Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with real-time text indexing are described. One example method includes receiving a document for indexing in a search system that includes a mature index and indexing the received document in a staging index. The staging index may be stored in direct access memory associated with query processing that does not degrade query performance even when postings become fragmented. The staging index and the mature text index are accessed to process queries on the search system. The example method may also include periodically merging the staging index into the mature index based on query feedback.