Laravel Elasticsearch Guide

Elasticsearch provides powerful search beyond what databases offer. Laravel integration enables fuzzy matching, faceted search, and blazing-fast queries. At ZIRA Software, Elasticsearch powers search across millions of documents with sub-second response times.

Installation

Install Elasticsearch client:

composer require elasticsearch/elasticsearch

Configure connection:

// config/elasticsearch.php
return [
    'hosts' => [
        env('ELASTICSEARCH_HOST', 'localhost:9200'),
    ],
];

Basic Integration

Create service:

use Elasticsearch\ClientBuilder;

class ElasticsearchService
{
    protected $client;
    
    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->client = ClientBuilder::create()
            ->setHosts(config('elasticsearch.hosts'))
            ->build();
    }
    
    public function index($index, $id, $body)
    {
        return $this->client->index([
            'index' => $index,
            'id' => $id,
            'body' => $body,
        ]);
    }
    
    public function search($index, $query)
    {
        return $this->client->search([
            'index' => $index,
            'body' => [
                'query' => $query,
            ],
        ]);
    }
}

Model Observer

Auto-index on save:

class PostObserver
{
    public function saved(Post $post)
    {
        app(ElasticsearchService::class)->index('posts', $post->id, [
            'title' => $post->title,
            'content' => $post->content,
            'tags' => $post->tags->pluck('name'),
        ]);
    }
}

Conclusion

Elasticsearch transforms search capabilities. Laravel integration is straightforward with powerful results.

Need advanced search for your application? Contact ZIRA Software for Elasticsearch implementation.