Starting in 8.0 with the formal implementation of system-indices, it will no longer be possible to use applications like Discover, Visualize, Canvas, Maps, Machine Learning, etc. to analyze saved-objects. While it's technically possible to create visualizations, etc. against any of Kibana's system indices prior to 8.0, it is not supported. Kibana's system indices, and the documents that are stored in these indices, are an implementation detail of Kibana. As such, these indices and the documents that are stored in them are subject to breaking changes in minors. Additionally, Kibana enforces its own entity model and role-based access control. Accessing Kibana's system indices using Elasticsearch APIs side-steps all of these protections.

However, this is a rather unfortunate situation because applications like Discover, Visualize, Lens etc. offer incredibly powerful tools for free-form analysis. This has become a recurring sticking point when discussing how to architect certain features because this free-form analysis is so compelling.

While we've found some interesting short-term solutions, like the one that we're using for Alerts as data, it doesn't fulfill all of our needs. An ideal solution would allow us to perform free-form analysis using tools like Discover, Visualize, Lens, etc. against saved-objects while respecting Kibana's entity model and role-based access control.