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2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management.md
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Expand Up @@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ You can create and manage index lifecycle policies through {{kib}}'s [Index Mana
* [View the lifecycle status of an index or datastream](/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management/policy-view-status.md)
* [Update or switch a lifecycle policy](/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management/policy-updates.md)
* [Restore a managed data stream or index](/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management/restore-managed-data-stream-index.md)
* [Customize built-in policies](/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management/tutorial-customize-built-in-policies.md)
* [](/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management/tutorial-customize-built-in-policies.md)

Default {{ilm}} policies are created automatically when you install an [Elastic Integration](integration-docs://reference/index.md), or when you use {{agent}}, {{beats}}, or the {{ls}} {{es}} output plugin to send data to the {{stack}}.

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Expand Up @@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ The name of the index must match the pattern defined in the index template and e
This step is required only when you're planning to use {{ilm-init}} with rolling indices. It is not required when you're using data streams, where the initial managed index is created automatically.

::::{important}
When you enable {{ilm}} for {{beats}}, {{agent}}, or for the {{agent}} or {{ls}} {{es}} output plugins, the necessary policies and configuration changes are applied automatically. If you'd like to create a specialized ILM policy for any data stream, refer to our tutorial [Customize built-in policies](/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management/tutorial-customize-built-in-policies.md).
When you enable {{ilm}} for {{beats}}, {{agent}}, or for the {{agent}} or {{ls}} {{es}} output plugins, the necessary policies and configuration changes are applied automatically. If you'd like to create a specialized ILM policy for any data stream, refer to our tutorial [](/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management/tutorial-customize-built-in-policies.md).
::::

::::{tab-set}
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Expand Up @@ -61,5 +61,5 @@ For any data stream that you're interested in, you can [view its current lifecyc

After you've identified one or more data streams for which you'd like to customize how the data is managed over time, refer to our tutorials:

* For a general guide about configuring a custom ILM policy for any managed data stream, try out our [Customize built-in policies](/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management/tutorial-customize-built-in-policies.md) tutorial in the data lifecycle documentation.
* For a general guide about configuring a custom ILM policy for any managed data stream, try out our [](/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management/tutorial-customize-built-in-policies.md) tutorial in the data lifecycle documentation.
* For the steps to customize an ILM policy for a set of data streams, such as all logs or metrics data streams across all namespaces, across only a selected namespace, and others, check the set of tutorials in [Customize data retention policies](/reference/fleet/data-streams-ilm-tutorial.md) in the {{fleet}} and {{agent}} reference documentation.
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Expand Up @@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ If you're investigating an {{ilm-init}}-related problem, refer to [Troubleshoot
:::{tip}
{{es}} comes with many built-in ILM policies. For standard Observability or Security use cases, you will have two {{ilm-init}} policies configured automatically: `logs@lifecycle` for logs and `metrics@lifecycle` for metrics.

To learn how to create a specialized ILM policy for any data stream, such as those created when you install an Elastic Integration, refer to our tutorial [Customize built-in policies](/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management/tutorial-customize-built-in-policies.md).
To learn how to create a specialized ILM policy for any data stream, such as those created when you install an Elastic Integration, refer to our tutorial [](/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management/tutorial-customize-built-in-policies.md).
:::

**To view the current lifecycle status for a datastream:**
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---
navigation_title: Customize built-in {{ilm-init}} policies
mapped_pages:
- https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/example-using-index-lifecycle-policy.html
applies_to:
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- id: elasticsearch
---

# Customize built-in policies
# Customize built-in {{ilm-init}} policies for {{agent}} data streams
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@shainaraskas shainaraskas Oct 24, 2025

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stated scope conflicts a little with some of the xrefs. this one just says agent data streams, but we also have the following scopes indicated on the other pages you edited:

  • {{beats}}, {{agent}}, or for the {{agent}} or {{ls}} {{es}} output plugin managed data streams
  • Elastic integration managed data streams

maybe this should become managed data streams and the fleet info on this page might pivot to a "for example" framing

accuracy on all of this I'm not certain on - just looking at signals I'm seeing within this doc :)

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might be worth doing a dive to find the context in which those two contexts were added to clarify

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Good point. Seems like the title describes well the use case in the tutorial, but doesn't account for use cases mentioned in the topics that link to it.

I'll find someone to validate this with and make some changes.


{{es}} includes a set of built-in {{ilm-init}} policies that govern how managed indices transition as they age. This guide demonstrates how you can customize the lifecycle of a managed index, to adjust how the index transitions across [data tiers](/manage-data/lifecycle/data-tiers.md) and what [actions](/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management/index-lifecycle.md#ilm-phase-actions), such as downsampling or shrinking, are performed on the index during each lifecycle phase.

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