-completion.

Features

• Auto-completion: Smart suggestions for:
  • HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE)
  • Indices and aliases
  • Common Elasticsearch API endpoints (_search, _cat/indices, etc.)
  • Query DSL keywords inside JSON bodies.
• Multi-line Editing: Comfortably write and edit complex queries.
• Persistent History: Your command history is saved across sessions in ~/.local/state/elasticsearch-shell/history.
• Flexible Connection: Connect to Elasticsearch using Cloud ID and API Key, or via Host, Username, and Password.

Requirements

• Python 3.13+
• uv package manager (e.g., pip install uv)

Usage

The recommended way to run the application is with uvx:

uvx elasticsearch-shell

This will download and run the latest version in a temporary virtual environment.

Running from source (for development)

If you have cloned this repository, you can also run the script directly. The script uses uv to manage its dependencies automatically.

First, make the script executable:

chmod +x elasticsearch_shell/elasticsearch_shell.py

Then run it:

./elasticsearch_shell/elasticsearch_shell.py

Alternatively, you can run it with uv without making it executable:

uv run --script elasticsearch_shell/elasticsearch_shell.py

Configuration

Connection to your Elasticsearch cluster is configured via environment variables.

Method 1: Cloud ID and API Key

This is the recommended method for connecting to Elastic Cloud.

export ES_CLOUD_ID="your_cloud_id"
export ES_API_KEY="your_api_key_id:your_api_key_secret"

Method 2: Host, Username, and Password

For self-managed clusters or other connection scenarios.

export ES_HOST="https://your-elasticsearch-host:9200"
export ES_USERNAME="your_username"
export ES_PASSWORD="your_password"

How to Use

Once the shell is running, you can start making requests to Elasticsearch.

• The first line of your input should be the HTTP method and the path (e.g., GET /_search).
• For requests with a body (like POST or PUT), write the JSON body on the following lines.
• Press Meta+Enter (or Esc then Enter) to submit the multi-line request.
• Use Ctrl+D to exit.

Example

Here's how you would run a search query:

>>> GET /my-index/_search
{
  "query": {
    "match_all": {}
  }
}

(Press Meta+Enter to submit)

The shell will then execute the request and print the JSON response from Elasticsearch.