kind:change

title:Understanding search results and potential timeouts

created_at:2014-04-07

author_name:izuzak

Some queries are computationally expensive for our search infrastructure to

execute. To keep the[Search API](/v3/search) fast for everyone, we limit how

long any individual query can run. In rare situations when a query exceeds the

time limit, the API returns all matches that were found prior to the timeout.

Starting today, the Search API also now[informs you when such a timeout

happens](/v3/search/#timeouts-and-incomplete-results). Reaching a timeout does

not necessarily mean that search results are incomplete. It just means that the

query was discontinued before it searched through all possible data. More

results might have been found, but also might not.

In some cases, if you know that your search results are potentially incomplete,

you might think about the data differently. By exposing timeouts when they

happen, the API helps you better understand how to interpret the results.

We hope this is useful as you integrate with the Search API. In the meantime,

we're working on improving search so that these timeouts occur as rarely as

possible. If you have any questions,[let us know](https://github.com/contact?form%5Bsubject%5D=Search+API).

See the[rate limit documentation](/v3/#rate-limiting) for details on

determining your current rate limit status.

To keep the Search API fast for everyone, we limit how long any individual query

can run. For queries that[exceed the time limit](/changes/2014-04-07-understanding-search-results-and-potential-timeouts/),

the API returns the matches that were already found prior to the timeout, and

the response has the`incomplete_results` property set to`true`.

Reaching a timeout does not necessarily mean that search results are incomplete.

More results might have been found, but also might not.

Find repositories via various criteria. This method returns up to 100 results[per page](/v3/#pagination).