Skip to content
Milvus Node SDK
Guides Zilliz Cloud Milvus Attu

Index Operations

Index APIs create, inspect, and update vector or scalar indexes. Create indexes after collection creation and before loading/searching when you need explicit index configuration.

import { IndexType, MetricType } from '@zilliz/milvus2-sdk-node';

createIndex

Section titled “createIndex”

Create one or more indexes.

createIndex(data: CreateIndexesReq): Promise<ResStatus>


type CreateIndexesReq = CreateIndexRequest[] | CreateIndexRequest;
type CreateIndexRequest = CreateIndexReq | CreateIndexSimpleReq;

Simple request shape:

interface CreateIndexSimpleReq {
  collection_name: string;
  field_name: string;
  index_type: string;
  metric_type?: string;
  index_name?: string;
  params?: Record<string, number | string | boolean>;
  db_name?: string;
  timeout?: number;
}

Legacy request shape:

interface CreateIndexReq {
  collection_name: string;
  field_name: string;
  index_name?: string;
  extra_params?: {
    index_type?: string;
    metric_type: string;
    params?: string;
  };
  db_name?: string;
  timeout?: number;
}

Example:

await client.createIndex({
  collection_name: 'books',
  field_name: 'embedding',
  index_name: 'embedding_index',
  index_type: IndexType.HNSW,
  metric_type: MetricType.COSINE,
  params: { M: 16, efConstruction: 200 },
});

Create multiple indexes:

await client.createIndex([
  {
    collection_name: 'books',
    field_name: 'embedding',
    index_type: IndexType.AUTOINDEX,
    metric_type: MetricType.COSINE,
  },
  {
    collection_name: 'books',
    field_name: 'title',
    index_name: 'title_inverted',
    index_type: IndexType.INVERTED,
  },
]);

describeIndex

Section titled “describeIndex”

Describe indexes on a collection. Filter by field or index name when needed.

describeIndex(data: DescribeIndexReq): Promise<DescribeIndexResponse>

Parameters:

  • collection_name: Collection name.
  • field_name?: Field name.
  • index_name?: Index name.
  • db_name?: Database name.
  • timeout?: Request timeout in milliseconds.

Response:

interface DescribeIndexResponse {
  status: ResStatus;
  index_descriptions: IndexDescription[];
}


interface IndexDescription {
  index_name: string;
  indexID: number;
  params: KeyValuePair[];
  field_name: string;
  indexed_rows: string;
  total_rows: string;
  state: string;
  index_state_fail_reason: string;
  pending_index_rows: string;
}

Example:

const res = await client.describeIndex({
  collection_name: 'books',
  index_name: 'embedding_index',
});

listIndexes

Section titled “listIndexes”

List index names for a collection.

listIndexes(data: DescribeIndexReq): Promise<ListIndexResponse>

Response:

  • status: Response status.
  • indexes: Index names.

Example:

const { indexes } = await client.listIndexes({ collection_name: 'books' });

getIndexState

Section titled “getIndexState”

Get index build state.

getIndexState(data: GetIndexStateReq): Promise<GetIndexStateResponse>

Parameters are the same as DescribeIndexReq.

Response:

  • status: Response status.
  • state: IndexState.

This API is deprecated in some Milvus versions. Prefer describeIndex or getIndexStatistics when available.

getIndexBuildProgress

Section titled “getIndexBuildProgress”

Get indexed row count and total row count while an index is building.

getIndexBuildProgress(data: GetIndexBuildProgressReq): Promise<GetIndexBuildProgressResponse>

Parameters:

  • collection_name: Collection name.
  • field_name?: Field name.
  • index_name?: Index name.
  • db_name?: Database name.
  • timeout?: Request timeout in milliseconds.

Response:

  • indexed_rows: Number of indexed rows.
  • total_rows: Total row count.

getIndexStatistics

Section titled “getIndexStatistics”

Get index statistics including index state and row counts.

getIndexStatistics(data: DescribeIndexReq): Promise<DescribeIndexResponse>

Use this when you need the full IndexDescription[] structure.

alterIndexProperties

Section titled “alterIndexProperties”

Modify mutable index properties.

alterIndexProperties(data: AlterIndexReq): Promise<ResStatus>
alterIndex(data: AlterIndexReq): Promise<ResStatus> // deprecated alias

Parameters:

  • collection_name: Collection name.
  • index_name: Index name.
  • params: Properties to update.
  • db_name?: Database name.
  • timeout?: Request timeout in milliseconds.

Example:

await client.alterIndexProperties({
  collection_name: 'books',
  index_name: 'embedding_index',
  params: { 'mmap.enabled': true },
});

dropIndexProperties

Section titled “dropIndexProperties”

Remove index properties.

dropIndexProperties(data: DropIndexPropertiesReq): Promise<ResStatus>

Parameters:

  • collection_name: Collection name.
  • index_name: Index name.
  • properties: Property keys to remove.
  • db_name?: Database name.
  • timeout?: Request timeout in milliseconds.

Example:

await client.dropIndexProperties({
  collection_name: 'books',
  index_name: 'embedding_index',
  properties: ['mmap.enabled'],
});

dropIndex

Section titled “dropIndex”

Drop an index.

dropIndex(data: DropIndexReq): Promise<ResStatus>

Parameters:

  • collection_name: Collection name.
  • field_name?: Field name.
  • index_name?: Index name.
  • db_name?: Database name.
  • timeout?: Request timeout in milliseconds.

Example:

await client.dropIndex({
  collection_name: 'books',
  index_name: 'embedding_index',
});

Common index and metric enums

Section titled “Common index and metric enums”
enum IndexType {
  FLAT = 'FLAT',
  IVF_FLAT = 'IVF_FLAT',
  IVF_SQ8 = 'IVF_SQ8',
  IVF_PQ = 'IVF_PQ',
  HNSW = 'HNSW',
  DISKANN = 'DISKANN',
  AUTOINDEX = 'AUTOINDEX',
  SPARSE_INVERTED_INDEX = 'SPARSE_INVERTED_INDEX',
  SPARSE_WAND = 'SPARSE_WAND',
  INVERTED = 'INVERTED',
  BITMAP = 'BITMAP',
  MINHASH_LSH = 'MINHASH_LSH',
  RTREE = 'RTREE',
}


enum MetricType {
  L2 = 'L2',
  IP = 'IP',
  COSINE = 'COSINE',
  HAMMING = 'HAMMING',
  JACCARD = 'JACCARD',
  BM25 = 'BM25',
  MAX_SIM = 'MAX_SIM',
}
Section titled “Related”