The search for speed in Figma

Figma's search team embarked on a months-long project to tackle slow search speeds caused by scaling challenges. By upgrading from ElasticSearch to OpenSearch and analyzing various performance metrics, they identified bottlenecks in query processing and permissions checks. They optimized their indexing, reduced the amount of data, reconfigured OpenSearch settings, and increased the efficiency of their system. These changes resulted in a 60% reduction in API latency, a 50% increase in query capacity, and significantly lower costs.