Elasticsearch JS: retry on timeout

📅 Published: Mar 24, 2025 • Thomas Queste

Elasticsearch.js 8.14.0 changes how request timeouts are handled.

Version 8.14.0 of the driver no longer retries timed-out requests by default.
And it also added exponential backoff for retries.

From the release notes:

@elastic/js 8.14.0 upgraded to @elastic/transport v8.6.0 which refactored when and how failed requests are retried. Timed-out requests are no longer retried by default, and retries now use exponential backoff rather than running immediately.

If you need to enable retries:

await elasticClient.search(
  {
    query: { match_all: {} },
  },
  {
    retryOnTimeout: true, // default is false

    // Other related options:
    // maxRetries: 3,          // default is 3, exponential backoff now-on
    // requestTimeout: 30_000, // default is 30_000
  },
)

Improve this post