# Low level client VS high level client API

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/low-level-client-vs-high-level-client-api/56856>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [August 1, 2016, 6:27am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/low-level-client-vs-high-level-client-api/56856 "2016-08-01T06:27:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Harinath](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/harinath/32/58639_2.png) [@Harinath](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Harinath)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 6:27am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/low-level-client-vs-high-level-client-api/56856/1 "2016-08-01T06:27:34Z")

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What is the difference between low level client and high level client in Elasticsearch?

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**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:** [August 1, 2016, 6:56am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/low-level-client-vs-high-level-client-api/56856/2 "2016-08-01T06:56:23Z")

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I think you are talking about the REST client which is a low level one.

Basically in Java you will write (pseudocode):

```
  String json = execute("PUT", "/index/_mapping", "{}");

```

With a high level client (see for example the TransportClient), you can write something like:

```
  MappingResponse resp = putMapping("index").addMapping("{}").get();
```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Harinath](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/harinath/32/58639_2.png) [@Harinath](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Harinath)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 9:08am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/low-level-client-vs-high-level-client-api/56856/3 "2016-08-01T09:08:11Z")

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Thanks @dadoonet. I got my confusion clarified.

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**Author:** ![nik9000](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nik9000/32/44947_2.png) [@nik9000](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nik9000)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 12:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/low-level-client-vs-high-level-client-api/56856/4 "2016-08-01T12:22:36Z")

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The other difference is that there doesn't yet exist a high level, REST based client for Java. The transport client is a high level client but it isn't REST. It uses Elasticsearch's internal protocol and requires pulling in most of Elasticsearch's code as a dependency.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/low-level-client-vs-high-level-client-api/56856/5 "2017-07-05T22:31:15Z")

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