Get started with the Elasticsearch integrations

Elasticsearch is a distributed, RESTful search and analytics engine, scalable data store, and vector database capable of addressing a growing number of use cases. The Aspire Elasticsearch integration provides a way to connect to existing Elasticsearch instances, or create new instances from the docker.io/library/elasticsearch container image.

In this introduction, you'll see how to install and use the Aspire Elasticsearch integrations in a simple configuration. If you already have this knowledge, see Elasticsearch Hosting integration for full reference details.

Note

To follow this guide, you must have created an Aspire solution to work with. To learn how to do that, see Build your first Aspire app.

Set up hosting integration

To begin, install the Aspire Elasticsearch Hosting integration in your Aspire AppHost project. This integration allows you to create and manage Elasticsearch instances from your Aspire hosting projects:

Install the NuGet package

dotnet add package Aspire.Hosting.Elasticsearch

Next, in the AppHost project, create an instance of an Elasticsearch resource, then pass it to the consuming client projects:

Tip

This is the simplest implementation of Elasticsearch resources in the AppHost. There are many more options you can choose from to address your requirements. For full details, see Elasticsearch Hosting integration.

Use the integration in client projects

Now that the hosting integration is ready, the next step is to install and configure the client integration in any projects that need to use it.

Set up client projects

Use injected Elasticsearch properties

In the AppHost, when you used the WithReference method to pass an Elasticsearch resource to a consuming client project, Aspire injects a connection string property that you can use in the consuming project. Aspire exposes the connection string as an environment variable named ConnectionStrings__elasticsearch.

Use Elasticsearch resources in client code

Next steps

Now, that you have an Aspire app with Elasticsearch integrations up and running, you can use the following reference documents to learn how to configure and interact with the Elasticsearch resources:

<LinkCard Title="Understand the Elasticsearch hosting integration"

<LinkCard Title="Understand the Elasticsearch client integration"