Where Does Meilisearch Store Index Data?
Meilisearch data.ms directory default and the --db-path flag, plus snapshot separation.
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Meilisearch keeps its index data in a data.ms directory defaulting to the working directory you launched from. Settings, documents and generated API keys all live inside, which makes development instances trivially portable and data discovery trivially confusing.
The --db-path flag pins the location explicitly and belongs in every production setup. Because the default follows the shell's working directory, services started from different folders silently fork separate datasets. Dumps and snapshots export from the live directory for backups, never the reverse.
Where Meilisearch stores this, by platform
./data.ms
Created automatically on first start in the current working directory. Always launch from a deliberate directory or set --db-path in the service definition. Back up with dumps or snapshots, never by copying a running directory.
Frequently asked questions
how do i move meilisearch data to another drive
Stop Meilisearch, move the data.ms directory to the new disk, and restart with --db-path pointing at it. Indexes, settings and API keys travel together inside, so move the whole directory or nothing.
are snapshots the same as the data directory
No. Snapshots are point in time exports for migration and disaster recovery, created on demand. The live data.ms directory serves traffic continuously, and restoring means pointing a fresh instance at an extracted snapshot.
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