---
title: "Get artifact version"
method: GET
path: "/groups/{groupId}/artifacts/{artifactId}/versions/{versionExpression}/content"
tags: ["Versions"]
---

# Get artifact version

`GET /groups/{groupId}/artifacts/{artifactId}/versions/{versionExpression}/content`

## Request

- The document declares no server URL.
- Auth: none declared

Retrieves a single version of the artifact content.  Both the `artifactId` and the
unique `version` number must be provided.  The `Content-Type` of the response depends 
on the artifact type.  In most cases, this is `application/json`, but for some types 
it may be different (for example, `PROTOBUF`).

This operation can fail for the following reasons:

* No artifact with this `artifactId` exists (HTTP error `404`)
* No version with this `version` exists (HTTP error `404`)
* A server error occurred (HTTP error `500`)

## Query parameters

- `references` 'PRESERVE' | 'DEREFERENCE' | 'REWRITE': How to handle references when retrieving content. References can either be left unchanged (`PRESERVE`), re-written so they are valid in the context of the registry (`REWRITE`), or fully dereferenced such that all externally referenced content is internalized (`DEREFERENCE`).
- `canonical` boolean

## Response `200`

The content of one version of one artifact.

- string, binary

## Other responses

- `400`: Common response for all operations that can return a `400` error.
- `401`: Common response for all operations that can return a `401` error indicating authentication is required.
- `403`: Common response for all operations that can return a `403` error indicating the user is authenticated but not authorized.
- `404`: Common response for all operations that can return a `404` error.
- `500`: Common response for all operations that can fail with an unexpected server error.

## Changes

- **2026-10-31** `ff9684af2aad`: 25 info
  - added the optional property `ruleViolation/causes/items/code` to the response with the `400` status
  - added the optional property `ruleViolation/causes/items/code` to the response with the `401` status
  - added the optional property `ruleViolation/causes/items/code` to the response with the `403` status
  - added the optional property `ruleViolation/causes/items/code` to the response with the `404` status
  - …21 more
- **2026-10-29** `f17f5df4e79c`: 5 info
  - added the optional property `ruleViolation` to the response with the `400` status
  - added the optional property `ruleViolation` to the response with the `401` status
  - added the optional property `ruleViolation` to the response with the `403` status
  - added the optional property `ruleViolation` to the response with the `404` status
  - …1 more
- **2026-07-22** `5ec86ca180cb`: 1 info
  - added the new optional `query` request parameter `canonical`
- **2025-12-16** `440db8997574`: 2 info
  - added the non-success response with the status `401`
  - added the non-success response with the status `403`
- …earlier changes not shown

[Operation history](https://skmtc.dev/apicurio/apis/apicurio-registry-api-v3/changes/groups/:groupId/artifacts/:artifactId/versions/:versionExpression/content/get.md)

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/apicurio/apis/apicurio-registry-api-v3.md) - [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/apicurio/apis/apicurio-registry-api-v3/llms.txt) - [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/apicurio/apis/apicurio-registry-api-v3/revisions/ff9684af2aad?raw)