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Quick Start

Create your first OpenSearch UI application, connect a data source, and launch the interface.

Prerequisites

  • An AWS account with IAM permissions for OpenSearch Service
  • At least one OpenSearch domain or Serverless collection
  • AWS CLI v2 installed (for CLI steps)

Step 1: Create an application

Using the Console

  1. Open the OpenSearch Service Console 
  2. In the left nav, choose OpenSearch UI (Dashboards)
  3. Click Create application
  4. Enter a name (e.g., my-first-app)
  5. Leave IAM authentication as default (for SSO, see Enterprise Admin)
  6. Click Create — status changes from CREATING to ACTIVE in 1–2 minutes

Using the AWS CLI

aws opensearch create-application \
    --name my-first-app \
    --region us-east-1

Check status:

aws opensearch get-application \
    --id app-abc123def456 \
    --region us-east-1 \
    --query 'status'

Stuck in CREATING? Check the Troubleshooting guide — usually a missing iam:CreateServiceLinkedRole permission.

Step 2: Connect a data source

Using the Console

  1. Open your application detail page
  2. In Associated data sources, click Manage data sources
  3. Select your OpenSearch domains and/or Serverless collections
  4. Click Next → Save

Using the AWS CLI

aws opensearch update-application \
    --id app-abc123def456 \
    --region us-east-1 \
    --data-sources '[
      {
        "dataSourceArn": "arn:aws:es:us-east-1:123456789012:domain/my-domain",
        "dataSourceDescription": "Production logs domain"
      }
    ]'

VPC domains require extra authorization. See Connectivity Issues.

Step 3: Launch and explore

  1. Click Launch Application on the detail page
  2. You'll see the Welcome to OpenSearch page with workspace categories
  3. Click Create Workspace under your use case (e.g., Observability for log analysis)

What's next