Start and Stop Meilisearch

Starting and Stopping Meilisearch

2022-09-22

Overview

Meilisearch is a fast, open-source search engine. This guide provides scripts to start and stop Meilisearch manually. For production use, consider managing it as a systemd service.

Starting Meilisearch

Create start.sh:

#!/bin/bash
# Start Meilisearch with custom options
nohup meilisearch --http-addr 0.0.0.0:7700 --master-key="abcd123123" --http-payload-size-limit=100Gb &
  • --http-addr: Binds to all interfaces on port 7700.
  • --master-key: Sets the master key for API access (use a secure key in production).
  • --http-payload-size-limit: Increases payload limit for large imports.

Make it executable:

chmod +x start.sh

Run:

./start.sh

Stopping Meilisearch

Create stop.sh:

#!/bin/bash
# Stop Meilisearch gracefully
pid=$(ps -ef | grep meilisearch | grep -v grep | awk '{print $2}')
if [ -n "$pid" ]; then
    kill "$pid"
    echo "Meilisearch stopped (PID: $pid)"
else
    echo "Meilisearch is not running"
fi
  • This finds the process ID and sends a SIGTERM signal to stop it gracefully.
  • If the process doesn’t respond, you may need to use kill -9 as a last resort.

Make it executable:

chmod +x stop.sh

Run:

./stop.sh

Checking Status

To check if Meilisearch is running:

ps aux | grep meilisearch
# Or
curl http://localhost:7700/health

Important Notes

  • Security: Avoid hardcoding the master key; use environment variables: export MEILI_MASTER_KEY="your_key" and reference it in the script.
  • Logs: Meilisearch logs to stdout/stderr. Redirect to a file: nohup meilisearch ... > meilisearch.log 2>&1 &
  • Installation: Download from Meilisearch releases and ensure it’s in your PATH.
  • Systemd Service: For better management, create a systemd unit file in /etc/systemd/system/meilisearch.service and use sudo systemctl start/stop meilisearch.
  • Multiple Instances: The stop script assumes one instance; adjust if running multiple.
  • Payload Limit: The 100Gb limit is high; adjust based on your needs.

References