Get a collection

Retrieving collection details

This endpoint allows you to fetch detailed information about a specific collection using its unique name. The response includes collection metadata, schema information, and object counts.

API endpoint

GET /v1/collections/{collection_name}

Path parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
collection_name	string	Yes	Name of the collection to retrieve

Response

A successful request returns a 200 OK status code and a JSON response containing:

{
  "name": "products",
  "description": "Collection of product information",
  "schema": {
    "name": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "description": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "price": {
      "type": "number"
    },
    "categories": {
      "type": "string[]"
    }
  },
  "object_count": 142,
  "created_at": "2023-08-15T14:32:21Z",
  "updated_at": "2023-09-01T09:45:33Z"
}

Response fields

Field	Type	Description
name	string	The collection’s unique identifier
description	string	Optional description of the collection
schema	object	Auto-detected schema based on indexed objects
object_count	number	Total number of objects in the collection
created_at	string	ISO timestamp when the collection was created
updated_at	string	ISO timestamp when the collection was last modified

Error scenarios

Status	Description
404	Collection not found
400	Invalid collection name format

Example request

curl -X GET https://go.tallyfy.com/api/v1/collections/products \
  -H "X-Answers-API-Key: your_api_key"

Common uses

• Checking a collection’s current schema
• Verifying the number of objects in a collection
• Retrieving collection metadata before performing operations
• Confirming a collection exists before adding objects

Related articles

Objects > Get an object

The API endpoint enables retrieval of individual objects from collections using unique identifiers with complete object data returned as JSON including system fields and appropriate error handling.

Collections > Create a collection

The process of creating collections in Tallyfy Answers involves specifying a unique name through a POST request which automatically detects data types and returns collection details upon successful creation.

Collections > Get all collections

A paginated API endpoint that retrieves summaries of all collections sorted by creation date with support for limiting results and skipping records for efficient data browsing.

Collections > Update a collection

The PATCH endpoint enables modification of collection properties like descriptions and configurations while maintaining immutable collection names and automatically handling schema changes through the /v1/collections/[collection_name] API.