> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.meilisearch.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Meilisearch v1.8 release notes

> Released May 6, 2024

## New Features

### Hybrid search enhancements

Meilisearch now supports two new embedder sources for hybrid search:

**Ollama model** - Run language models locally using the Ollama framework:

```json theme={null}
{
  "default": {
    "source": "ollama",
    "url": "http://localhost:11434/api/embeddings",
    "apiKey": "<foobarbaz>",
    "model": "nomic-embed-text",
    "documentTemplate": "A document titled '{{doc.title}}' whose description starts with {{doc.overview|truncatewords: 20}}"
  }
}
```

**Generic REST embedder** - Connect to any embedder with a RESTful interface:

```json theme={null}
{
  "default": {
    "source": "rest",
    "url": "http://localhost:12345/api/v1/embed",
    "apiKey": "187HFLDH97CNHN",
    "dimensions": 512,
    "documentTemplate": "A document titled '{{doc.title}}' whose description starts with {{doc.overview|truncatewords: 20}}",
    "inputField": [
      "data",
      "text"
    ],
    "inputType": "text",
    "query": {
      "model": "MODEL_NAME",
      "dimensions": 512
    },
    "pathToEmbeddings": [
      "data"
    ],
    "embeddingObject": [
      "embedding"
    ]
  }
}
```

**Distribution setting** - Apply affine transformations to semantic search ranking scores to improve result ranking when combining semantic and keyword search:

```json theme={null}
{
  "default": {
    "source": "huggingFace",
    "model": "MODEL_NAME",
    "distribution": {
      "mean": 0.7,
      "sigma": 0.3
    }
  }
}
```

### Negative keywords

Exclude specific terms from search results using the `-` operator:

```bash theme={null}
curl \
 -X POST 'http://localhost:7700/indexes/places/search' \
 -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
 --data-binary '{"q": "-escape room"}'
```

* `-escape` returns documents that do not contain "escape"
* `-escape room` returns documents containing "room" but not "escape"
* `-"on demand"` returns documents that do not contain the phrase "on demand"

### Search cutoff timeout

Configure a timeout for search requests to prevent crashes and performance issues. Set a custom timeout value using the `/settings` endpoint:

```bash theme={null}
curl \
 -X PATCH 'http://localhost:7700/indexes/movies/settings' \
 -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
 --data-binary '{"searchCutoffMs": 150}'
```

The default timeout is 1500ms. Set to `null` to disable the cutoff.

## Improvements

### Indexing performance

Increased indexing speed when updating settings.

### Search stability

Added a limit for concurrent search requests to prevent unbounded RAM consumption. Launch your instance with a custom limit:

```bash theme={null}
./meilisearch --experimental-search-queue-size 100
```

The default limit is 1000 enqueued requests. This limit does not impact search performance, only prevents security issues from excessive queueing.

### Facet sorting

The `sortFacetValuesBy` setting now impacts the `/facet-search` route for consistent facet value ordering.

### Hybrid search improvements

* Return keyword search results even if embedding generation fails during hybrid searches
* Added `semanticHitCount` field to search responses indicating the number of hits from semantic search
* Improved search logs to exclude `hits` from DEBUG log level output

### Tokenizer improvements

Enhanced tokenization with support for:

* Markdown formatted code blocks
* Improved Korean segmentation
* Tab character (`\t`) recognition as a separator
* Optional pinyin normalization for Chinese text

### Vector embeddings in dumps

Vectors are now included in database dumps, providing an upgrade path to future versions without requiring regeneration of embeddings for auto-generating embedders.

## Other

### Breaking changes: Semantic search scoring

To improve search response times and reduce bandwidth:

* `_semanticScore` is no longer returned in search responses; use `_rankingScore` instead
* The `vector` field is no longer included in search responses
* Query vectors are no longer displayed when `"showRankingScoreDetails": true` is set

[Find more information on GitHub](https://github.com/meilisearch/meilisearch/releases/tag/v1.8.0)


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