Get started with the Meilisearch integrations

⭐ Community Toolkit

Meilisearch is a fast, open-source full-text search engine. The Aspire Meilisearch integration lets you model a Meilisearch server as a first-class resource in your AppHost, then hand the connection information to any consuming app — regardless of language.

Why use Meilisearch with Aspire

Adding Meilisearch through Aspire — rather than wiring up containers and connection strings by hand — gives you:

• Zero-config local development. Aspire runs Meilisearch from the docker.io/getmeili/meilisearch container image with a master key generated automatically for you.
• Consistent connection info across languages. Once you reference the Meilisearch resource from a consuming app, Aspire injects connection properties as environment variables in a predictable format that works from C#, TypeScript, Python, Go, or any other language.
• Built-in health checks. The hosting integration automatically registers a health check so the dashboard and your orchestrator can tell when Meilisearch is ready.
• Dashboard observability. The Meilisearch resource shows up in the Aspire dashboard with logs, status, and telemetry alongside your other services.
• A first-class C# client integration. C# apps can use the CommunityToolkit.Aspire.Meilisearch package for dependency injection and health checks, all wired up from the same resource name.

How the pieces fit together

The Meilisearch integration has two sides: a hosting integration that you use in your AppHost to model the Meilisearch resource, and a connection story for consuming apps that reference it.

architecture-beta

  group apphost(server)[AppHost]
  group consumer(server)[Consuming app]

  service hosting(server)[Hosting integration] in apphost
  service meili(server)[Meilisearch server] in apphost

  service client(iconoir:server-connection)[Client integration] in consumer
  service app(server)[App] in consumer

  hosting:R --> L:meili
  meili:R --> L:client
  client:R --> L:app

The hosting integration lives in your AppHost project and models the Meilisearch server as a resource. The client integration lives in each consuming app and uses the connection information Aspire injects to talk to Meilisearch.

Getting there is a two-step process: model the Meilisearch resource in your AppHost, then connect to it from each app that needs it.

1. Model Meilisearch in your AppHost

   Add the Meilisearch hosting integration to your AppHost, then declare a Meilisearch resource and reference it from the apps that need search capabilities. The Meilisearch Hosting integration article walks through every capability — data volumes, data bind mounts, and master key parameters.

   Set up Meilisearch in the AppHost

2. Connect from your consuming app

   When you reference a Meilisearch resource from a consuming app, Aspire injects its connection information as environment variables. See Connect to Meilisearch for the connection properties reference and per-language examples for C#, Go, Python, and TypeScript — including the full C# client integration.

   Connect to Meilisearch

See also

• Meilisearch documentation
• Aspire Community Toolkit GitHub repo