diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3a5c65fb..d7087969 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -78,6 +78,15 @@ Print a list of which plugins are installed and how to install any that are miss
 node scripts/check_plugins.js
 ```
 
+#### check indexed documents
+
+Display a summary of doc counts per source/layer. By default the stats for the importing index is used. Only use `--api` if your requesting index differs from your importing index
+
+```bash
+node scripts/check_stats.js
+node scripts/check_stats.js --api
+```
+
 ## Configuration
 
 ### Settings from `pelias.json`
diff --git a/scripts/check_stats.js b/scripts/check_stats.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..be3168f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check_stats.js
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+const config = require('pelias-config').generate();
+const es = require('elasticsearch');
+const client = new es.Client(config.esclient);
+const targetIndex = getTargetIndex();
+
+
+async function stats(targetIndex) {
+    try {
+        const response = await client.search({
+            index: targetIndex,
+            body: {
+                aggs: {
+                    sources: {
+                        terms: {
+                            field: 'source',
+                            size: 100
+                        },
+                        aggs: {
+                            layers: {
+                                terms: {
+                                    field: "layer",
+                                    size: 100
+                                }
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+                },
+                size: 0,
+            },
+            timeout: '10s',
+            request_cache: true,
+            maxRetries: 1,
+        });
+        console.log("Results for index \"" + targetIndex + "\":")
+        console.log(JSON.stringify(response, null, 2));
+        process.exit(0);
+    }
+    catch (err) {
+        console.error(err);
+        process.exit(!!err);
+    }
+};
+
+function getTargetIndex() {
+    if (process.argv.length > 2 && ['--api', '-a'].indexOf(process.argv[2]) > -1) {
+        return config.api.indexName; //If none is set the value from pelias/config/config/defaults.json will be used ('pelias')
+    }
+    return config.schema.indexName;
+}
+stats(targetIndex);
\ No newline at end of file