[role="xpack"]
[testenv="basic"]
[[async-search-intro]]
== Long-running searches

{es} generally allows you to quickly search across big amounts of data. There are
situations where a search executes on many many shards, possibly against
<<frozen-indices,frozen indices>> and spanning multiple
<<modules-remote-clusters,remote clusters>>, for which
results are not expected to be returned in milliseconds. When you need to
execute long-running searches, synchronously
waiting for its results to be returned is not ideal. Instead, Async search lets
you submit a search request that gets executed _asynchronously_,
monitor the progress of the request, and retrieve results at a later stage.
You can also retrieve partial results as they become available but
before the search has completed.

You can submit an async search request using the <<submit-async-search,submit
async search>> API. The <<get-async-search,get async search>> API allows you to
monitor the progress of an async search request and retrieve its results. An
ongoing async search can be deleted through the <<delete-async-search,delete
async search>> API.