Indexing NDJSONs

text/0029-indexing-ndjson.md

@@ -0,0 +1,136 @@
+- Title: Indexing NDJSON
+- Start Date: 2021-04-12
+- Specification PR: [PR-#29](https://github.com/meilisearch/specifications/pull/29)
+- MeiliSearch Tracking-Issues: TBD
+
+# Indexing NDJSON
+
+## 1. Feature Description and Interaction
+
+### I. Summary
+
+To index documents, the body of the add documents request has to match a specific format. That specific format is then parsed and tokenized inside MeiliSearch. After which, the documents added are in the pool of searchable and returnable documents.
+
+An [NDJSON](http://ndjson.org/) data format is easier to use than a CSV format because it propose a convenient format for storing structured data.
+
+### II. Motivation
+
+Currently, the engine only accepts JSON format as a data source. We want to give users the possibility of another simple data format to use. Thus, give them more versatility at the data source choices for the indexing step.
+
+Writing performance is also a motivation since JSON Lines data parsing is less CPU and memory-intensive than parsing standard JSON. When new lines represent separate entries it makes the NDJSON data streamable, thus, more suited for indexing a consequent data set.
+
+While we give the ability to Meilisearch to ingest CSV data for indexing in this [specification](https://github.com/meilisearch/specifications/pull/28), we are aware of the limitations of CSV so we also want to provide a format that is easy to validate. Handling the validity of a CSV can be frustrating and difficult. Only strings can be managed within a CSV. In addition, there is no official specification except [RFC 4180](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4180) which is not sufficient for all data scheme.
+
+Representing nested structures in a JSON object is easy and convenient.
+
+### III. Additional Materials
+
+TBD
+
+### IV. Explanation
+
+Newline-delimited JSON (`ndjson`), line-delimited JSON (`ldjson`), JSON lines (`jsonl`) are three terms expressing the same formats primarily intended for JSON streaming.
+
+As of now, we will use `ndjson` in the next parts to refer to a data format that represents JSON entries separated by a new line character.
+
+- Each entries will represent a document for MeiliSearch.
+- Each entries should be a valid JSON object.
+- The data should be encoded in UTF-8.
+
+#### Example of a valid NJSON
+
+Given the NDJSON payload
+'''
+{"id":1, "label": "t-shirt", "price": 4.99, "colors": ["red", "green", "blue"]}
+{"id":499, "label": "hoodie", "price": 19.99, "colors": ["purple"]}
+'''
+the search result should be displayed as
+```json
+{
+  "hits": [
+    {
+      "id": 1,
+      "label": "t-shirt",
+      "price": 4.99,
+      "colors": [
+          "red",
+          "green",
+          "blue"
+      ],
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 499,
+      "label": "hoodie",
+      "price": 19.99,
+      "colors": [
+          "purple"
+      ],
+    }
+  ],
+  ...
+}
+```
+
+#### API Endpoints
+
+> Each API endpoints mentioned above will now require a `application/x-ndjson` as `Content-Type` header to be processed as NDJSON data.
+> ⚠ A missing Content-Type will be interpreted as `application/json` since it's the current behavior. Giving an `application/json` Content-Type leads to the same behavior.
+
+#### Add or Replace Documents [📎](https://docs.meilisearch.com/reference/api/documents.html#add-or-replace-documents)
+
+```curl
+curl \
+  -X POST 'http://localhost:7700/indexes/movies/documents' \
+  -H 'Content-Type: application/x-ndjson' \
+  --binary-data '
+    {"id":1, "label": "t-shirt", "price": 4.99, "colors": ["red", "green", "blue"]}\n
+    {"id":499, "label": "hoodie", "price": 19.99, "colors": ["purple"]}
+  '
+```
+> Response code: 202 Accepted
+
+##### Error codes
+
+> - Sending a different payload than the `Content-Type` header should return a `400 bad_request` error.
+> - Too large payload according to the limit should return a `413 payload_too_large` error
+> - Wrong encoding should return a `400 bad_request` error
+> - Invalid NDJSON data should return a `400 bad_request` error
+
+### Add or Update Documents [📎](https://docs.meilisearch.com/reference/api/documents.html#add-or-update-documents)
+
+```curl
+curl \
+  -X PUT 'http://localhost:7700/indexes/movies/documents' \
+  -H 'Content-Type: application/x-ndjson' \
+  --binary-data '
+    {"id":1, "label": "t-shirt", "price": 4.99, "colors": ["red", "green", "blue"]}\n
+    {"id":499, "label": "hoodie", "price": 19.99, "colors": ["purple"]}
+  '
+```
+> Response code: 202 Accepted
+
+##### Errors handling
+
+> - Sending a different payload than the `Content-Type` header should return a `400 bad_request` error.
+> - Too large payload according to the limit should return a `413 payload_too_large` error
+> - Wrong encoding should return a `400 bad_request` error
+> - Invalid NDJSON data should return a `400 bad_request` error
+
+### V. Impact on documentation
+
+This feature should impact MeiliSearch users documentation by adding the possibility to use `ndjson` as an accepted format in the  Documents scope at [Add or replace documents](https://docs.meilisearch.com/reference/api/documents.html#add-or-replace-documents) and [Add or update documents](https://docs.meilisearch.com/reference/api/documents.html#add-or-update-documents). It should also mention that a missing Content-Type will be interpreted as `application/json` since it's the current behavior. Giving an `application/json` Content-Type leads to the same behavior.
+
+We should also not only mention JSON format in `unsupported_media_type` section on the [errors page](https://docs.meilisearch.com/errors/#unsupported_media_type) and add `ndjson` format. The documentation says "Currently, MeiliSearch supports only JSON payloads."
+
+Documentation should also guide the user in the correct way to properly format and send ndjson data. Adding a dedicated page for the purpose of formatting and sending ndjson data should be considered.
+
+### VI. Impact on SDKs
+
+This feature should impact MeiliSearch SDK's in the future by adding the possibility to send ndjson data to MeiliSearch on the previous explicited endpoints.
+
+## 2. Technical Aspects
+N/A
+
+## 3. Future possibilities
+- Provide an interface in the future dashboard to upload NDJSON data into an index.
+- Set a payload limit directly related to the type of data format. Currently, the payload size is equivalent to [JSON payload size](https://docs.meilisearch.com/reference/features/configuration.html#payload-limit-size). Metrics on feature usage and configuration update should help to choose a better suited value for this type of data.