For guidance and examples, see [Fetch data](/guides/manage-data-fetch-data).

:::code-group
```shell curl
# To get the unique host for an index,
# see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/manage-data/target-an-index
PINECONE_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
INDEX_HOST="INDEX_HOST"

curl -X POST "https://$INDEX_HOST/vectors/fetch_by_metadata" \
  -H "Api-Key: $PINECONE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-07" \
  -d '{
    "namespace": "__default__",
    "filter": {"genre": {"$eq": "Action/Adventure"}},
    "limit": 2
  }'
```
:::

`POST /vectors/fetch_by_metadata`

:::code-group
```json title="200"
{
  "namespace": "example-namespace",
  "pagination": {
    "next": "Tm90aGluZyB0byBzZWUgaGVyZQo="
  },
  "usage": {
    "egressBytes": 1024,
    "readUnits": 5
  },
  "vectors": {
    "id-1": {
      "id": "id-1",
      "metadata": {
        "genre": "documentary",
        "year": 2019
      },
      "values": [
        1,
        1.5
      ]
    },
    "id-2": {
      "id": "id-2",
      "metadata": {
        "genre": "comedy",
        "year": 2019
      },
      "values": [
        2,
        1
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

```json title="400"
{
  "code": 123,
  "message": "<string>",
  "details": [
    {
      "typeUrl": "<string>",
      "value": "<string>"
    }
  ]
}
```

```json title="4XX"
{
  "code": 123,
  "message": "<string>",
  "details": [
    {
      "typeUrl": "<string>",
      "value": "<string>"
    }
  ]
}
```

```json title="5XX"
{
  "code": 123,
  "message": "<string>",
  "details": [
    {
      "typeUrl": "<string>",
      "value": "<string>"
    }
  ]
}
```
:::

#### Authorizations

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `Api-Key` | `string` | - |  |

An API Key is required to call Pinecone APIs. Get yours from the [console](https://app.pinecone.io/).

#### Headers

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `X-Pinecone-Api-Version` | `string` | `2026-07` | Required date-based version header |

#### Body

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `namespace?` | `string` | - | The namespace to fetch records from. Example: example-namespace |

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `filter` | `object` | - |  |

Metadata filter expression to select vectors. See [Understanding metadata](/guides/index-data-indexing-overview#metadata).

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `limit?` | `integer` | `100` | The maximum number of records to return per page. Defaults to 100. Required range: 1 <= x <= 10000. Example: 12 |

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `paginationToken?` | `string` | - | Pagination token to continue a previous listing operation. Example: Tm90aGluZyB0byBzZWUgaGVyZQo= |

#### Response

`200` — A successful response.

The response for the `fetch_by_metadata` operation.

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `vectors?` | `object` | - | The fetched vectors, in the form of a map between the fetched ids and the fetched vectors |

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `namespace?` | `string` | - | The namespace that served the fetch: the request's namespace, or the alias's target namespace when the request named a namespace alias. Example: example-namespace |

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `usage?` | `object` | - |  |

:::accordion{title="Show child attributes"}
| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `readUnits?` | `integer` | - | The number of read units consumed by this operation. Example: 5 |

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `egressBytes?` | `integer` | - | The billed egress for this response, in bytes. Measured on the encoded response payload. Required range: 0 <= x. Example: 1024 |
:::

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `pagination?` | `object` | - |  |

:::accordion{title="Show child attributes"}
| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `next` | `string` | - | Example: Tm90aGluZyB0byBzZWUgaGVyZQo= |
:::

## Related pages

- [Search with a vector](./database-data-plane-query.md)
- [Search with text](./database-data-plane-search-records.md)
- [Upsert records](./database-data-plane-upsert.md)
- [Upsert text](./database-data-plane-upsert-records.md)
- [Fetch records](./database-data-plane-fetch.md)
- [Update a record](./database-data-plane-update.md)
- [Delete records](./database-data-plane-delete.md)
- [List record IDs](./database-data-plane-list.md)

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