GET efetch.fcgi

nih.gov:ncbi-nucleotide-api

Summary: Fetch full records
Operation ID: fetchNucleotideRecord
Auth: unknown
Description

Retrieve full nucleotide records in various formats including GenBank, FASTA, and others.

Parameters (13)

WebEnv (string, query, optional)

Web environment from previous esearch.

api_key (string, query, optional)

NCBI API key for increased rate limits.

complexity (integer, query, optional)

Complexity level: 0 (default), 1 (biopolymer), 2 (biopolymer with parts), 3 (nucleotide with parts), 4 (protein with parts).

Constraints: {'enum': [0, 1, 2, 3, 4]}

db (string, query, required)

Database. Use 'nuccore' for nucleotide.

Constraints: {'enum': ['nuccore']}

id (string, query, optional)

Comma-separated list of UIDs or accession numbers to fetch.

query_key (string, query, optional)

Query key from previous esearch.

retmax (integer, query, optional)

Maximum records to return (max 10,000).

Constraints: {'minimum': 1, 'maximum': 10000}

retmode (string, query, optional)

Return mode. Use 'text' for GenBank or FASTA formats.

Constraints: {'enum': ['xml', 'text', 'asn.1']}

retstart (integer, query, optional)

Index of first record to return.

rettype (string, query, optional)

Return type: 'gb' (GenBank), 'fasta', 'ft' (feature table), etc.

Constraints: {'enum': ['gb', 'gbwithparts', 'fasta', 'fasta_cds_aa', 'fasta_cds_na', 'ft', 'gb est', 'acc']}

seq_start (integer, query, optional)

Start position in sequence (1-based).

seq_stop (integer, query, optional)

Stop position in sequence (1-based).

strand (integer, query, optional)

Strand to retrieve (1=plus, 2=minus).

Constraints: {'enum': [1, 2]}

Examples (3)

TitleTypeURLAction
Fetch single nucleotide record in GenBank format curl https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/efetch.fcgi?db=nuccore&id=NM_001301717.2&rettype=gb&retmode=text
Fetch multiple records in FASTA format curl https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/efetch.fcgi?db=nuccore&id=NM_001301717.2,NM_001301718.1&rettype=fasta&retmode=text
Fetch sequence subrange with strand specification curl https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/efetch.fcgi?db=nuccore&id=NM_001301717.2&rettype=fasta&retmode=text&seq_start=100&seq_stop=200&strand=1

Probe History

Latency

Status Codes

TimeStatusLatencySize
2026-03-23 10:42:09.549718 200 2161ms
2026-03-23 10:19:37.310573 200 984ms
2026-03-23 09:33:36.626610 200 965ms

Response Changes

WhenOldNew
2026-03-23 10:19:37.310573 d99840d97b3f 3ccf26f448e6
2026-03-23 10:42:09.549718 3ccf26f448e6 d31cde07b213