Local instances

MeiliOps can install and run Meilisearch on your computer, which is handy for development and testing. Open it from the title bar connection switcher → Local instances.

Desktop app only

Local instances need the installed app. They're not available when the UI runs in a browser during development.

Each instance picks a Meilisearch version and where it runs:

Runs on	What it uses	Data
Native	An official binary that MeiliOps downloads	instances/<id> in the app's data folder
Docker	The official getmeili/meilisearch image	A named volume, meiliops-<id>
Podman	The same image	A named volume, meiliops-<id>

Native versions

Pick a release in the Native versions card and click Install. MeiliOps:

1. Lists Meilisearch releases from GitHub (tick pre-releases to include release candidates).
2. Downloads the official Community Edition binary for your platform.
3. Verifies its SHA-256 against the digest GitHub publishes for the release, and refuses it on mismatch.
4. Installs it next to the others, in bin/<version> in the app's data folder (on Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\io.meiliops.app\bin).

Versions install side by side, so instances can run different versions at the same time. Remove a version with its trash icon; instance data is not touched.

Docker and Podman

The Container engines card shows whether Docker and Podman are installed and running. MeiliOps looks for them on your PATH and, on macOS, in the usual install locations (/usr/local/bin, /opt/homebrew/bin, /opt/podman/bin, Docker.app).

• The engine must be running: start Docker Desktop or the Docker daemon, or run podman machine start, then click refresh.
• Images are pulled on an instance's first start; the pull progress appears in its logs. Pulled versions are listed as chips; remove one with its ×.
• The container publishes its port on 127.0.0.1 only, and the master key is passed as an environment variable, never on the command line.

Create an instance

Click New instance and set:

Field	Notes
Name	Shown in the list and used for the auto-created connection
Runs on	Native, Docker or Podman. Engines that aren't installed are disabled.
Meilisearch version	Native: an installed version. Docker/Podman: any release (pulled versions first).
Port	Defaults to a free port. A port already in use is flagged before you start.
Environment	development or production (production requires a master key)
Master key	Stored in the OS keychain. Generate creates a random 32-character key.
Launch flags	A searchable editor built from meilisearch --help of the chosen version, so every flag of that version is available with its description and default. Flags the version doesn't have are flagged, since Meilisearch won't start with them.
Environment variables	Extra MEILI_* variables if you prefer them to flags

Change the version

Edit a stopped instance and pick another version:

• Newer version: the data is upgraded in place with --upgrade-db on the next start (Meilisearch 1.12 and later). Take a dump or snapshot first if you may want to go back.
• Older version: refused. Meilisearch can't open data written by a newer version; import a dump instead.
• Other engine: data doesn't move between engines. Each engine has its own storage for the instance, which starts empty the first time.

Run it

• Start launches the process and waits for /health. The first successful start creates a connection named <name> (local); after that, your own edits to that connection's name and color are kept.
• Open connects to it.
• Logs shows the process output live.
• Stop shuts it down (docker stop / podman stop for containers). Closing MeiliOps stops all running instances so no process is left holding a port or the database lock.
• If MeiliOps quits without stopping a container, it reattaches to it on the next launch.
• Delete removes the instance and its connection, and optionally its data folder and volumes. If the data can't be deleted (usually because a Meilisearch process still has it open), the instance is kept and the error says why.
• Leftover data lists data folders and volumes that no instance owns, for example after deleting an instance without its data. Delete them from there.
• On Windows, instances always stop when MeiliOps exits, even if it crashes or is ended from Task Manager.

Experimental routes

Some experimental features are launch flags rather than runtime toggles: --experimental-enable-metrics, --experimental-enable-logs-route and --experimental-enable-tasks-streaming-route. Turn them on in the instance's launch flags to use the Metrics and Logs screens and live task streaming.