diff --git a/internal/tools/index/elasticsearch.go b/internal/tools/index/elasticsearch.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1e75c86bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/tools/index/elasticsearch.go
@@ -0,0 +1,266 @@
+package index
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"time"
+
+	es "github.com/elastic/go-elasticsearch/v6"
+	"github.com/elastic/go-elasticsearch/v6/esapi"
+)
+
+// TODO(damienr74) Split index into reader and writer?
+type index struct {
+	ctx    context.Context
+	client *es.Client
+	name   string
+}
+
+func newIndex(ctx context.Context, name string) (*index, error) {
+	client, err := es.NewDefaultClient()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	return &index{
+		ctx:    ctx,
+		client: client,
+		name:   name,
+	}, nil
+}
+
+type readerFunc func(io.Reader) error
+
+func ignoreResponseBody(reader io.Reader) error {
+	return nil
+}
+
+// checks that elastic returned successfully. If it has not, it will read the
+// body and return it in an error message.
+//
+// Otherwise, it will use the readerFunc to read the body. This function is a
+// mechanism for getting relevant data from the response only if it was successful.
+func (idx *index) responseErrorOrNil(info string, res *esapi.Response,
+	err error, reader readerFunc) error {
+
+	messageStart := fmt.Sprintf("index %s error: %s", idx.name, info)
+	if err != nil || res == nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%s: %v", messageStart, err)
+	}
+
+	defer res.Body.Close()
+	if res.IsError() {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%s: %s", messageStart, res.String())
+	}
+
+	if reader != nil {
+		err = reader(res.Body)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("%s: %v", messageStart, err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func byteJoin(bts ...interface{}) []byte {
+	ret := make([][]byte, len(bts))
+	for i, v := range bts {
+		switch bt := v.(type) {
+		case []byte:
+			ret[i] = bt
+		case string:
+			ret[i] = []byte(bt)
+		default:
+			ret[i] = []byte(fmt.Sprintf("%v", bt))
+		}
+	}
+
+	return bytes.Join(ret, []byte(` `))
+}
+
+// Update the elasticsearch index mappings. (describes how to index/search for the documents).
+func (idx *index) UpdateMapping(mappings []byte) error {
+	request := byteJoin(`{ "mappings":`, mappings, `}`)
+
+	op := idx.client.Indices.PutMapping
+	res, err := op(
+		bytes.NewReader(request),
+		op.WithContext(idx.ctx),
+		op.WithIndex(idx.name),
+		op.WithIncludeTypeName(true),
+		op.WithPretty(),
+	)
+
+	return idx.responseErrorOrNil(
+		fmt.Sprintf("could not update index mappings '%s'", request),
+		res, err, ignoreResponseBody)
+}
+
+// Update the elasticsearch index settings. (describes default parameters and
+// some analyzer definitions, etc.)
+func (idx *index) UpdateSetting(settings []byte) error {
+	request := byteJoin(`{ "settings": `, settings, `}`)
+	op := idx.client.Indices.PutSettings
+	res, err := op(
+		bytes.NewReader(request),
+		op.WithContext(idx.ctx),
+		op.WithIndex(idx.name),
+		op.WithPretty(),
+	)
+
+	return idx.responseErrorOrNil(
+		fmt.Sprintf("could not update index settings '%s'", request),
+		res, err, ignoreResponseBody)
+}
+
+// Create an index providing both the mappings and the settings.
+func (idx *index) CreateIndex(mappings []byte, settings []byte) error {
+	request := byteJoin(`{ "mappings":`, mappings, `, "settings":`, settings, `}`)
+	op := idx.client.Indices.Create
+	res, err := op(
+		idx.name,
+		op.WithBody(bytes.NewReader(request)),
+		op.WithContext(idx.ctx),
+		op.WithHuman(),
+		op.WithPretty(),
+		op.WithIncludeTypeName(true),
+	)
+
+	return idx.responseErrorOrNil(
+		fmt.Sprintf("could not create index with config '%s'", request),
+		res, err, ignoreResponseBody)
+}
+
+// Delete an index.
+func (idx *index) DeleteIndex() error {
+	res, err := idx.client.Indices.Delete(
+		[]string{idx.name},
+	)
+
+	return idx.responseErrorOrNil("could not delete index",
+		res, err, ignoreResponseBody)
+}
+
+// Insert or update the document by ID.
+func (idx *index) Put(uniqueID string, doc interface{}) (string, error) {
+	body, err := json.Marshal(doc)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+
+	req := esapi.IndexRequest{
+		Index:      idx.name,
+		Body:       bytes.NewReader(body),
+		DocumentID: uniqueID,
+	}
+	res, err := req.Do(idx.ctx, idx.client)
+
+	var id string
+	readId := func(reader io.Reader) error {
+		type InsertResult struct {
+			ID string `json:"_id,omitempty"`
+		}
+		var ir InsertResult
+		data, err := ioutil.ReadAll(reader)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		err = json.Unmarshal(data, &ir)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		id = ir.ID
+
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	// populates the id field.
+	err = idx.responseErrorOrNil("could not insert document",
+		res, err, readId)
+
+	return id, err
+}
+
+type scrollUpdater func(string, readerFunc) error
+
+// Update the scroll for iteration. If no scroll exists, create one.
+func (idx *index) scrollUpdater(query []byte, batchSize int,
+	timeout time.Duration) scrollUpdater {
+
+	return func(scrollID string, reader readerFunc) error {
+		var res *esapi.Response
+		var err error
+
+		if scrollID == "" {
+			search := idx.client.Search
+			res, err = search(
+				search.WithContext(idx.ctx),
+				search.WithIndex(idx.name),
+				search.WithBody(bytes.NewBuffer(query)),
+				search.WithScroll(timeout),
+				search.WithSize(batchSize),
+			)
+		} else {
+			scroll := idx.client.Scroll
+			res, err = scroll(
+				scroll.WithContext(idx.ctx),
+				scroll.WithScroll(timeout),
+				scroll.WithScrollID(scrollID),
+			)
+		}
+
+		return idx.responseErrorOrNil(
+			fmt.Sprintf("could not scroll for query %s", query),
+			res, err, reader)
+	}
+}
+
+// Simple search options. Size is the number of elements to return, From is the
+// rank of the results according to the query. Used as a simple (stateless)
+// pagination technique.
+type SearchOptions struct {
+	Size int
+	From int
+}
+
+// Search for a query (json query dsl) with some options, and use the reader func
+// to extract the response.
+func (idx *index) Search(query []byte, opts SearchOptions,
+	responseReader readerFunc) error {
+
+	op := idx.client.Search
+	res, err := op(
+		op.WithContext(idx.ctx),
+		op.WithIndex(idx.name),
+		op.WithBody(bytes.NewBuffer(query)),
+		op.WithTrackTotalHits(true),
+		op.WithSize(opts.Size),
+		op.WithFrom(opts.From),
+		op.WithPretty(),
+	)
+
+	return idx.responseErrorOrNil(
+		fmt.Sprintf("could not complete search query %v", query),
+		res, err, responseReader)
+}
+
+// Delete an element from elasticsearch by Id.
+func (idx *index) Delete(id string) error {
+	op := idx.client.Delete
+	res, err := op(
+		idx.name,
+		id,
+		op.WithContext(idx.ctx),
+		op.WithPretty(),
+	)
+
+	return idx.responseErrorOrNil(
+		fmt.Sprintf("could not delete id(%s) from index(%s)", id, idx.name),
+		res, err, ignoreResponseBody)
+}
diff --git a/internal/tools/index/kustomize.go b/internal/tools/index/kustomize.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d82674003
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/tools/index/kustomize.go
@@ -0,0 +1,337 @@
+package index
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/internal/tools/doc"
+)
+
+const (
+	AggregationKeyword = "aggs"
+)
+
+// Redefinition of Hits structure. Must match the json string of
+// KustomizeResult.Hits.Hits. Declared as a convenience for iteration.
+type KustomizeHits []struct {
+	ID       string                    `json:"id"`
+	Document doc.KustomizationDocument `json:"result"`
+}
+
+type KustomizeResult struct {
+	ScrollID *string `json:"-"`
+
+	Hits *struct {
+		Total int `json:"total"`
+		Hits  []struct {
+			ID       string                    `json:"id"`
+			Document doc.KustomizationDocument `json:"result"`
+		} `json:"hits"`
+	} `json:"hits,omitempty"`
+
+	Aggregations *struct {
+		Timeseries *struct {
+			Buckets []struct {
+				Key   string `json:"key"`
+				Count int    `json:"count"`
+			} `json:"buckets"`
+		} `json:"timeseries,omitempty"`
+
+		Kinds *struct {
+			OtherCount int `json:"otherResults"`
+			Buckets    []struct {
+				Key   string `json:"key"`
+				Count int    `json:"count"`
+			} `json:"buckets"`
+		} `json:"kinds,omitempty"`
+	} `json:"aggregations,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// Elasticsearch has some sometimes inconsistent labels, and some pretty ugly label choices.
+// However, the structure seems reasonable, so I wanted to use it if possible. This method
+// needs two copies of the types to make the json strings different. The Copies must be the
+// exact same type/structure, so the types must be declared inline. Go will check that these
+// are convertible at compile time, and converting at runtime is a noop.
+type ElasticKustomizeResult struct {
+	ScrollID *string `json:"_scroll_id,omitempty"`
+
+	Hits *struct {
+		Total int `json:"total"`
+		Hits  []struct {
+			ID       string                    `json:"_id"`
+			Document doc.KustomizationDocument `json:"_source"`
+		} `json:"hits"`
+	} `json:"hits,omitempty"`
+
+	Aggregations *struct {
+		Timeseries *struct {
+			Buckets []struct {
+				Key   string `json:"key_as_string"`
+				Count int    `json:"doc_count"`
+			}
+		} `json:"timeseries,omitempty"`
+
+		Kinds *struct {
+			OtherCount int `json:"sum_other_doc_count"`
+			Buckets    []struct {
+				Key   string `json:"key"`
+				Count int    `json:"doc_count"`
+			}
+		} `json:"kinds,omitempty"`
+	} `json:"aggregations,omitempty"`
+}
+
+type KustomizeIndex struct {
+	*index
+}
+
+// Create index reference to the index containing the kustomize documents.
+func NewKustomizeIndex(ctx context.Context) (*KustomizeIndex, error) {
+	idx, err := newIndex(ctx, "kustomize")
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return &KustomizeIndex{idx}, nil
+}
+
+// Return a timeseries of kustomization file counts.
+func TimeseriesAggregation() (string, map[string]interface{}) {
+	return "timeseries", map[string]interface{}{
+		"date_histogram": map[string]interface{}{
+			"field":    "creationTime",
+			"interval": "day",
+			/// XXX Only return values with counts, otherwise
+			// every day is added to the output...
+			// This matters if ever a zero valued time would
+			// be stored in the creationTime field... it would
+			// return >600k entries (for every day since year 0).
+			// IDK why this is default, but I would not want this
+			// to happen...
+			"min_doc_count": 1,
+		},
+	}
+}
+
+// Return aggregation of results based off of their kinds.
+func KindAggregation(maxBuckets int) (string, map[string]interface{}) {
+	if maxBuckets < 1 {
+		maxBuckets = 1
+	}
+	return "kinds", map[string]interface{}{
+		"terms": map[string]interface{}{
+			"field": "kinds.keyword",
+			"size":  maxBuckets,
+		},
+	}
+}
+
+// The multi_match search type in elasticsearch will check each field according
+// to their respective analyzers for the identifier.
+func multiMatch(query string) map[string]interface{} {
+	return map[string]interface{}{
+		"multi_match": map[string]interface{}{
+			"type": "cross_fields",
+			"fields": []string{
+				"values.keyword^3",
+				"identifiers.keyword^3",
+				"values.ngram",
+				"identifiers.ngram",
+				// TODO(damienr74) remove document with default
+				// analyzer. It does not handle special (=,: etc)
+				// characters properly, and matches with false
+				// positives. document.whitespace does not exist
+				// yet, but should use the whitespace analyzer.
+				"document",
+				"document.whitespace",
+			},
+			"query": query,
+		},
+	}
+}
+
+// Build an elasticsearch query from a user query.
+func BuildQuery(query string) map[string]interface{} {
+	queryTokens := strings.Fields(query)
+	if len(queryTokens) == 0 {
+		return map[string]interface{}{
+			"size": 0,
+		}
+	}
+
+	mustMatch := make([]map[string]interface{}, len(queryTokens))
+
+	for i, tok := range queryTokens {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(strings.ToLower(tok), "kind=") {
+			mustMatch[i] = map[string]interface{}{
+				"term": map[string]interface{}{
+					"kinds.keyword": tok[5:],
+				},
+			}
+			continue
+		}
+		mustMatch[i] = multiMatch(tok)
+	}
+
+	structuredQuery := map[string]interface{}{
+		"query": map[string]interface{}{
+			"bool": map[string]interface{}{
+				"must": mustMatch,
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	return structuredQuery
+}
+
+// Iterator based off of the way bufio.Scanner works.
+//
+// Example:
+//	for it.Next() {
+//		for _, doc := range it.Value().Hits {
+//			// Handle KustomizationDocument.
+//		}
+//	}
+//
+//	if err := it.Err(); err != nil {
+//		// Handle err.
+//	}
+type KustomizeIterator struct {
+	update scrollUpdater
+	err    error
+	// Matches the return definition of elasticsearch search results. The
+	// scroll ID is practically a database cursor.
+	scrollImpl KustomizeResult
+}
+
+// Get the next batch of results. Note that this returns multiple results that
+// can be iterated.
+func (it *KustomizeIterator) Next() bool {
+	reader := func(reader io.Reader) error {
+		data, err := ioutil.ReadAll(reader)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("could not read from body: %v", err)
+		}
+		var scrollInput ElasticKustomizeResult
+		err = json.Unmarshal(data, &scrollInput)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("cloud not marshal %s into %T: %v",
+				data, scrollInput, err)
+		}
+		it.scrollImpl = KustomizeResult(scrollInput)
+
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	if it.err == nil {
+		fmt.Printf("updating scroll: %s\n", *it.scrollImpl.ScrollID)
+		it.err = it.update(*it.scrollImpl.ScrollID, reader)
+	}
+
+	// if there is no error and the array is not empty, then Value is
+	// obligated to return a valid result.
+	return it.err == nil &&
+		it.scrollImpl.Hits != nil &&
+		len(it.scrollImpl.Hits.Hits) > 0
+}
+
+// Get the value from this batch of iterations.
+func (it *KustomizeIterator) Value() KustomizeResult {
+	return it.scrollImpl
+}
+
+// Check if any errors have occured.
+func (it *KustomizeIterator) Err() error {
+	return it.err
+}
+
+// Create an iterator over query. Iterate in chunks of batchSize, each batch
+// should take no longer than timeout to read (otherwise, elasticsearch will
+// delete the context).
+//
+// XXX Important to set a reasonable amount of time to read the documents. If
+// a lot of processing must be done, consider loading everything in memory
+// before doing it so that, a short timeout period can be set. Scrolling creates
+// a consistent DB context, so this can be costly.
+//
+// Scrolling is also not meant to be used for real time purposes. If you need
+// results quickly, consider using the From: field in SearchOptions and a normal
+// search. This will not guarantee that the values will not change but is more
+// suitable for lower latencies/long execution timeouts.
+func (ki *KustomizeIndex) IterateQuery(query []byte, batchSize int,
+	timeout time.Duration) *KustomizeIterator {
+
+	emptyScroll := ""
+	return &KustomizeIterator{
+		update: ki.scrollUpdater(query, batchSize, timeout),
+		scrollImpl: KustomizeResult{
+			ScrollID: &emptyScroll,
+		},
+	}
+}
+
+// type specific Put for inserting structured kustomization documents.
+func (ki *KustomizeIndex) Put(id string, doc *doc.KustomizationDocument) (string, error) {
+	id, err := ki.index.Put(id, doc)
+	if err != nil {
+		return id, fmt.Errorf("could not insert in elastic: %v", err)
+	}
+	return id, nil
+}
+
+// Kustomize search options: What metrics should be returned? Kind Aggregation,
+// TimeseriesAggregation, etc. Also embedds the SearchOptions field to specify
+// the position in the sorted list of results and the number of results to return.
+type KustomizeSearchOptions struct {
+	SearchOptions
+	KindAggregation       bool
+	TimeseriesAggregation bool
+}
+
+// Search the index with the given query string. Returns a structured result and possible
+// aggregates.
+func (ki *KustomizeIndex) Search(query string,
+	opts KustomizeSearchOptions) (*KustomizeResult, error) {
+
+	aggMap := make(map[string]interface{})
+	if opts.KindAggregation {
+		k, kAgg := KindAggregation(15)
+		aggMap[k] = kAgg
+	}
+	if opts.TimeseriesAggregation {
+		t, tAgg := TimeseriesAggregation()
+		aggMap[t] = tAgg
+	}
+
+	esQuery := BuildQuery(query)
+	if len(aggMap) > 0 {
+		esQuery[AggregationKeyword] = aggMap
+	}
+
+	data, err := json.Marshal(&esQuery)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to format query %s", query)
+	}
+	fmt.Printf("formated query: %s\n", data)
+
+	var kr ElasticKustomizeResult
+	err = ki.index.Search(data, opts.SearchOptions, func(results io.Reader) error {
+		data, err = ioutil.ReadAll(results)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("could not read results from search: %v", err)
+		}
+
+		if err = json.Unmarshal(data, &kr); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("could not parse results from search: %v", err)
+		}
+
+		return nil
+	})
+	res := KustomizeResult(kr)
+
+	return &res, err
+}
diff --git a/internal/tools/index/kustomize_test.go b/internal/tools/index/kustomize_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6ad4cc58e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/tools/index/kustomize_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+package index
+
+import (
+	"reflect"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestBuildQuery(t *testing.T) {
+	testCases := []struct {
+		query  string
+		result map[string]interface{}
+	}{
+		{
+			query:  "    \t\n\r",
+			result: map[string]interface{}{"size": 0},
+		},
+		{
+			query: "\tidentifier1 identifier2\nidentifier3\r",
+			result: map[string]interface{}{
+				"query": map[string]interface{}{
+					"bool": map[string]interface{}{
+						"must": []map[string]interface{}{
+							multiMatch("identifier1"),
+							multiMatch("identifier2"),
+							multiMatch("identifier3"),
+						},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			query: "kind=Kustomization",
+			result: map[string]interface{}{
+				"query": map[string]interface{}{
+					"bool": map[string]interface{}{
+						"must": []map[string]interface{}{
+							{
+								"term": map[string]interface{}{
+									"kinds.keyword": "Kustomization",
+								},
+							},
+						},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			query: "kind=Kustomization identifier2",
+			result: map[string]interface{}{
+				"query": map[string]interface{}{
+					"bool": map[string]interface{}{
+						"must": []map[string]interface{}{
+							{
+								"term": map[string]interface{}{
+									"kinds.keyword": "Kustomization",
+								},
+							},
+							multiMatch("identifier2"),
+						},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range testCases {
+		result := BuildQuery(tc.query)
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(tc.result, result) {
+			t.Errorf("Expected %#v to match %#v", result, tc.result)
+		}
+	}
+}