[Background search] Enable the new background search UX by kertal · Pull Request #236818 · elastic/kibana

kertal · 2025-09-29T16:47:47Z

Resolves #229958

The PR enables our user to send to searches to the "background". This is especially useful for long running queries.

CleanShot.2025-09-29.at.21.22.48.mp4

Both in Discover and Dashboard the query bar "Refresh" button is extended with a "Send to background" button

Once the query is running, users can send it to the background.

There's a new button in the applications query bar allowing to open a flyout with background searches.

This button allows users to open completed background searches.

Apart from this, this feature is a new version of the deprecated Search sessions.
Note that Background searches are not enabled by this PR in serverless, there's a follow up issue : [Background search] Enable Background search as default #236543
The disabled test suits need to be fixed and re-enabled for background search. issue will be created
Worth to to note that this is built on top of the integration work done by @AlexGPlay 🙏

Code changes

Removal of Background Search Feature Flag and Related Logic:

Deleted the BACKGROUND_SEARCH_FEATURE_FLAG_KEY constant and all code referencing the background search feature flag, including conditional logic and feature flag checks in search_interceptor.ts, search_service.ts, and related files. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]
Removed documentation about the background search feature flag from kbn-background-search/README.md.

Messaging and Label Updates:

Updated user-facing messages and accessibility labels throughout the UI and tests to use "background search" terminology instead of "search session." [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Codebase Cleanup and Simplification:

Removed unnecessary imports and code related to the feature flag, and simplified logic in search_service.ts, connected_search_session_indicator.tsx, and related files. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Checklist

Any text added follows EUI's writing guidelines, uses sentence case text and includes i18n support
Documentation was added for features that require explanation or tutorials
Unit or functional tests were updated or added to match the most common scenarios
If a plugin configuration key changed, check if it needs to be allowlisted in the cloud and added to the docker list
This was checked for breaking HTTP API changes, and any breaking changes have been approved by the breaking-change committee. The release_note:breaking label should be applied in these situations.
Flaky Test Runner was used on any tests changed
The PR description includes the appropriate Release Notes section, and the correct release_note:* label is applied per the guidelines
Review the backport guidelines and apply applicable backport:* labels.

- no more duplication of code - introducing a new config backgroundSearchEnabled allowing to disable the new UI for tests

…the new UI for tests

…no-cache --fix'

…arch' into search-sessions-to-background-search

…background-search

…arch' into search-sessions-to-background-search

kertal · 2025-09-29T16:53:27Z

/ci

Copilot

Pull Request Overview

This pull request removes the background search feature flag and enables background search functionality by default across the Kibana codebase. The changes involve simplifying logic that previously depended on the feature flag and updating user-facing terminology from "search sessions" to "background search".

Key Changes:

Feature flag removal: Deleted all references to BACKGROUND_SEARCH_FEATURE_FLAG_KEY and related conditional logic throughout the search service implementation
Default enablement: Changed the search sessions configuration default from false to true and removed server arguments that explicitly enabled sessions in test configurations
Terminology updates: Updated labels, messages, and test descriptions to consistently use "background search" instead of "search session"

Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 49 out of 49 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
`src/platform/plugins/shared/data/server/config.ts`	Changed search sessions default from disabled to enabled
`src/platform/plugins/shared/data/public/search/session/constants.ts`	Removed background search feature flag constant
`src/platform/plugins/shared/data/public/search/search_service.ts`	Removed feature flag checks and simplified session indicator creation logic
`src/platform/plugins/shared/data/public/search/search_interceptor/search_interceptor.ts`	Simplified toast messaging by removing feature flag conditionals
`src/platform/plugins/shared/data/public/search/session/sessions_mgmt/lib/api.ts`	Removed feature flag checks from notification messages
Various test files	Updated test descriptions and expected messages from "search sessions" to "background search"
Translation files	Updated i18n strings to use "background search" terminology
Configuration files	Removed feature flag server arguments from test configurations

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

src/platform/plugins/shared/data/public/search/session/sessions_mgmt/components/table/actions/rename_button.tsx:1

The closing parenthesis and brace placement is incorrect. The aria-label assignment should end with just }) not })} since it's a template literal interpolation.

/*

...s/shared/data/public/search/session/sessions_mgmt/components/table/actions/rename_button.tsx

...ublic/search/session/session_indicator/search_session_indicator/search_session_indicator.tsx

...arch/session/session_indicator/search_session_indicator/search_session_indicator.stories.tsx

…_indicator/search_session_indicator/search_session_indicator.tsx Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

…_indicator/search_session_indicator/search_session_indicator.stories.tsx Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

…ana into data-background-search-enable

elasticmachine · 2025-09-29T22:11:47Z

💚 Build Succeeded

Metrics [docs]

Module Count

Fewer modules leads to a faster build time

id	before	after	diff
`data`	518	506	-12

Async chunks

Total size of all lazy-loaded chunks that will be downloaded as the user navigates the app

id	before	after	diff
`data`	38.0KB	21.8KB	-16.1KB
`inspector`	30.8KB	30.8KB	+3.0B
total			-16.1KB

Page load bundle

Size of the bundles that are downloaded on every page load. Target size is below 100kb

id	before	after	diff
`data`	423.7KB	416.1KB	-7.5KB

Unknown metric groups

async chunk count

id	before	after	diff
`data`	5	4	-1

History

💔 Build #345275 failed c888b36

cc @kertal

AlexGPlay · 2025-09-30T06:28:52Z

src/platform/plugins/shared/data/public/search/search_service.ts

-      chrome.setBreadcrumbsAppendExtension({
-        content: toMountPoint(
-          React.createElement(
-            createConnectedSearchSessionIndicator({


should we add a task to clean up this code?

yes, we should add a task to generally clean up a lot of dead code 🥳

AlexGPlay

lgtm - we should add a task to later on clean up the dead code + fix the skipped tests

elasticmachine · 2025-09-30T06:45:59Z

Pinging @elastic/kibana-data-discovery (Team:DataDiscovery)

gsoldevila

LGTM! Rebranding "Search Sessions" into "Background Search"

damian-polewski

kibana-management changes LGTM!

nickpeihl

lgtm! code review

Enables sending searches to the background in Discover and Dashboard. Introducing the ability for users to send long-running searches to the background. In both Discover and Dashboard, the query bar’s “Refresh” button now includes a “Send to background” action. Once a search is running, users can offload it to the background, allowing them to continue working without waiting for the query to complete. A new button in the query bar opens a flyout listing all completed background searches, making it easy to revisit and manage them. This feature replaces the deprecated search sessions and removes the background search feature flag. Co-authored-by: Alex Garcia <alex.garcia@elastic.co>

kertal and others added 16 commits September 29, 2025 07:50

Re-enable search sessions

e17902d

Fix Vega chart test

9b5f375

Fix scout test

dcfc3df

Fix management_security.ts test

adc27f5

Refactor search sessions to background search

ef48195

- no more duplication of code - introducing a new config backgroundSearchEnabled allowing to disable the new UI for tests

Introducing a new config backgroundSearchEnabled allowing to disable …

b5ba470

…the new UI for tests

Merge branch 'main' into search-sessions-to-background-search

0c590d6

[CI] Auto-commit changed files from 'node scripts/eslint_all_files --…

0e31db2

…no-cache --fix'

Fix i18n

001aea9

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/search-sessions-to-background-se…

f9cc0af

…arch' into search-sessions-to-background-search

Merge remote-tracking branch 'upstream/main' into search-sessions-to-…

65c9330

…background-search

Fix tests

43f0a2a

Merge branch 'main' into search-sessions-to-background-search

30b5faa

Fix another test

cd0c28e

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/search-sessions-to-background-se…

a184828

…arch' into search-sessions-to-background-search

Remove redundant setting, skip tests

c888b36

kertal self-assigned this Sep 29, 2025

kertal added the Project:AsyncSearch Background search, partial results, async search services. label Sep 29, 2025

kertal requested a review from Copilot September 29, 2025 18:00

Copilot AI reviewed Sep 29, 2025

View reviewed changes

kertal and others added 5 commits September 29, 2025 20:45

Update src/platform/plugins/shared/data/public/search/session/session…

bfdc7c1

…_indicator/search_session_indicator/search_session_indicator.tsx Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Change disabling of tests

67662ca

Update src/platform/plugins/shared/data/public/search/session/session…

9b08ea3

…_indicator/search_session_indicator/search_session_indicator.stories.tsx Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Merge branch 'data-background-search-enable' of github.com:kertal/kib…

5154050

…ana into data-background-search-enable

Add missing model header title

62497aa

kertal mentioned this pull request Sep 29, 2025

[Background search] Decouple feature flags #236394

Closed

kertal added Feature:Discover Discover Application release_note:feature Makes this part of the condensed release notes backport:skip This PR does not require backporting labels Sep 29, 2025

kertal marked this pull request as ready for review September 29, 2025 19:34

kertal requested review from a team as code owners September 29, 2025 19:34

kertal requested a review from AlexGPlay September 29, 2025 19:43

AlexGPlay reviewed Sep 30, 2025

View reviewed changes

AlexGPlay approved these changes Sep 30, 2025

View reviewed changes

kertal added the Team:DataDiscovery Discover, search (data plugin and KQL), data views, saved searches. For ES|QL, use Team:ES|QL. t// label Sep 30, 2025

gsoldevila approved these changes Sep 30, 2025

View reviewed changes

damian-polewski approved these changes Sep 30, 2025

View reviewed changes

nickpeihl approved these changes Sep 30, 2025

View reviewed changes

markov00 approved these changes Sep 30, 2025

View reviewed changes

kertal merged commit 10e5a29 into elastic:main Sep 30, 2025
23 checks passed

kibanamachine added the v9.2.0 label Sep 30, 2025

kertal deleted the data-background-search-enable branch October 1, 2025 11:27

kertal mentioned this pull request Oct 2, 2025

[Background search] Restore and add functional test coverage #237261

Closed

florent-leborgne added the needs_docs label Oct 2, 2025

florent-leborgne mentioned this pull request Oct 2, 2025

[Discover] docs for background search elastic/docs-content#3105

Closed

kertal mentioned this pull request Oct 8, 2025

[Background search] Disable Background search as default setting #237806

Merged

1 task

AlexGPlay mentioned this pull request Nov 6, 2025

[Background search] Enable Background search as default #236543

Closed

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[Background search] Enable the new background search UX#236818

[Background search] Enable the new background search UX#236818
kertal merged 21 commits intoelastic:mainfrom
kertal:data-background-search-enable

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async chunk count

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Pull Request Overview

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elasticmachine commented Sep 29, 2025

💚 Build Succeeded

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