Multi-search

Query multiple indexes in a single API request, with options to receive separate result lists or a single merged (federated) result set.

Multi-search lets you query multiple indexes in one HTTP request. This is faster and more efficient than sending separate requests for each index.

Two modes of multi-search

Mode	Description	Use case
Multi-index search	Returns a separate result list for each queried index	Search bar with categorized sections (products, articles, users)
Federated search	Merges results from all indexes into one ranked list	Unified search across content types

How multi-search works

Send an array of search queries to the /multi-search endpoint. Each query can target a different index with its own filters, sorting, and parameters.

In federated mode, Meilisearch merges and re-ranks results from all indexes using configurable weights, giving you control over which index’s results appear higher.

Error handling

Multi-search requests fail fast. If Meilisearch encounters an error when handling any of the queries in a multi-search request, it immediately stops processing the request and returns an error message. The returned message only addresses the first error encountered, so earlier queries may succeed but no results are returned until every query is valid.

Next steps

Multi-index search

Query multiple indexes with separate result lists

Federated search

Merge results from multiple indexes into one list

Boost results

Use federation weights to prioritize one index over another

Unified search bar

Build a single search bar across content types

Semantic multi-search

Combine text and image semantic search across indexes