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MeiliSearch

What is MeiliSearch?​

MeiliSearch is a fast, open-source search engine built for developer experience: typo tolerance, instant results, and a simple REST API. It's a popular Laravel Scout driver for adding full-text search without the operational overhead of Elasticsearch.

Start MeiliSearch​

docker compose up -d meilisearch

Stop MeiliSearch​

docker compose stop meilisearch

This stops the container without deleting its data (kept under DATA_PATH_HOST/meilisearch). To remove the container: docker compose rm -f meilisearch.

Configuration​

All settings live in meilisearch/defaults.env and can be overridden by adding the same line to your own .env:

VariableDefaultWhat it does
MEILISEARCH_HOST_PORT7700Host-side port MeiliSearch is published on (container port 7700).
MEILISEARCH_KEYmasterkeyPassed to the container as MEILI_MASTER_KEY, the admin key for the instance.

Note the image itself isn't version-pinned in meilisearch/compose.yml, it always pulls getmeili/meilisearch:latest.

Connect​

Open http://localhost:7700 for the built-in web UI, or point Laravel Scout / any HTTP client at that same URL with the master key masterkey (or your own MEILISEARCH_KEY) as the API key. From another container use http://meilisearch:7700.

Common issues​

  • 401/403 on every request. You need the master key as a Bearer token (Authorization: Bearer masterkey) for any write or protected endpoint.
  • Master key changed but old key still works, or vice versa. MeiliSearch reads MEILI_MASTER_KEY at container start; restart the container after changing MEILISEARCH_KEY in .env.
  • Image updates unexpectedly. Because meilisearch/compose.yml pins :latest rather than reading a version variable, a plain docker compose pull can bump you to a new MeiliSearch major version. Pin a specific tag in the compose file yourself if you need reproducibility.
  • App can't connect but the container is running. Use the container name meilisearch, not localhost, from inside another container.

Prefer typo-tolerant search with more filtering options? See Typesense. New to Laradock? Start with Getting Started.