diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGateway.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGateway.java
index 24998fa2eef..5fb919f42ca 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGateway.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGateway.java
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ public interface IndexShardGateway extends IndexShardComponent, CloseableIndexCo
     /**
      * Recovers the state of the shard from the gateway.
      */
-    void recover(RecoveryStatus recoveryStatus) throws IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException;
+    void recover(boolean indexShouldExists, RecoveryStatus recoveryStatus) throws IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException;
 
     /**
      * Snapshots the given shard into the gateway.
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException.java
index a087d53581a..99c76975992 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException.java
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.ShardId;
  */
 public class IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException extends IndexShardGatewayException {
 
+    public IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException(ShardId shardId, String msg) {
+        super(shardId, msg);
+    }
+
     public IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException(ShardId shardId, String msg, Throwable cause) {
         super(shardId, msg, cause);
     }
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGatewayService.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGatewayService.java
index 98bbb9c66fc..c6db2f20c60 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGatewayService.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/IndexShardGatewayService.java
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ public class IndexShardGatewayService extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implem
     /**
      * Recovers the state of the shard from the gateway.
      */
-    public void recover(final RecoveryListener listener) throws IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException, IgnoreGatewayRecoveryException {
+    public void recover(final boolean indexShouldExists, final RecoveryListener listener) throws IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException, IgnoreGatewayRecoveryException {
         if (indexShard.state() == IndexShardState.CLOSED) {
             // got closed on us, just ignore this recovery
             listener.onIgnoreRecovery("shard closed");
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ public class IndexShardGatewayService extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implem
 
                 try {
                     logger.debug("starting recovery from {} ...", shardGateway);
-                    shardGateway.recover(recoveryStatus);
+                    shardGateway.recover(indexShouldExists, recoveryStatus);
 
                     lastIndexVersion = recoveryStatus.index().version();
                     lastTranslogId = -1;
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/blobstore/BlobStoreIndexShardGateway.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/blobstore/BlobStoreIndexShardGateway.java
index a086283de60..de6656868a4 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/blobstore/BlobStoreIndexShardGateway.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/blobstore/BlobStoreIndexShardGateway.java
@@ -24,7 +24,11 @@ import org.apache.lucene.store.Directory;
 import org.apache.lucene.store.IndexInput;
 import org.apache.lucene.store.IndexOutput;
 import org.elasticsearch.ElasticSearchException;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.blobstore.*;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.blobstore.BlobContainer;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.blobstore.BlobMetaData;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.blobstore.BlobPath;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.blobstore.BlobStore;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.blobstore.ImmutableBlobContainer;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.Iterables;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.Lists;
@@ -36,7 +40,14 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.store.ThreadSafeInputStreamIndexInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.ByteSizeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.deletionpolicy.SnapshotIndexCommit;
-import org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.*;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.CommitPoint;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.CommitPoints;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.IndexGateway;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.IndexShardGateway;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.IndexShardGatewaySnapshotFailedException;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.RecoveryStatus;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.gateway.SnapshotStatus;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.settings.IndexSettings;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.AbstractIndexShardComponent;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.ShardId;
@@ -358,7 +369,7 @@ public abstract class BlobStoreIndexShardGateway extends AbstractIndexShardCompo
         }
     }
 
-    @Override public void recover(RecoveryStatus recoveryStatus) throws IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException {
+    @Override public void recover(boolean indexShouldExists, RecoveryStatus recoveryStatus) throws IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException {
         this.recoveryStatus = recoveryStatus;
 
         final ImmutableMap<String, BlobMetaData> blobs;
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/local/LocalIndexShardGateway.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/local/LocalIndexShardGateway.java
index a36997eea8e..f008039b28f 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/local/LocalIndexShardGateway.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/local/LocalIndexShardGateway.java
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ public class LocalIndexShardGateway extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implemen
         return recoveryStatus;
     }
 
-    @Override public void recover(RecoveryStatus recoveryStatus) throws IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException {
+    @Override public void recover(boolean indexShouldExists, RecoveryStatus recoveryStatus) throws IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException {
         recoveryStatus.index().startTime(System.currentTimeMillis());
         long version = -1;
         long translogId = -1;
@@ -95,6 +95,8 @@ public class LocalIndexShardGateway extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implemen
                 } else {
                     translogId = version;
                 }
+            } else if (indexShouldExists) {
+                throw new IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException(shardId(), "shard allocated for local recovery (post api), should exists, but doesn't");
             }
         } catch (IOException e) {
             throw new IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException(shardId(), "Failed to fetch index version after copying it over", e);
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/none/NoneIndexShardGateway.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/none/NoneIndexShardGateway.java
index f34a4ff4a56..a8c32d9ed76 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/none/NoneIndexShardGateway.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/gateway/none/NoneIndexShardGateway.java
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ public class NoneIndexShardGateway extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implement
         return recoveryStatus;
     }
 
-    @Override public void recover(RecoveryStatus recoveryStatus) throws IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException {
+    @Override public void recover(boolean indexShouldExists, RecoveryStatus recoveryStatus) throws IndexShardGatewayRecoveryException {
         recoveryStatus().index().startTime(System.currentTimeMillis());
         // in the none case, we simply start the shard
         // clean the store, there should be nothing there...
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/cluster/IndicesClusterStateService.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/cluster/IndicesClusterStateService.java
index 77afcedf1b7..277c87b91b0 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/cluster/IndicesClusterStateService.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/cluster/IndicesClusterStateService.java
@@ -492,12 +492,12 @@ public class IndicesClusterStateService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<Indic
             }
 
             if (shardRouting.initializing()) {
-                applyInitializingShard(routingTable, nodes, shardRouting);
+                applyInitializingShard(routingTable, nodes, routingTable.index(shardRouting.index()).shard(shardRouting.id()), shardRouting);
             }
         }
     }
 
-    private void applyInitializingShard(final RoutingTable routingTable, final DiscoveryNodes nodes, final ShardRouting shardRouting) throws ElasticSearchException {
+    private void applyInitializingShard(final RoutingTable routingTable, final DiscoveryNodes nodes, final IndexShardRoutingTable indexShardRouting, final ShardRouting shardRouting) throws ElasticSearchException {
         final IndexService indexService = indicesService.indexServiceSafe(shardRouting.index());
         final int shardId = shardRouting.id();
 
@@ -582,8 +582,10 @@ public class IndicesClusterStateService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<Indic
         } else {
             if (shardRouting.relocatingNodeId() == null) {
                 // we are the first primary, recover from the gateway
+                // if its post api allocation, the index should exists
+                boolean indexShouldExists = indexShardRouting.allocatedPostApi();
                 IndexShardGatewayService shardGatewayService = indexService.shardInjector(shardId).getInstance(IndexShardGatewayService.class);
-                shardGatewayService.recover(new IndexShardGatewayService.RecoveryListener() {
+                shardGatewayService.recover(indexShouldExists, new IndexShardGatewayService.RecoveryListener() {
                     @Override public void onRecoveryDone() {
                         shardStateAction.shardStarted(shardRouting, "after recovery from gateway");
                     }