skills/firebase-firestore/references/standard/indexes.md

# Firestore Indexes Reference

Indexes allow Firestore to ensure that query performance depends on the size of
the result set, not the size of the database.

## Index Types

### Single-Field Indexes

In Standard Edition, Firestore **automatically creates** a single-field index
for every field in a document (and subfields in maps). * **Support**: Simple
equality queries (`==`) and single-field range/sort queries (`<`, `<=`,
`orderBy`). * **Behavior**: You generally don't need to manage these unless you
want to *exempt* a field.

### Composite Indexes

A composite index stores a sorted mapping of all documents based on an ordered
list of fields. * **Support**: Complex queries that filter or sort by **multiple
fields**. * **Creation**: These are **NOT** automatically created. You must
define them manually or via the console/CLI.

## Automatic vs. Manual Management

### What is Automatic?

- Indexes for simple queries.
- Merging of single-field indexes for multiple equality filters (e.g.,
  `where("state", "==", "CA").where("country", "==", "USA")`).

### When Do I Need to Act?

If you attempt a query that requires a composite index, the SDK will throw an
error containing a **direct link** to the Firebase Console to create that
specific index.

**Example Error:**

> "The query requires an index. You can create it here:
> https://console.firebase.google.com/project/..."

## Query Support Examples

| Query Type                                                | Index Required                       |
| :-------------------------------------------------------- | :----------------------------------- |
| **Simple Equality**<br>\`where("a",                       | Automatic (Single-Field)             |
| : "==", 1)\` : :                                          |                                      |
| **Simple Range/Sort**<br>\`where("a",                     | Automatic (Single-Field)             |
| : ">", 1).orderBy("a")\` : :                              |                                      |
| **Multiple Equality**<br>\`where("a",                     | Automatic (Merged Single-Field)      |
| : "==", 1).where("b", "==", 2)\` : :                      |                                      |
| \*\*Equality +                                            | **Composite Index**                  |
| : Range/Sort\*\*<br>\`where("a", "==", : :                |                                      |
| : 1).where("b", ">", 2)\` : :                             |                                      |
| **Multiple Ranges**<br>\`where("a",                       | **Composite Index** (and technically |
| : ">", 1).where("b", ">", 2)\` : limited query support) : |                                      |
| \*\*Array Contains +                                      | **Composite Index**                  |
| : Equality\*\*<br>\`where("tags", : :                     |                                      |
| : "array-contains", : :                                   |                                      |
| : "news").where("active", "==", true)\` : :               |                                      |

## Best Practices & Exemptions

You can **exempt** fields from automatic indexing to save storage or strictly
enforce write limits.

### 1. High Write Rates (Sequential Values)

- **Problem**: Indexing fields that increase sequentially (like `timestamp`)
  limits the write rate to ~500 writes/second per collection.
- **Solution**: If you don't query on this field, **exempt** it from simple
  indexing.

### 2. Large String/Map/Array Fields

- **Problem**: Indexing limits (40k entries per doc). Indexing large blobs
  wastes storage.
- **Solution**: Exempt large text blobs or huge arrays if they aren't used for
  filtering.

### 3. TTL Fields

- **Problem**: TTL (Time-To-Live) deletion can cause index churn.
- **Solution**: Exempt the TTL timestamp field from indexing if you don't query
  it.

## Management

### Config files

Your indexes should be defined in `firestore.indexes.json` (pointed to by
`firebase.json`).

```json
{
  "indexes": [
    {
      "collectionGroup": "cities",
      "queryScope": "COLLECTION",
      "fields": [
        { "fieldPath": "country", "order": "ASCENDING" },
        { "fieldPath": "population", "order": "DESCENDING" }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "fieldOverrides": []
}
```

### CLI Commands

Deploy indexes only:
`bash npx -y firebase-tools@latest deploy --only firestore:indexes`