GNO vs Elasticsearch

A comparison of GNO with Elasticsearch for document search.

Elasticsearch is an enterprise-grade distributed search engine. GNO is a local-first personal knowledge search tool. They serve different use cases.

Quick Summary

Feature Comparison

The Key Difference

Elasticsearch is infrastructure. GNO is a tool.

# Elasticsearch: infrastructure setup
docker-compose up -d elasticsearch kibana
# Configure indices, mappings, analyzers...
# Set up ingestion pipelines...
# Configure authentication...

# GNO: immediate productivity
bun install -g @gmickel/gno
gno init ~/notes --name notes
gno index
gno query "your search"

When to Use GNO

Personal knowledge base: Your notes, papers, meeting transcripts.

gno init ~/notes --name notes
gno query "what was that thing about React performance"

Privacy-first search: Everything stays on your machine.

# No network calls, no cloud storage
gno index
gno query "confidential project details"

Developer workflows: AI-native integration with your tools.

# MCP for Claude, Cursor, Zed, Windsurf
gno mcp install --target cursor

# RAG-style answers
gno ask "how does our auth work" --answer

Team knowledge (small scale): Shared docs on a network drive or synced folder.

gno init /shared/docs --name team-docs
gno query "quarterly goals"

Quick setup: No DevOps required.

# Install and searching in under 2 minutes
bun install -g @gmickel/gno
gno init ~/Documents --name docs && gno index
gno query "budget projections"

When to Use Elasticsearch

Enterprise scale: Millions of documents, complex requirements.

{
  "settings": {
    "number_of_shards": 5,
    "number_of_replicas": 2
  }
}

Multi-tenant applications: Many users searching shared indices.

Complex analytics: Aggregations, faceted search, dashboards.

{
  "aggs": {
    "by_category": {
      "terms": { "field": "category" }
    }
  }
}

Existing infrastructure: You already run Elasticsearch.

Kibana dashboards: Visual analytics and exploration.

Resource Comparison

Migration Considerations

If you’re considering Elasticsearch for personal/small-team use, try GNO first:

# Install
bun install -g @gmickel/gno

# Index your documents
gno init ~/Documents --name docs
gno index

# Search
gno query "your search query"

# If you need RAG answers
gno ask "summarize project status" --answer

If you outgrow GNO (millions of documents, multi-user requirements, complex analytics), Elasticsearch is there. But for personal and small-team knowledge search, GNO is simpler, faster to set up, and privacy-preserving.

Different Tools for Different Jobs