How To Install Meilisearch on Ubuntu 24.04

What is Meilisearch?

Meilisearch is an open-source, RESTful search engine written in Rust. It's designed to deliver instant, typo-tolerant, and full-text search capabilities out of the box. Think of it as the open-source alternative to Algolia, but with full control — no rate limits, no API cost tiers.

Some standout features:

Full-text search with typo-tolerance
High performance (thanks to Rust)
RESTful API
Easy setup with minimal dependencies
Supports filters, synonyms, ranking rules
Open-source and self-hosted

Prerequisites

Before we begin, let’s ensure we have the following in place:

A Ubuntu 24.04 dedicated server or KVM VPS.
A basic programming knowledge.
A domain name pointing to server IP.

How to Install Meilisearch on Ubuntu 24.04 with Nginx SSL – Step-by-Step Self-Hosted Search Engine Guide [2025]

Step 1: Update the Ubuntu System

We begin by updating our system to ensure we’re working with the latest security patches and libraries.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

This ensures that our system is clean and ready for any new installations.

Step 2: Install Required Dependencies

Meilisearch doesn’t require a heavy stack, but we’ll need curl and unzip to handle the binary download:

sudo apt install curl unzip -y

These tools help us download and extract the latest Meilisearch release from the official GitHub repository.

Step 3: Download the Latest Meilisearch Binary

Head over to the official GitHub release page to find the latest stable version:

We’ll download the latest Linux x86_64 build using the command below:

curl -L https://install.meilisearch.com | sh

This script downloads the binary, makes it executable, and places it in our working directory.

To move it to a global location:

sudo mv meilisearch /usr/local/bin/

Step 4: Start Meilisearch for the First Time

Now that it’s installed, we can launch Meilisearch with a simple command:

meilisearch

By default, it runs on port 7700 with no authentication. Let’s verify that it’s working by opening:

http://localhost:7700

We should see a JSON welcome message from Meilisearch's API.

Step 5: Configure Meilisearch with Environment Variables

For production environments, we’ll want to enable an API key, change the host/port, and persist data.

Let’s create a directory for storing Meilisearch data:

sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/meilisearch
sudo chown $USER /var/lib/meilisearch

Now, we can start Meilisearch with persistent storage and security:

MEILI_MASTER_KEY="mySuperSecretKey" \
MEILI_ENV="production" \
MEILI_DB_PATH="/var/lib/meilisearch" \
meilisearch

Replace "mySuperSecretKey" with a secure API key.

To make this permanent, we’ll set up a systemd service next.

Step 6: Create a Systemd Service (Auto-Start on Boot)

Let’s make sure Meilisearch starts on system boot and runs in the background:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/meilisearch.service

Paste the following config:

[Unit]
Description=Meilisearch
After=network.target

[Service]
User=ubuntu
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/meilisearch \
    --env production \
    --db-path /var/lib/meilisearch \
    --master-key mySuperSecretKey
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Replace ubuntu with the actual username of the machine. Save and exit.

Enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reexec
sudo systemctl enable meilisearch
sudo systemctl start meilisearch

Now Meilisearch is running as a background service, even after reboots.

Step 7: Interact with the Meilisearch API

We can now use tools like curl, Postman, or our frontend/backend to interact with Meilisearch.

Example: Add an Index and Documents

curl \
  -X POST 'http://localhost:7700/indexes/movies/documents' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer mySuperSecretKey' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-binary '[
    { "id": 1, "title": "Inception", "genre": "Sci-Fi" },
    { "id": 2, "title": "Avengers", "genre": "Action" }
]'

Example: Perform a Search

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