landing_page/qdrant-landing/content/documentation/migrate-to-qdrant/from-qdrant.md

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From Qdrant	110

Migrate Between Qdrant Instances

Use the qdrant subcommand to copy a collection from one Qdrant instance to another — or between collections within the same instance. The tool automatically recreates the full collection schema (vector config, HNSW settings, quantization, sharding) on the target.

What You Need

• Source Qdrant URL — gRPC endpoint of the source instance
• Target Qdrant URL — gRPC endpoint of the target instance
• Source collection name
• Target collection name (must be different from source if using the same instance)
• API keys — for each instance, if authentication is enabled

Concept Mapping

Source Qdrant	Target Qdrant	Notes
Collection	Collection	Recreated with exact schema
Named vectors	Named vectors	All vector types preserved
Sparse vectors	Sparse vectors	Direct mapping
Payload	Payload	Direct mapping
Payload indexes	Payload indexes	Recreated if --target.ensure-payload-indexes is true
Shard keys	Shard keys	Recreated automatically

Run the Migration

Between Two Instances

docker run --net=host --rm -it registry.cloud.qdrant.io/library/qdrant-migration qdrant \
    --source.url 'http://source-instance:6334' \
    --source.api-key 'source-api-key' \
    --source.collection 'your-collection' \
    --target.url 'https://your-instance.cloud.qdrant.io:6334' \
    --target.api-key 'your-qdrant-api-key' \
    --target.collection 'your-collection'

Within the Same Instance

docker run --net=host --rm -it registry.cloud.qdrant.io/library/qdrant-migration qdrant \
    --source.url 'http://localhost:6334' \
    --source.collection 'original-collection' \
    --target.url 'http://localhost:6334' \
    --target.collection 'new-collection'

With Parallel Workers

docker run --net=host --rm -it registry.cloud.qdrant.io/library/qdrant-migration qdrant \
    --source.url 'http://source-instance:6334' \
    --source.api-key 'source-api-key' \
    --source.collection 'your-collection' \
    --target.url 'https://your-instance.cloud.qdrant.io:6334' \
    --target.api-key 'your-qdrant-api-key' \
    --target.collection 'your-collection' \
    --migration.num-workers 4

All Source Flags

Flag	Required	Description
--source.collection	Yes	Source collection name
--source.url	No	Source gRPC URL (default: http://localhost:6334)
--source.api-key	No	API key for the source instance
--source.max-message-size	No	Maximum gRPC message size in bytes (default: 33554432 = 32 MB)

All Target Flags

Flag	Required	Description
--target.collection	Yes	Target collection name
--target.url	No	Target gRPC URL (default: http://localhost:6334)
--target.api-key	No	API key for the target instance
--target.ensure-payload-indexes	No	Recreate payload indexes from source (default: true)

Parallel Worker Option

Flag	Default	Description
--migration.num-workers	Number of CPU cores	Number of parallel workers for migration

Gotchas

• Source and target must differ: You cannot migrate a collection to itself.
• Parallel workers and resume: Migration progress is tracked per worker. If you change --migration.num-workers between runs, the saved offsets are invalidated and the migration restarts from scratch. Use --migration.restart explicitly if you intentionally want to change the worker count.
• Large messages: If you encounter gRPC message size errors, increase --source.max-message-size.
• Existing target collection: If the target collection already exists, the tool uses it as-is without modifying the schema.

Next Steps

After migration, verify your data arrived correctly with the Migration Verification Guide.