# Get surrounding documents via API **URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/get-surrounding-documents-via-api/222656 **Category:** Elasticsearch **Created:** [March 9, 2020, 7:33am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/get-surrounding-documents-via-api/222656 "2020-03-09T07:33:38Z") **Posts on this page:** 8 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![elasticUser5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@elasticUser5](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/elasticUser5) #### Post date: [March 9, 2020, 7:33am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/get-surrounding-documents-via-api/222656/1 "2020-03-09T07:33:38Z")
Hello! Is there any way to replicate "Surrounding Documents" function from Kibana but via API? I'm trying different ways, but none is working (span\_near, scroll API...). Any help is appreciated! ---
### Author: ![elasticUser5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@elasticUser5](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/elasticUser5) #### Post date: [March 23, 2020, 7:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/get-surrounding-documents-via-api/222656/2 "2020-03-23T07:29:03Z")
Any solution? ---
### Author: ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet) #### Post date: [March 23, 2020, 8:08am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/get-surrounding-documents-via-api/222656/3 "2020-03-23T08:08:16Z")
May be a better luck is by asking in #kibana channel how the team implemented that or read Kibana source code? ---
### Author: ![elasticUser5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@elasticUser5](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/elasticUser5) #### Post date: [March 23, 2020, 8:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/get-surrounding-documents-via-api/222656/4 "2020-03-23T08:29:54Z")
Thanks, moved to Kibana forum. ---
### Author: ![Mark\_Harwood](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mark_harwood/32/10538_2.png) [@Mark\_Harwood](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mark_Harwood) #### Post date: [March 23, 2020, 8:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/get-surrounding-documents-via-api/222656/5 "2020-03-23T08:31:11Z")
2 searches (maybe delivered in a single msearch) - one for dates greater than focal point, sorted ascending and the other less than or equal to focal point sorted in descending date order. Stitch them together in the client? ---
### Author: ![elasticUser5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@elasticUser5](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/elasticUser5) #### Post date: [March 23, 2020, 8:38am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/get-surrounding-documents-via-api/222656/6 "2020-03-23T08:38:46Z")
Yes, its a possibility, but I don't have a "focal point". My query retrieves a variable number of results, and I want this results and, for example, 20 next surrounding documents, like "grep -A 20" from Linux. ---
### Author: ![Mark\_Harwood](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mark_harwood/32/10538_2.png) [@Mark\_Harwood](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mark_Harwood) #### Post date: [March 23, 2020, 9:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/get-surrounding-documents-via-api/222656/7 "2020-03-23T09:31:04Z")
> [@elasticUser5](#): > > I want this results and, for example, 20 next surrounding documents So you'd have a variable number of focal points each of which require querying in this way. Note that grep on a local file has a significant advantage over search on a distributed system when it comes to this task. ---
### Author: ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system) #### Post date: [April 20, 2020, 9:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/get-surrounding-documents-via-api/222656/8 "2020-04-20T09:31:08Z")
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