Object-level queries (Get)

This page covers object-level query functions. They are collectively referred to as Get queries within.

Parameters

A Get query requires the target collection to be specified.

In GraphQL calls, the properties to be retrieved to be must be specified explicitly.
In gRPC calls, all properties are fetched by default.
Metadata retrieval is optional in both GraphQL and gRPC calls.

Available arguments

Each Get query can include any of the following types of arguments:

Argument	Description	Required
Collection	Also called "class". The object collection to be retrieved from.	Yes
Properties	Properties to be retrieved	Yes (GraphQL) (No if using gRPC API)
Cross-references	Cross-references to be retrieved	No
Metadata	Metadata (additional properties) to be retrieved	No
Conditional filters	Filter the objects to be retrieved	No
Search operators	Specify the search strategy (e.g. near text, hybrid, bm25)	No
Additional operators	Specify additional operators (e.g. limit, offset, sort)	No
Tenant name	Specify the tenant name	Yes, if multi-tenancy enabled. (Read more: what is multi-tenancy?)
Consistency level	Specify the consistency level	No

Example usage

Python

import weaviate
import weaviate.classes as wvc
import os

client = weaviate.connect_to_local()

package main

import (
  "context"
  "fmt"

  "github.com/weaviate/weaviate-go-client/v5/weaviate"
  "github.com/weaviate/weaviate-go-client/v5/weaviate/graphql"
)

func main() {
  cfg := weaviate.Config{
    Host:   "WEAVIATE_INSTANCE_URL",  // Replace with your Weaviate URL
    Scheme: "https",
  }
  client, err := weaviate.NewClient(cfg)
  if err != nil {
    panic(err)
  }
  fields := []graphql.Field{
    {Name: "question"},
    {Name: "answer"},
    {Name: "points"},
  }
  ctx := context.Background()
  result, err := client.GraphQL().Get().
    WithClassName("JeopardyQuestion").
    WithFields(fields...).
    Do(ctx)
  if err != nil {
    panic(err)
  }
  fmt.Printf("%v", result)
}

Curl

echo '{
  "query": "{
    Get {
      JeopardyQuestion {
        question
        answer
        points
      }
    }
  }"
}' | curl \
    -X POST \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -H 'Authorization: Bearer learn-weaviate' \
    -d @- \
    https://edu-demo.weaviate.network/v1/graphql

GraphQL

{
  Get {
    JeopardyQuestion {
      question
      answer
      points
    }
  }
}

Example response

The above query will result in something like the following:

{'points': 400.0, 'answer': 'Refrigerator Car', 'air_date': '1997-02-14', 'hasCategory': 'TRANSPORTATION', 'question': 'In the 19th century Gustavus Swift developed this type of railway car to preserve his packed meat', 'round': 'Jeopardy!'}
{'points': 800.0, 'hasCategory': 'FICTIONAL CHARACTERS', 'answer': 'Forsyte', 'air_date': '1998-05-27', 'question': 'Last name of Soames & Irene, the 2 principal characters in John Galsworthy\'s 3 novel "saga"', 'round': 'Double Jeopardy!'}
{'points': 500.0, 'answer': 'Duluth', 'air_date': '1996-12-17', 'hasCategory': 'MUSEUMS', 'question': 'This eastern Minnesota city is home to the Lake Superior Museum of Transportation', 'round': 'Jeopardy!'}
{'points': 1000.0, 'answer': 'Ear', 'air_date': '1988-11-16', 'hasCategory': 'HISTORY', 'round': 'Double Jeopardy!', 'question': "An eighteenth-century war was named for this part of Robert Jenkins' body, reputedly cut off by Spaniards"}
{'points': 400.0, 'answer': 'Bonnie Blair', 'air_date': '1997-02-28', 'hasCategory': 'SPORTS', 'round': 'Jeopardy!', 'question': "At the 1994 Olympics, this U.S. woman speed skater surpassed Eric Heiden's medal total"}
{'points': 1600.0, 'answer': 'Turkish', 'air_date': '2008-03-24', 'hasCategory': 'LANGUAGES', 'question': 'In the 1920s this language of Anatolia switched from the Arabic to the Latin alphabet', 'round': 'Double Jeopardy!'}
{'points': 100.0, 'answer': 'Ireland', 'air_date': '1998-10-01', 'hasCategory': 'POTPOURRI', 'round': 'Jeopardy!', 'question': "Country in which you'd find the Book of Kells"}
{'points': 800.0, 'answer': 'Ichabod Crane', 'air_date': '2008-01-03', 'hasCategory': 'LITERATURE', 'round': 'Double Jeopardy!', 'question': 'Washington Irving based this character on his friend Jesse Merwin, a schoolteacher'}
{'points': 300.0, 'air_date': '1997-12-05', 'hasCategory': 'LITERATURE', 'answer': '"The Prince and the Pauper"', 'question': 'Tom Canty, born in a slum called Offal Court, & Edward Tudor are the title characters in this Twain novel', 'round': 'Jeopardy!'}
{'points': 500.0, 'answer': 'Seattle', 'air_date': '1999-05-10', 'hasCategory': 'U.S. CITIES', 'round': 'Jeopardy!', 'question': "The site of the World's Fair in 1962, it's flanked on the west by Puget Sound & on the east by Lake Washington"}

Order of retrieved objects

Without any arguments, the objects are retrieved according to their ID.

Accordingly, such a Get query is not suitable for a substantive object retrieval strategy. Consider the Cursor API for that purpose.

`Get` groupBy

You can use retrieve groups of objects that match the query.

The groups are defined by a property, and the number of groups and objects per group can be limited.

Syntax

GraphQL

{
  Get{
    <Class>(
      <vectorSearchOperator>  # e.g. nearVector, nearObject, nearText
      groupBy:{
        path: [<propertyName>]  # Property to group by (only one property or cross-reference)
        groups: <number>  # Max. number of groups
        objectsPerGroup: <number>  # Max. number of objects per group
      }
    ) {
      _additional {
        group {
          id  # An identifier for the group in this search
          groupedBy{ value path }  # Value and path of the property grouped by
          count  # Count of objects in this group
          maxDistance  # Maximum distance from the group to the query vector
          minDistance  # Minimum distance from the group to the query vector
          hits {  # Where the actual properties for each grouped objects will be
            <properties>  # Properties of the individual object
            _additional {
              id  # UUID of the individual object
              vector  # The vector of the individual object
              distance  # The distance from the individual object to the query vector
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Example usage:

Python

questions = client.collections.use("JeopardyQuestion")
response = questions.query.near_text(
    query="animals",
    group_by=wvc.query.GroupBy(
        prop="points",
        number_of_groups=3,
        objects_per_group=5
    )
)

for k, v in response.groups.items():  # View by group
    print(k, v)

for o in response.objects:  # View by object
    print(o)

The other clients do not yet natively support groupby operations. Please use "raw" graphql queries to perform groupby operations.

GraphQL

{
  Get{
    JeopardyQuestion(
      nearText: {
        concepts: ["animals"],
        distance: 0.2
      }
      groupBy: {  # How to group the results
        path: ["points"]
        groups: 3
        objectsPerGroup: 5
      }
    ) {
      _additional {
        group {  # Data to be returned
          id
          groupedBy{ value path }
          count
          hits {  # Actual properties to be retrieved
            question
            answer
            _additional {
              id
              distance
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

:::

Consistency levels

Where replication is enabled, you can specify a consistency argument with a Get query. The available options are:

ONE
QUORUM (Default)
ALL

Read more about consistency levels here.

Python

import weaviate
import weaviate.classes as wvc
import os

client = weaviate.connect_to_local()

resp, err := client.GraphQL().Get().
    WithClassName("Article").
    WithFields(fields...).
    WithConsistencyLevel(replication.ConsistencyLevel.QUORUM).
    Do(ctx)

GraphQL

{
  Get {
    Article (consistencyLevel: QUORUM) {
      name
      _additional {
        isConsistent
      }
    }
  }
}

Multi-tenancy

In a multi-tenancy collection, each Get query must specify a tenant.

Python

multi_collection = client.collections.use("MultiTenancyCollection")# Get collection specific to the required tenantmulti_tenantA = multi_collection.with_tenant("tenantA")# Query tenantAresult = multi_tenantA.query.fetch_objects(    limit=2,)print(result.objects[0].properties)

result, err := client.GraphQL().Get().  WithClassName("MultiTenancyCollection").  WithFields(graphql.Field{Name: "question"}).  WithTenant("tenantA").  Do(ctx)

GraphQL

{
  Get {
    MultiTenancyCollection (
      tenant: "tenantA"
      limit: 2
    ) {
      name
    }
  }
}

Cross-references

Weaviate supports cross-references between objects. Each cross-reference behaves like a property.

You can retrieve cross-referenced properties with a Get query.

Python

questions = client.collections.use("JeopardyQuestion")
response = questions.query.fetch_objects(
    return_references=wvc.query.QueryReference(
        link_on="hasCategory",
        return_properties=["title"]
    )
)

for o in response.objects:
    print(f"References for {o.uuid}")
    for ro in o.references["hasCategory"].objects:  # Inspect returned references
        print(ro.properties)

package main

import (
  "context"
  "fmt"

  "github.com/weaviate/weaviate-go-client/v5/weaviate"
  "github.com/weaviate/weaviate-go-client/v5/weaviate/graphql"
)

func main() {
  cfg := weaviate.Config{
    Host:   "localhost:8080",
    Scheme: "http",
  }
  client, err := weaviate.NewClient(cfg)
  if err != nil {
    panic(err)
  }
  ctx := context.Background()
  fields := []graphql.Field{
    {Name: "title"},
    {Name: "url"},
    {Name: "wordCount"},
    {Name: "inPublication", Fields: []graphql.Field{
      {Name: "... on Publication", Fields: []graphql.Field{
        {Name: "name"},
      }},
    }},
  }
  result, err := client.GraphQL().Get().
    WithClassName("Article").
    WithFields(fields...).
    Do(ctx)
  if err != nil {
    panic(err)
  }
  fmt.Printf("%v", result)
}

Curl

echo '{
  "query": "{
    Get {
      Article {
        title
        url
        wordCount
        inPublication {
          ... on Publication {
            name
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }"
}' | curl \
    -X POST \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -H 'Authorization: Bearer learn-weaviate' \
    -d @- \
    https://edu-demo.weaviate.network/v1/graphql

GraphQL

{
  Get {
    JeopardyQuestion {
      question
      answer
      points
      hasCategory {                # the reference property
        ... on JeopardyCategory {  # the destination class
          title                    # the property related to target class
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Expected response

JSON

{
  "data": {
    "Get": {
      "JeopardyQuestion": [
        {
          "answer": "Jonah",
          "hasCategory": [
            {
              "title": "THE BIBLE"
            }
          ],
          "points": 100,
          "question": "This prophet passed the time he spent inside a fish offering up prayers"
        },
        // shortened for brevity
      ]
    }
  }
}

Additional properties / metadata

Various metadata properties may be retrieved with Get{} requests. They include:

Property	Description
`id`	Object id
`vector`	Object vector
`generate`	Generative module outputs
`rerank`	Reranker module outputs
`creationTimeUnix`	Object creation time
`lastUpdateTimeUnix`	Object last updated time
`distance`	Vector distance to query (vector search only)
`certainty`	Vector distance to query, normalized to certainty (vector search only)
`score`	Search score (BM25 and hybrid only)
`explainScore`	Explanation of the score (BM25 and hybrid only)
`classification`	Classification outputs
`featureProjection`	Feature projection outputs

They are returned through the _additional properties in the response.

For further information see:

Search operators

The following search operators are available.

Argument	Description	Required integration type	Learn more
`nearObject`	Vector search using a Weaviate object	none	Learn more
`nearVector`	Vector search using a raw vector	none	Learn more
`nearText`	Vector search using a text query	Text embedding model	Learn more
`nearImage`	Vector search using an image	Multi-modal embedding model	Learn more
`hybrid`	Combine vector and BM25 search results	none	Learn more
`bm25`	Keyword search with BM25F ranking	none	Learn more

For further information see:

Conditional filters

Get{} queries can be combined with a conditional filter.

For further information see:

Additional operators

Get{} queries can be combined with additional operators such as limit, offset, autocut, after or sort.

For further information see:

How-to: Search: Basics

Questions and feedback

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Community Forum

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Support

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:::

Parameters

Available arguments

Example usage

Get groupBy

Syntax

Example usage:

Consistency levels

Multi-tenancy

Cross-references

Additional properties / metadata

Search operators

Conditional filters

Additional operators

Related pages

Questions and feedback

`Get` groupBy