# Is it safe to modify an index created with App Search via Kibana?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-safe-to-modify-an-index-created-with-app-search-via-kibana/309506>\
**Category:** Elastic Search\
**Tags:** elastic-app-search\
**Created:** [July 13, 2022, 8:20am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-safe-to-modify-an-index-created-with-app-search-via-kibana/309506 "2022-07-13T08:20:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Conor\_Hennessy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/conor_hennessy/32/91354_2.png) [@Conor\_Hennessy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Conor_Hennessy)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 8:20am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-safe-to-modify-an-index-created-with-app-search-via-kibana/309506/1 "2022-07-13T08:20:48Z")

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Hi,

I have joined a team using app search, but we have a requirement for a more complex suggestion logic than we can implement using the [Query Suggestion API](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/app-search/current/query-suggestion.html).

Is it safe for me to alter the index created by App search via kibana, for example to add [Context Suggestion](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/app-search/current/query-suggestion.html) for a field, when we have app search sitting on top of this index?

We would then build a new query for suggestion, either querying the index directly or using the [Elasticsearch search API](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/app-search/current/elasticsearch-search-api-reference.html)

Thank you

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sean\_Story](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sean_story/32/69987_2.png) [@Sean\_Story](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Sean_Story)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 1:43pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-safe-to-modify-an-index-created-with-app-search-via-kibana/309506/2 "2022-07-13T13:43:32Z")

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Hi @Conor_Hennessy ,

I would not recommend making changes to the App Search index. The index settings/mapping are not considered part of our public API, so if you make changes, you may break your ability to upgrade to newer versions, as we do not anticipate changes in this area.

However, starting in 8.2, we have begun to introduce the ability to use App Search to query Elasticsearch indices, and also to issue Elasticsearch queries against App Search engines. These three guides may be able to help your use case:

- [Elasticsearch search for App Search Guide | Elastic App Search Documentation [8.3] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/app-search/current/elasticsearch-search-guide.html)
- [Elasticsearch index engines (technical preview) | Elastic App Search Documentation [8.3] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/app-search/current/elasticsearch-engines.html)
- [Create Elasticsearch index engines | Elastic App Search Documentation [8.3] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/app-search/current/elasticsearch-engines-create.html)

I hope that helps!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 1:44pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-safe-to-modify-an-index-created-with-app-search-via-kibana/309506/3 "2022-08-10T13:44:20Z")

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