---
title: Indexing pipeline extension state
slug: lahb0181
canonical_url: https://docs.coveo.com/en/lahb0181/
collection: index-content
source_format: adoc
---
# Indexing pipeline extension state
An IPE may need to perform web requests to access an external resource required for its execution, such as an authorization token or a catalog.
In order not to flood the remote server, you can keep and share an IPE state between executions using the `state` keyword.

The `state` must be a [Python dictionary](https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/datastructures.html#dictionaries) and has a 32kb size limit.
Oversized state or invalid types will be dropped.

The state is shared between the instances of a single IPE bound to a single source.
For example, a state stored for `source_1` can't be accessed from `source_2`, and a state stored for `IPE_1` can't be accessed from `IPE_2`.

The state is cleared every 24 hours.
To support a shorter lifetime, you must implement your own logic.

**Example**

```python
import time

token = state.get("token")
ttl = state.get("ttl", 0)
now = time.time()

if now < ttl:
    log(f"token is valid: {token}")
    # ...
else:
    log("token has expired, will renew for 60min")
    state["token"] = "new_token"
    state["ttl"] = now + 3600
    # ...
```

IPEs are executed on multiple machines simultaneously, meaning it may take up to a minute for updates to sync across all running instances of the IPE.
If several states are displayed with varying or empty values, this is expected behavior and indicates that it's still being synchronized.

Using the following extension, the tables show a simplified timeline of the state synchronization between all machines.

```python
import random

value = state.get("value", 0)
log("value is {value}")

if not value:
    state["value"] = random.randint(1, 10)
    log("new value is {value}")
```

[%header, cols="4"]
|===
|Time (seconds)
|Machine A
|Machine B
|Machine C

|t0
|value is 0
|value is 0
|value is 0

|t1
|new value is 4
|new value is 2
|new value is 9

|t2
|value is 4
|value is 2
|value is 9

|t3
|value is 4
|value is 2
|value is 9

|t4
|value is 4
|value is 2
|value is 9
|===

After one minute, the state is synced between machines A, B, and C.
The final value that's used is the value of the last machine to update.

[%header, cols="4"]
|===
|Time (seconds)
|Machine A
|Machine B
|Machine C

|t61
|value is 2
|value is 2
|value is 2

|t62
|value is 2
|value is 2
|value is 2

|t63
|value is 2
|value is 2
|value is 2

|t64
|value is 2
|value is 2
|value is 2
|===