title: API: Retrieve metadata and content of an existing zettel
role: manual
tags: #api #manual #zettelstore
syntax: zmk

The [[endpoint|00001012920000]] to work with metadata and content of a specific zettel is ''/z/{ID}'', where ''{ID}'' is a placeholder for the [[zettel identifier|00001006050000]].

For example, to retrieve some data about this zettel you are currently viewing, just send an HTTP GET request to the endpoint ''/z/00001012053300''[^If [[authentication is enabled|00001010040100]], you must include a valid [[access token|00001012050200]] in the ''Authorization'' header].

````sh
# curl 'http://127.0.0.1:23123/z/00001012053300'
The [[endpoint|00001012920000]] to work with metadata and content of a specific zettel is ''/z/{ID}'', where ''{ID}'' is a placeholder for the [[zettel identifier|00001006050000]].

For example, to retrieve some data about this zettel you are currently viewing, just send an HTTP GET request to the endpoint ''/z/00001012053300''[^If [[authentication is enabled|00001010040100]], you must include a valid [[access token|00001012050200]] in the ''Authorization'' header].

```sh
...
````

Optionally, you may provide which parts of the zettel you are requesting.
In this case, add an additional query parameter ''part=PART''.
Valid values for [[''PART''|00001012920800]] are ""zettel"", ""[[meta|00001012053400]]"", and ""content"" (the default value).


````sh
# curl 'http://127.0.0.1:23123/z/00001012053300?part=zettel'
title: API: Retrieve metadata and content of an existing zettel
role: manual
tags: #api #manual #zettelstore
syntax: zmk

The [[endpoint|00001012920000]] to work with metadata and content of a specific zettel is ''/z/{ID}'', where ''{ID}'' is a placeholder for the [[zettel identifier|00001006050000]].

For example, to retrieve some data about this zettel you are currently viewing, just send an HTTP GET request to the endpoint
...
````

=== Data output

Alternatively, you may retrieve the zettel as a parseable object / a [[symbolic expression|00001012930500]] by providing the query parameter ''enc=data'':

```sh
# curl 'http://127.0.0.1:23123/z/00001012053300?enc=data&part=zettel'
(zettel (meta (back "00001006000000 00001012000000") (backward "00001006000000 00001012000000 00001012920000") (box-name "manual") (created "20211004093206") (forward "00001006050000 00001010040100 00001012050200 00001012053400 00001012920000 00001012920800 00001012921200 00001012930500") (modified "20260710143436") (published "20260710143436") (role "manual") (syntax "zmk") (tags "#api #manual #zettelstore") (title "API: Retrieve metadata and content of an existing zettel")) (rights create read update delete) (content "" "The [[endpoint|00001012920000]] to work with metadata and content of a specific zettel is ''/z/{ID}'', where ''{ID}'' is a placeholder for the [[zettel identifier|00001006050000]].\n\nFor example, ...
```

If you print the result a little bit nicer, you will see its structure:
```
(zettel
    (meta
        (back "00001006000000 00001012000000")
        (backward "00001006000000 00001012000000 00001012920000")
        (box-name "manual")
        (created "20211004093206")
        (forward "00001006050000 00001010040100 00001012050200 00001012053400 00001012920000 00001012920800 00001012921200 00001012930500")
        (modified "20260710143436")
        (published "20260710143436")
        (role "manual")
        (syntax "zmk")
        (tags "#api #manual #zettelstore")
        (title "API: Retrieve metadata and content of an existing zettel"))
    (rights create read update delete)
    (content "" "The [[endpoint|00001012920000]] to work with metadata and content of a specific zettel is ''/z/{ID}'', where ''{ID}'' is a placeholder for the [[zettel identifier|00001006050000]].\n\nFor example, ...
```

* The result is a list whose first element is the symbol ''zettel''.
* The remaining elements are nested key/value pairs.
* The ''meta'' list contains the metadata as key/value pairs.
* ''rights'' specifies the user's [[access rights|00001012921200]] for this zettel.
* The symbol ''content'' is followed by two string values: the encoding and the zettel content.
  The encoding may be one of:
** ''""'': the content is stored as plain text.
** ''"base64"'': the content is encoded using the [[standard Base64 encoding|https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4648.txt]].

If you omit the query parameter ''part'', or set it to ''content'', the response contains only the ''content'' list:

```
# curl 'http://127.0.0.1:23123/z/00001012053300?enc=data&part=content'
(content "" "The [[endpoint|00001012920000]] to work with metadata and content of a specific zettel is ''/z/{ID}'', where ''{ID}'' is a placeholder for the [[zettel identifier|00001006050000]].\n\nFor example, ...
```

=== HTTP Status codes
; ''200''
: Retrieval was successful, the body contains an appropriate data value.
; ''204''
: Request was valid, but there is no data to be returned.
  Most likely, you specified the query parameter ''part=content'', but the zettel does not contain any content.
; ''400''
: Request was not valid.
  There are several reasons for this.
  Maybe the [[zettel identifier|00001006050000]] did not consist of exactly 14 digits.
; ''403''
: You are not allowed to retrieve data of the given zettel.
; ''404''
: Zettel not found.
  You probably used a zettel identifier that is not used in the Zettelstore.