Expand Circuit Breaker Troubleshooting #4520

tanja-milicic · 2026-01-06T11:06:01Z

Ports Circuit Breakers article to docs.

Summary

Adds:

description of circuit breaker types and memory evaluation
API to check circuit breaker statistics

Generative AI disclosure

Did you use a generative AI (GenAI) tool to assist in creating this contribution?

Yes
No

cc @stefnestor

github-actions · 2026-01-06T11:07:17Z

Vale Linting Results

Summary: 1 warning, 4 suggestions found

⚠️ Warnings (1)

File	Line	Rule	Message
troubleshoot/elasticsearch/circuit-breaker-errors.md	27	Elastic.Articles	Use 'an HTTP' instead of 'a HTTP'. The article depends on pronunciation, not spelling.

💡 Suggestions (4)

File	Line	Rule	Message
troubleshoot/elasticsearch/circuit-breaker-errors.md	27	Elastic.Wordiness	Consider using 'to' instead of 'in order to'.
troubleshoot/elasticsearch/circuit-breaker-errors.md	61	Elastic.Wordiness	Consider using 'because' instead of 'since'.
troubleshoot/elasticsearch/circuit-breaker-errors.md	116	Elastic.WordChoice	Consider using 'can, might' instead of 'may', unless the term is in the UI.
troubleshoot/elasticsearch/circuit-breaker-errors.md	119	Elastic.WordChoice	Consider using 'can, might' instead of 'may', unless the term is in the UI.

yetanothertw

Thanks so much for your contribution!

I've left a few suggestions to fix the broken links which are failing the build. Let me know if that works.

troubleshoot/elasticsearch/circuit-breaker-errors.md

stefnestor · 2026-01-06T16:09:21Z

troubleshoot/elasticsearch/circuit-breaker-errors.md

+
+```console
+GET _nodes/stats?filter_path=nodes.*.breakers
+```


@tanja-milicic an optional good add would be from this request implemented here starting in 9.3.0 users will have a CAT Circuit Breakers API which will make troubleshooting this much faster.

Nice! That is definitely much cleaner than current approach.
How would we add that since it is not available yet? Would it be better to add the change once we have 9.3.0 released?

You can add content for a specific 9.x version by tagging it with the applies_to tagging system.

You can add an admonition that uses the tags or if you're adding more information than would fit a note, you can add a new section and tag that section.

When you add the tags, you don't have to worry if a version's been released or not (for example, you don't have to wait for 9.3 to go out) -- the docs system will take care of that and adjust the way it displays the tagged content.

If you want to go ahead and add the 9.3-specific content, I'll help you add the correct tags to it.

Thank you! Would something like this work? af30eb1 - I have used {applies_to}stack: ga 9.3

Okay, I see! I think in this situation, the easiest option is to use an applies_to switch.

The result would look like different tabs for your different versions:
The tab for 9.0 - 9.2:

And the tab for 9.3:

Here's the syntax I used:

::::{applies-switch}

:::{applies-item} { "stack": "ga" }
Use the get node statistics API:

GET _nodes/stats?filter_path=nodes.*.breakers

:::

:::{applies-item} { "stack": "ga 9.3" }
Use the get circuit breakers statistics API:

GET /_cat/circuit_breaker/

:::

::::

Maybe I can just push this commit to your branch if you don't mind? Might be a bit easier 😅

I think Tanja's off now for the day but if I may vote, please go ahead.

However FWIW, v9.3.0 is future release today but likely by the time this PR merges will be live. Or we can merge without my FR as is & then add this in a couple weeks. But in a couple weeks, the same question will need answered that <9.3.0 has to use the Node Stats API and ≥9.3.0 can use the CAT version. How could we do that without tabs but still mark the version differences?

I pushed the tabs-related syntax, but now I'm not so sure the tabs work as they would imply the two API calls are mutually exclusive (which they aren't as far as I can tell, because the Node Stats API will still be useable, right? It's not being deprecated or anything?).

Let me try just listing the two requests as options with in-line applies_to syntax.

I've done that in 1887f6e. I've listed both options and included descriptions for what each response will provide. Could you please review for accuracy?

troubleshoot/elasticsearch/circuit-breaker-errors.md

stefnestor · 2026-01-06T16:15:26Z

troubleshoot/elasticsearch/circuit-breaker-errors.md

+
+## Circuit Breaker Types
+
+[Circuit breaker types](elasticsearch://reference/elasticsearch/configuration-reference/circuit-breaker-settings.md) are manually defined for known expensive code paths with a sum-up [parent circuit breaker](elasticsearch://reference/elasticsearch/configuration-reference/circuit-breaker-settings.md#parent-circuit-breaker). Breakers need to be resolved per breaker type; common examples:


This content is excellent but I think should remain in the first linked reference page of Circuit Breaker Settings. Although it should be expanded if any of these bullet points are missing?

Good point! I have removed it as most of it is in the Circuit breaker settings page. However, I see that we removed Accounting requests circuit breaker from the docs - it is available up until 8.13 version. I can't find the reason why it was removed. Any idea?

cc @yetanothertw

Hi @tanja-milicic, you can still find it for the 8.13 version of the docs here: https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/8.13/circuit-breaker.html#accounting-circuit-breaker

We're using a different versioning system for 9.x docs (which is the file you're editing now); it's a cumulative docs approach.

Do you need to edit the 8.13 docs? I don't think we maintain the docs that far back, but I can ask my colleagues for ideas on how to proceed.

Thank you! I wanted to check why the section was removed and if we really don't need it anymore. I am not able to find PR that removed it.

I think that would be this PR here. Note that it's located in the elasticsearch repo (as opposed to the docs-content repo that hosts 9.x content) on the 8.14 branch -- the 8.x content and branching strategy for docs is/was different.

Ah right, thank you for explaining it!

troubleshoot/elasticsearch/circuit-breaker-errors.md

Co-authored-by: Vlada Chirmicci <vlada.chirmicci@elastic.co>

github-actions · 2026-01-06T16:23:03Z

🔍 Preview links for changed docs

troubleshoot/elasticsearch/circuit-breaker-errors.md

troubleshoot/elasticsearch/circuit-breaker-errors.md

stefnestor

💚

yetanothertw

Thank you for your help! 💟

tanja-milicic and others added 4 commits January 5, 2026 12:47

Update circuit-breaker-errors.md

4fab972

Add description of circuit breaker types and memory evaluation

716ad43

Fix new lines

ecfc4db

Fix new lines

df1771f

tanja-milicic requested a review from a team as a code owner January 6, 2026 11:06

tanja-milicic added the enhancement New feature or request label Jan 6, 2026

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grammar+links 🙏

b107d25

Co-authored-by: Vlada Chirmicci <vlada.chirmicci@elastic.co>

tanja-milicic and others added 6 commits January 7, 2026 10:27

remove circuit breaker types

8d60b20

Add the _cat/citcuit-breaker example

66587bf

remove _cat/circuit-breaker example

8809a79

add _cat/circuit-brealer api example

af30eb1

Adding an applies-switch to make use of the new circuit breakers API

f117e6e

Remove the applies_switch in favour of listing the options

1887f6e

yetanothertw reviewed Jan 8, 2026

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stefnestor approved these changes Jan 8, 2026

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Merge branch 'main' into tanja-milicic-patch-1

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stefnestor merged commit d599cfc into main Jan 8, 2026
8 checks passed

stefnestor deleted the tanja-milicic-patch-1 branch January 8, 2026 20:16


		## Circuit Breaker Types

		[Circuit breaker types](elasticsearch://reference/elasticsearch/configuration-reference/circuit-breaker-settings.md) are manually defined for known expensive code paths with a sum-up [parent circuit breaker](elasticsearch://reference/elasticsearch/configuration-reference/circuit-breaker-settings.md#parent-circuit-breaker). Breakers need to be resolved per breaker type; common examples:

Expand Circuit Breaker Troubleshooting #4520

Expand Circuit Breaker Troubleshooting #4520

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tanja-milicic commented Jan 6, 2026

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