diff --git a/.changeset/selfish-humans-wait.md b/.changeset/selfish-humans-wait.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..70afa8625
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/selfish-humans-wait.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@koopjs/featureserver': minor
+---
+
+add default value for indexes on feature layer metadata
diff --git a/packages/featureserver/src/helpers/feature-layer-metadata.spec.js b/packages/featureserver/src/helpers/feature-layer-metadata.spec.js
index 016974e33..a38c54ae1 100644
--- a/packages/featureserver/src/helpers/feature-layer-metadata.spec.js
+++ b/packages/featureserver/src/helpers/feature-layer-metadata.spec.js
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ describe('FeatureLayerMetadata', () => {
       maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
       fields: [],
       relationships: [],
+      indexes: [],
       capabilities: 'Query',
       ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
       types: [],
@@ -391,6 +392,7 @@ describe('FeatureLayerMetadata', () => {
           },
         ],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -552,6 +554,7 @@ describe('FeatureLayerMetadata', () => {
           },
         ],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -709,6 +712,7 @@ describe('FeatureLayerMetadata', () => {
           },
         ],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -904,6 +908,7 @@ describe('FeatureLayerMetadata', () => {
           },
         ],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -1059,6 +1064,7 @@ describe('FeatureLayerMetadata', () => {
           },
         ],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -1227,6 +1233,7 @@ describe('FeatureLayerMetadata', () => {
         },
       ],
       relationships: [],
+      indexes: [],
       capabilities: 'list,of,stuff',
       ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
       types: [],
diff --git a/packages/featureserver/src/helpers/table-layer-metadata.spec.js b/packages/featureserver/src/helpers/table-layer-metadata.spec.js
index 043c4ff6c..b5493005e 100644
--- a/packages/featureserver/src/helpers/table-layer-metadata.spec.js
+++ b/packages/featureserver/src/helpers/table-layer-metadata.spec.js
@@ -130,6 +130,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
       maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
       fields: [],
       relationships: [],
+      indexes: [],
       capabilities: 'Query',
       ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
       types: [],
@@ -251,6 +252,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
         fields: ['fields'],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -365,6 +367,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
         fields: ['fields'],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -477,6 +480,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
         fields: ['fields'],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -589,6 +593,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
         fields: ['fields'],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -701,6 +706,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
         fields: ['fields'],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -813,6 +819,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
         fields: ['fields'],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -925,6 +932,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
         fields: ['fields'],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -1037,6 +1045,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
         fields: ['fields'],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -1149,6 +1158,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
         fields: ['fields'],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -1261,6 +1271,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
         fields: ['fields'],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -1373,6 +1384,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
         fields: ['fields'],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'hello,world',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -1485,6 +1497,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
         fields: ['fields'],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query,Extract',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -1597,6 +1610,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
         fields: ['fields'],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -1709,6 +1723,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
         fields: ['fields'],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -1821,6 +1836,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
         fields: ['fields'],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -1933,6 +1949,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
         fields: ['fields'],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -1947,6 +1964,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         {
           name: 'Hank Williams',
           relationships: ['something'],
+          indexes: [],
           description: 'There is a tear in my beer.',
           copyrightText: 'copyright-text',
           templates: ['templates'],
@@ -2056,6 +2074,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
         maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
         fields: ['fields'],
         relationships: ['something'],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
         types: [],
@@ -2311,6 +2330,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
       maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
       fields: ['fields'],
       relationships: [],
+      indexes: [],
       capabilities: 'list,of,stuff',
       ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
       types: [],
@@ -2432,6 +2452,7 @@ describe('TableLayerMetadata', () => {
       maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
       fields: ['fields'],
       relationships: [],
+      indexes: [],
       capabilities: 'list,of,stuff',
       ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
       types: [],
diff --git a/packages/featureserver/src/metadata-defaults.js b/packages/featureserver/src/metadata-defaults.js
index 3329f2ae0..6a2670169 100644
--- a/packages/featureserver/src/metadata-defaults.js
+++ b/packages/featureserver/src/metadata-defaults.js
@@ -225,6 +225,7 @@ class MetadataDefaults {
       maxRecordCountFactor: 1,
       fields: [],
       relationships: [],
+      indexes: [],
       capabilities: 'Query',
       ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: {
         allowOthersToQuery: true,
diff --git a/test/geoservice-client-requests-no-geom.spec.js b/test/geoservice-client-requests-no-geom.spec.js
index 7441ecb09..b6246cfe8 100644
--- a/test/geoservice-client-requests-no-geom.spec.js
+++ b/test/geoservice-client-requests-no-geom.spec.js
@@ -202,6 +202,7 @@ describe('Typical Geoservice Client request sequence: Dataset with no geometry',
                 },
               ],
               relationships: [],
+              indexes: [],
               capabilities: 'Query',
               maxRecordCount: 2000,
               ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: {
@@ -369,6 +370,7 @@ describe('Typical Geoservice Client request sequence: Dataset with no geometry',
             },
           ],
           relationships: [],
+          indexes: [],
           capabilities: 'Query',
           maxRecordCount: 2000,
           ownershipBasedAccessControlForFeatures: { allowOthersToQuery: true },
diff --git a/test/helpers/client-response-fixtures.js b/test/helpers/client-response-fixtures.js
index 795809fac..8fa0fc427 100644
--- a/test/helpers/client-response-fixtures.js
+++ b/test/helpers/client-response-fixtures.js
@@ -130,6 +130,7 @@ function getLayersInfo(filename, idField) {
           },
         ],
         relationships: [],
+        indexes: [],
         capabilities: 'Query',
         maxRecordCount: 2000,
         supportsStatistics: true,