FVN.li Documentation Help

meilisearch:reindex

Reindex content in Meilisearch for maintenance (normal operations use automatic indexing).

Synopsis

php artisan meilisearch:reindex [--type=TYPE]

Description

This command performs maintenance reindexing of content in Meilisearch. It's used for:

  • Recovering from index corruption

  • Applying configuration changes

  • Periodic maintenance

  • Troubleshooting search issues

Note: Normal operations use automatic indexing via Eloquent observers. This command is only needed for maintenance and troubleshooting.

Options

--type=TYPE

Specify the type of content to reindex. Available types:

  • all (default) - Reindex all content types

  • games - Reindex only games

  • dialogue - Reindex only dialogue texts

  • reviews - Reindex only reviews

  • tags - Reindex only tags

# Reindex everything php artisan meilisearch:reindex # Reindex only games php artisan meilisearch:reindex --type=games # Reindex only dialogue php artisan meilisearch:reindex --type=dialogue

Usage Examples

Full Reindex

Reindex all content:

php artisan meilisearch:reindex

Output:

🔄 Starting Meilisearch maintenance reindex... ℹī¸ Note: Normal operations use automatic indexing via Eloquent observers 📊 Reindexing all content... ✓ Games: 10,234 reindexed ✓ Dialogue: 1,234,567 reindexed ✓ Reviews: 45,678 reindexed ✓ Tags: 456 reindexed ✅ Reindexing completed successfully!

Partial Reindex

Reindex only games:

php artisan meilisearch:reindex --type=games

Output:

🔄 Starting Meilisearch maintenance reindex... ℹī¸ Note: Normal operations use automatic indexing via Eloquent observers 📊 Reindexing games... ✓ Games: 10,234 reindexed ✅ Reindexing completed successfully!

DDEV Environment

Run reindex in DDEV:

ddev artisan meilisearch:reindex

When to Use

Use meilisearch:reindex when:

  1. Search Results Outdated: Search returns stale or incorrect results

  2. After Configuration Changes: Modified searchable/filterable fields

  3. Index Corruption: Meilisearch index appears corrupted

  4. Periodic Maintenance: Monthly or quarterly maintenance

  5. After Bulk Updates: Large data migrations or bulk updates

  6. Troubleshooting: Diagnosing search issues

Not Needed For

Don't use for normal operations:

  • ❌ Creating new games (automatic)

  • ❌ Updating game information (automatic)

  • ❌ Adding dialogue (automatic)

  • ❌ Creating reviews (automatic)

  • ❌ Modifying tags (automatic)

Performance

Execution Time

Content Type

Records

Estimated Time

Games

10,000

2-3 minutes

Dialogue

1M+

10-15 minutes

Reviews

50,000

3-5 minutes

Tags

500

< 1 minute

All

All

15-25 min

Resource Usage

  • CPU: High during reindexing

  • Memory: Moderate (batched processing)

  • Disk I/O: Moderate

  • Network: Low (local Meilisearch)

Optimization

The command uses batched processing to minimize memory usage:

  • Games: 500 per batch

  • Dialogue: 1,000 per batch

  • Reviews: 500 per batch

  • Tags: 100 per batch

How It Works

1. Validation

Checks that Meilisearch is accessible and indexes exist.

2. Batch Processing

Processes records in batches to avoid memory issues:

Game::chunk(500, function ($games) { $games->searchable(); });

3. Progress Tracking

Displays progress during reindexing:

📊 Reindexing games... Processing batch 1/21 (500 records) Processing batch 2/21 (500 records) ... ✓ Games: 10,234 reindexed

4. Verification

Confirms successful completion and provides statistics.

Automatic Indexing

After reindexing, automatic indexing continues to work:

Model Observers

Eloquent observers handle automatic indexing:

// Creating a game $game = Game::create([...]); // Automatically indexed in Meilisearch // Updating a game $game->update(['title' => 'New Title']); // Automatically re-indexed // Deleting a game $game->delete(); // Automatically removed from index

Searchable Models

The following models are automatically indexed:

  • App\Models\Game

  • App\Models\UniqueDialogueText

  • App\Models\Review

  • App\Models\Tag

Troubleshooting

Reindex Fails

Problem: Reindexing fails with errors

Solutions:

  1. Check Meilisearch is running: ddev describe

  2. Verify database connectivity

  3. Check Meilisearch logs: ddev logs -s meilisearch

  4. Try reindexing specific type: --type=games

  5. Increase PHP memory limit

Slow Performance

Problem: Reindexing is very slow

Solutions:

  1. Run during low-traffic periods

  2. Reindex specific types instead of all

  3. Increase Meilisearch memory allocation

  4. Check database query performance

  5. Verify network connectivity

Memory Issues

Problem: Out of memory errors

Solutions:

  1. Increase PHP memory limit in php.ini

  2. Reduce batch size in command code

  3. Reindex one type at a time

  4. Restart PHP-FPM: ddev restart

Incomplete Reindex

Problem: Some records not reindexed

Solutions:

  1. Check for errors in output

  2. Verify all models are searchable

  3. Check database for orphaned records

  4. Run again with specific type

  5. Check Meilisearch index health

Best Practices

  1. Schedule Maintenance: Run monthly or quarterly

  2. Monitor Performance: Watch search metrics

  3. Low Traffic Periods: Run during off-peak hours

  4. Verify Results: Test search after reindexing

  5. Log Output: Save output for troubleshooting

  6. Backup First: Ensure database backups are current

Monitoring

Check Index Status

Verify index health after reindexing:

curl http://localhost:7700/indexes/games/stats

Verify search works correctly:

php artisan tinker >>> App\Models\Game::search("visual novel")->count()

Performance Metrics

Monitor search performance in application logs.

See Also

Last modified: 13 October 2025
meilisearch:setupscout:sync-index-settings