diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/index/TransportIndexAction.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/index/TransportIndexAction.java
index 785a5d23157..c7eef2758cc 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/index/TransportIndexAction.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/index/TransportIndexAction.java
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ public class TransportIndexAction extends TransportWriteAction<IndexRequest, Ind
                     "Dynamic mappings are not available on the node that holds the primary yet");
             }
         }
-        final boolean created = indexShard.index(operation);
+        indexShard.index(operation);
 
         // update the version on request so it will happen on the replicas
         final long version = operation.version();
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ public class TransportIndexAction extends TransportWriteAction<IndexRequest, Ind
 
         assert request.versionType().validateVersionForWrites(request.version());
 
-        IndexResponse response = new IndexResponse(shardId, request.type(), request.id(), request.version(), created);
+        IndexResponse response = new IndexResponse(shardId, request.type(), request.id(), request.version(), operation.isCreated());
         return new WriteResult<>(response, operation.getTranslogLocation());
     }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/Engine.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/Engine.java
index 0f4378fb050..4ac09db8dc0 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/Engine.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/Engine.java
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ public abstract class Engine implements Closeable {
         }
     }
 
-    public abstract boolean index(Index operation) throws EngineException;
+    public abstract void index(Index operation) throws EngineException;
 
     public abstract void delete(Delete delete) throws EngineException;
 
@@ -847,6 +847,7 @@ public abstract class Engine implements Closeable {
     public static class Index extends Operation {
 
         private final ParsedDocument doc;
+        private boolean created;
 
         public Index(Term uid, ParsedDocument doc, long version, VersionType versionType, Origin origin, long startTime) {
             super(uid, version, versionType, origin, startTime);
@@ -905,6 +906,14 @@ public abstract class Engine implements Closeable {
             return this.doc.source();
         }
 
+        public boolean isCreated() {
+            return created;
+        }
+
+        public void setCreated(boolean created) {
+            this.created = created;
+        }
+
         @Override
         protected int estimatedSizeInBytes() {
             return (id().length() + type().length()) * 2 + source().length() + 12;
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
index 1f345d60196..b12bfe98bbe 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
@@ -386,16 +386,15 @@ public class InternalEngine extends Engine {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public boolean index(Index index) {
-        final boolean created;
+    public void index(Index index) {
         try (ReleasableLock lock = readLock.acquire()) {
             ensureOpen();
             if (index.origin().isRecovery()) {
                 // Don't throttle recovery operations
-                created = innerIndex(index);
+                innerIndex(index);
             } else {
                 try (Releasable r = throttle.acquireThrottle()) {
-                    created = innerIndex(index);
+                    innerIndex(index);
                 }
             }
         } catch (IllegalStateException | IOException e) {
@@ -406,10 +405,9 @@ public class InternalEngine extends Engine {
             }
             throw new IndexFailedEngineException(shardId, index.type(), index.id(), e);
         }
-        return created;
     }
 
-    private boolean innerIndex(Index index) throws IOException {
+    private void innerIndex(Index index) throws IOException {
         try (Releasable ignored = acquireLock(index.uid())) {
             lastWriteNanos = index.startTime();
             final long currentVersion;
@@ -424,15 +422,16 @@ public class InternalEngine extends Engine {
             }
 
             final long expectedVersion = index.version();
-            if (checkVersionConflict(index, currentVersion, expectedVersion, deleted)) return false;
+            if (checkVersionConflict(index, currentVersion, expectedVersion, deleted)) {
+                index.setCreated(false);
+                return;
+            }
 
             final long updatedVersion = updateVersion(index, currentVersion, expectedVersion);
 
-            final boolean created = indexOrUpdate(index, currentVersion, versionValue);
+            indexOrUpdate(index, currentVersion, versionValue);
 
             maybeAddToTranslog(index, updatedVersion, Translog.Index::new, NEW_VERSION_VALUE);
-
-            return created;
         }
     }
 
@@ -442,16 +441,14 @@ public class InternalEngine extends Engine {
         return updatedVersion;
     }
 
-    private boolean indexOrUpdate(final Index index, final long currentVersion, final VersionValue versionValue) throws IOException {
-        final boolean created;
+    private void indexOrUpdate(final Index index, final long currentVersion, final VersionValue versionValue) throws IOException {
         if (currentVersion == Versions.NOT_FOUND) {
             // document does not exists, we can optimize for create
-            created = true;
+            index.setCreated(true);
             index(index, indexWriter);
         } else {
-            created = update(index, versionValue, indexWriter);
+            update(index, versionValue, indexWriter);
         }
-        return created;
     }
 
     private static void index(final Index index, final IndexWriter indexWriter) throws IOException {
@@ -462,19 +459,17 @@ public class InternalEngine extends Engine {
         }
     }
 
-    private static boolean update(final Index index, final VersionValue versionValue, final IndexWriter indexWriter) throws IOException {
-        final boolean created;
+    private static void update(final Index index, final VersionValue versionValue, final IndexWriter indexWriter) throws IOException {
         if (versionValue != null) {
-            created = versionValue.delete(); // we have a delete which is not GC'ed...
+            index.setCreated(versionValue.delete()); // we have a delete which is not GC'ed...
         } else {
-            created = false;
+            index.setCreated(false);
         }
         if (index.docs().size() > 1) {
             indexWriter.updateDocuments(index.uid(), index.docs());
         } else {
             indexWriter.updateDocument(index.uid(), index.docs().get(0));
         }
-        return created;
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/ShadowEngine.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/ShadowEngine.java
index 56db39314b2..3aafcaff748 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/ShadowEngine.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/ShadowEngine.java
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ public class ShadowEngine extends Engine {
 
 
     @Override
-    public boolean index(Index index) throws EngineException {
+    public void index(Index index) throws EngineException {
         throw new UnsupportedOperationException(shardId + " index operation not allowed on shadow engine");
     }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
index 282209daa40..6089f42a396 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
@@ -523,34 +523,26 @@ public class IndexShard extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements IndicesCl
         return new Engine.Index(uid, doc, version, versionType, origin, startTime);
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Index a document and return whether it was created, as opposed to just
-     * updated.
-     */
-    public boolean index(Engine.Index index) {
+    public void index(Engine.Index index) {
         ensureWriteAllowed(index);
         Engine engine = getEngine();
-        return index(engine, index);
+        index(engine, index);
     }
 
-    private boolean index(Engine engine, Engine.Index index) {
+    private void index(Engine engine, Engine.Index index) {
         active.set(true);
         index = indexingOperationListeners.preIndex(index);
-        final boolean created;
         try {
             if (logger.isTraceEnabled()) {
                 logger.trace("index [{}][{}]{}", index.type(), index.id(), index.docs());
             }
-            created = engine.index(index);
+            engine.index(index);
             index.endTime(System.nanoTime());
         } catch (Exception e) {
             indexingOperationListeners.postIndex(index, e);
             throw e;
         }
-
-        indexingOperationListeners.postIndex(index, created);
-
-        return created;
+        indexingOperationListeners.postIndex(index, index.isCreated());
     }
 
     public Engine.Delete prepareDeleteOnPrimary(String type, String id, long version, VersionType versionType) {
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java
index e8797716a66..4715264d986 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java
@@ -1475,28 +1475,33 @@ public class InternalEngineTests extends ESTestCase {
     public void testBasicCreatedFlag() {
         ParsedDocument doc = testParsedDocument("1", "1", "test", null, -1, -1, testDocument(), B_1, null);
         Engine.Index index = new Engine.Index(newUid("1"), doc);
-        assertTrue(engine.index(index));
+        engine.index(index);
+        assertTrue(index.isCreated());
 
         index = new Engine.Index(newUid("1"), doc);
-        assertFalse(engine.index(index));
+        engine.index(index);
+        assertFalse(index.isCreated());
 
         engine.delete(new Engine.Delete(null, "1", newUid("1")));
 
         index = new Engine.Index(newUid("1"), doc);
-        assertTrue(engine.index(index));
+        engine.index(index);
+        assertTrue(index.isCreated());
     }
 
     public void testCreatedFlagAfterFlush() {
         ParsedDocument doc = testParsedDocument("1", "1", "test", null, -1, -1, testDocument(), B_1, null);
         Engine.Index index = new Engine.Index(newUid("1"), doc);
-        assertTrue(engine.index(index));
+        engine.index(index);
+        assertTrue(index.isCreated());
 
         engine.delete(new Engine.Delete(null, "1", newUid("1")));
 
         engine.flush();
 
         index = new Engine.Index(newUid("1"), doc);
-        assertTrue(engine.index(index));
+        engine.index(index);
+        assertTrue(index.isCreated());
     }
 
     private static class MockAppender extends AppenderSkeleton {