GET /esummary.fcgi

nih.gov:ncbi-nucleotide-api

Summary: Get document summaries
Operation ID: getNucleotideSummary
Auth: unknown
Description

Retrieve document summaries (DocSums) for nucleotide records by UID or from search history.

Parameters (9)

WebEnv (string, query, optional)

Web environment string from previous esearch.

api_key (string, query, optional)

NCBI API key for increased rate limits.

db (string, query, required)

Database. Use 'nuccore' for nucleotide.

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

id (string, query, optional)

Comma-separated list of UIDs to retrieve summaries for.

query_key (string, query, optional)

Query key from previous esearch with usehistory=y.

retmax (integer, query, optional)

Maximum number of documents to return (max 10,000).

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

retmode (string, query, optional, default: xml)

Return format.

Constraints: {'enum': ['xml', 'json']}

retstart (integer, query, optional)

Index of first document to return.

version (string, query, optional, default: 2.0)

Version of DocSums to return. Version 2.0 provides unique DocSums for each database.

Constraints: {'enum': ['2.0']}

Examples (3)

TitleTypeURLAction
Get DocSums for specific nucleotide IDs curl https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esummary.fcgi?db=nuccore&id=568815361,568815362&version=2.0
Get JSON summary for a nucleotide record curl https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esummary.fcgi?db=nuccore&id=568815361&retmode=json&version=2.0
Paginated summary request with retmax and retstart curl https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esummary.fcgi?db=nuccore&id=568815361,568815362,568815363,568815364,568815365&retmax=3&retstart=0&version=2.0

Probe History

Latency

Status Codes

TimeStatusLatencySize
2026-03-23 10:48:18.387415 200 365ms
2026-03-23 10:29:34.466199 200 374ms
2026-03-23 09:01:37.395795 200 465ms

Response Changes

WhenOldNew
2026-03-23 10:29:34.466199 8848c6f2daf8 dadb593b35d8
2026-03-23 10:48:18.387415 dadb593b35d8 4ca62c55128f