Fetch vectors from a legacy vector index

New projects should use the Documents API. To move an existing index, see Move to the Documents API.

This page shows you how to fetch records from a namespace in a legacy vector index with the legacy Vectors API. For a document index, see Fetch data. Pinecone stores vector values as 32-bit floats, so fetched values can differ slightly from high-precision values you upserted.

Fetch records by ID

To fetch records from a namespace based on their IDs, use the fetch operation with the following parameters:

namespace: The namespace containing the records to fetch. To use the default namespace, set this to "__default__".
ids: The IDs of the records to fetch. Maximum of 1000.

For on-demand indexes, since vector values are retrieved from object storage, fetch operations may have increased latency. If you only need metadata or IDs, consider using the Search with a vector operation instead, with include_values left at its default of false. See Decrease latency for more details.

from pinecone.grpc import PineconeGRPC as Pinecone

pc = Pinecone(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")

# To get the unique host for an index, 
# see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/indexes/target-an-index
index = pc.index(host="INDEX_HOST", grpc=True)

index.fetch(ids=["id-1", "id-2"], namespace="example-namespace")

import { Pinecone } from '@pinecone-database/pinecone'

const pc = new Pinecone({ apiKey: "YOUR_API_KEY" })

// To get the unique host for an index, 
// see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/indexes/target-an-index
const index = pc.index("INDEX_NAME", "INDEX_HOST")

const fetchResult = await index.namespace('example-namespace').fetch(['id-1', 'id-2']);

import io.pinecone.clients.Index;
import io.pinecone.configs.PineconeConfig;
import io.pinecone.configs.PineconeConnection;
import io.pinecone.proto.FetchResponse;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

public class FetchExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        PineconeConfig config = new PineconeConfig("YOUR_API_KEY");
        // To get the unique host for an index, 
        // see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/indexes/target-an-index
        config.setHost("INDEX_HOST");
        PineconeConnection connection = new PineconeConnection(config);
        Index index = new Index(config, connection, "INDEX_NAME");

        List<String> ids = Arrays.asList("id-1", "id-2");
        FetchResponse fetchResponse = index.fetch(ids, "example-namespace");
        System.out.println(fetchResponse);
    }
}

package main

import (
    "context"
    "encoding/json"
    "fmt"
    "log"

    "github.com/pinecone-io/go-pinecone/v7/pinecone"
)

func prettifyStruct(obj interface{}) string {
	bytes, _ := json.MarshalIndent(obj, "", "  ")
	return string(bytes)
}

func main() {
    ctx := context.Background()

    pc, err := pinecone.NewClient(pinecone.NewClientParams{
        ApiKey: "YOUR_API_KEY",
    })
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to create Client: %v", err)
    }

    // To get the unique host for an index, 
    // see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/indexes/target-an-index
    idxConnection, err := pc.Index(pinecone.NewIndexConnParams{Host: "INDEX_HOST", Namespace: "example-namespace"})
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to create IndexConnection for Host: %v", err)
  	}

    res, err := idxConnection.FetchVectors(ctx, []string{"id-1", "id-2"})
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to fetch vectors: %v", err)
    } else {
        fmt.Printf(prettifyStruct(res))
    }
}

# To get the unique host for an index,
# see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/indexes/target-an-index
PINECONE_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
INDEX_HOST="INDEX_HOST"

curl -X GET "https://$INDEX_HOST/vectors/fetch?ids=id-1&ids=id-2&namespace=example-namespace" \
  -H "Api-Key: $PINECONE_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-07"

The response looks like this:

{'namespace': 'example-namespace',
 'usage': {'readUnits': 1},
 'vectors': {'id-1': {'id': 'id-1',
                      'values': [0.568879, 0.632687092, 0.856837332, ...]},
             'id-2': {'id': 'id-2',
                      'values': [0.00891787093, 0.581895, 0.315718859, ...]}}}

{'namespace': 'example-namespace',
 'usage': {'readUnits': 1},
 'records': {'id-1': {'id': 'id-1',
                      'values': [0.568879, 0.632687092, 0.856837332, ...]},
             'id-2': {'id': 'id-2',
                      'values': [0.00891787093, 0.581895, 0.315718859, ...]}}}

namespace: "example-namespace"
vectors {
  key: "id-1"
  value {
    id: "id-1"
    values: 0.568879
    values: 0.632687092
    values: 0.856837332
    ...
  }
}
vectors {
  key: "id-2"
  value {
    id: "id-2"
    values: 0.00891787093
    values: 0.581895
    values: 0.315718859
    ...
  }
}
usage {
  read_units: 1
}

{
  "vectors": {
    "id-1": {
      "id": "id-1",
      "values": [
        -0.0089730695,
        -0.020010853,
        -0.0042787646,
        ...
      ]
    },
    "id-2": {
      "id": "id-2",
      "values": [
        -0.005380766,
        0.00215196,
        -0.014833462,
        ...
      ]
    }
  },
  "usage": {
    "read_units": 1
  }
}

{
  "vectors": {
    "id-1": {
      "id": "id-1",
      "values": [0.568879, 0.632687092, 0.856837332, ...]
    },
    "id-2": {
      "id": "id-2",
      "values": [0.00891787093, 0.581895, 0.315718859, ...]
    }
  },
  "namespace": "example-namespace",
  "usage": {"readUnits": 1},
}

Fetch records by metadata

To fetch records from a namespace based on their metadata values, use the fetch_by_metadata operation with the following parameters:

Parameter	Required	Description
`filter`	Yes	A metadata filter expression describing the records to fetch. Must be present and non-empty.
`limit`	No	The maximum number of matching records to return in a single response. Defaults to 100; maximum 10,000. To retrieve more than 10,000 matching records, paginate using `paginationToken`.
`namespace`	No	The namespace containing the records to fetch. If omitted or set to an empty string, defaults to the default namespace. To explicitly use the default namespace, set this to `"__default__"`.
`paginationToken`	No	The `next` token value from the `pagination` object found in a previous response. Include this value to fetch the next page of results, or omit it to start from the beginning. Must be used with the same `namespace` and `filter` parameters that generated it — using an existing token with different parameters will return incorrect results.

For example, the following code fetches 2 records with a genre field set to Action/Adventure from the default namespace:

from pinecone.grpc import PineconeGRPC as Pinecone

pc = Pinecone(api_key="YOUR_API_KEY")

# To get the unique host for an index, 
# see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/indexes/target-an-index
index = pc.index(host="INDEX_HOST", grpc=True)

results = index.fetch_by_metadata(
    filter={"genre": {"$eq": "Action/Adventure"}},
    namespace="__default__",
    limit=2
)

print(results)

import { Pinecone } from '@pinecone-database/pinecone'

const pc = new Pinecone({ apiKey: "YOUR_API_KEY" })

// To get the unique host for an index, 
// see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/indexes/target-an-index
const index = pc.index("INDEX_NAME", "INDEX_HOST")

const results = await index.fetchByMetadata({
  filter: { genre: { $eq: 'Action/Adventure' } },
  namespace: '__default__',
  limit: 2
});

console.log(results);

import com.google.protobuf.Struct;
import com.google.protobuf.Value;
import io.pinecone.clients.Index;
import io.pinecone.configs.PineconeConfig;
import io.pinecone.configs.PineconeConnection;
import io.pinecone.proto.FetchByMetadataResponse;

public class FetchByMetadataExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        PineconeConfig config = new PineconeConfig("YOUR_API_KEY");
        // To get the unique host for an index, 
        // see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/indexes/target-an-index
        config.setHost("INDEX_HOST");
        PineconeConnection connection = new PineconeConnection(config);
        Index index = new Index(config, connection, "INDEX_NAME");

        Struct filter = Struct.newBuilder()
            .putFields("genre", Value.newBuilder()
                .setStructValue(Struct.newBuilder()
                    .putFields("$eq", Value.newBuilder()
                        .setStringValue("Action/Adventure")
                        .build())
                    .build())
                .build())
            .build();

        FetchByMetadataResponse response = index.fetchByMetadata(
            "__default__", filter, 2, null);

        System.out.println(response);
    }
}

package main

import (
    "context"
    "encoding/json"
    "fmt"
    "log"

    "github.com/pinecone-io/go-pinecone/v7/pinecone"
    "google.golang.org/protobuf/types/known/structpb"
)

func prettifyStruct(obj interface{}) string {
    bytes, _ := json.MarshalIndent(obj, "", "  ")
    return string(bytes)
}

func main() {
    ctx := context.Background()

    pc, err := pinecone.NewClient(pinecone.NewClientParams{
        ApiKey: "YOUR_API_KEY",
    })
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to create Client: %v", err)
    }

    // To get the unique host for an index, 
    // see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/indexes/target-an-index
    idxConnection, err := pc.Index(pinecone.NewIndexConnParams{Host: "INDEX_HOST"})
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to create IndexConnection for Host: %v", err)
    }

    filter, err := structpb.NewStruct(map[string]interface{}{
        "genre": map[string]interface{}{
            "$eq": "Action/Adventure",
        },
    })
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to create filter: %v", err)
    }

    namespace := "__default__"
    limit := uint32(2)

    res, err := idxConnection.FetchVectorsByMetadata(ctx, &pinecone.FetchVectorsByMetadataRequest{
        Filter:    filter,
        Namespace: &namespace,
        Limit:     &limit,
    })
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatalf("Failed to fetch vectors by metadata: %v", err)
    }
    fmt.Printf(prettifyStruct(res))
}

# To get the unique host for an index,
# see https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/indexes/target-an-index
PINECONE_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
INDEX_HOST="INDEX_HOST"

curl -X POST "https://$INDEX_HOST/vectors/fetch_by_metadata" \
  -H "Api-Key: $PINECONE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-07" \
  -d '{
    "namespace": "__default__",
    "filter": {"genre": {"$eq": "Action/Adventure"}},
    "limit": 2
  }'

The response looks like this:

{
  "vectors": {
    "0": {
      "id": "0",
      "values": [
        0.0234527588, 0.0291595459 ...
      ],
      "metadata": {
        "box-office": 2923706026,
        "genre": "Action/Adventure",
        "summary": "On the alien world of Pandora, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully uses an avatar to walk again and becomes torn between his mission and protecting the planet's indigenous Na'vi people. The film stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, and Sigourney Weaver.",
        "title": "Avatar",
        "year": 2009
      }
    },
    "1": {
      "id": "1",
      "values": [
        0.0397644043, 0.013053894, ...
      ],
      "metadata": {
        "box-office": 2799439100,
        "genre": "Action/Adventure",
        "summary": "In the aftermath of Thanos wiping out half of the universe, the remaining Avengers assemble once more to undo the chaos, leading to a time-traveling adventure. Stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson.",
        "title": "Avengers: Endgame",
        "year": 2019
      }
    }
  },
  "namespace": "__default__",
  "usage": {
    "readUnits": 1
  },
  "pagination": {
    "next": "Tm90aGluZyB0byBzZWUgaGVyZQo="
  }
}

To fetch the next page of results, pass the pagination token from the previous response. For example:

next_results = index.fetch_by_metadata(
    filter={"genre": {"$eq": "Action/Adventure"}},
    namespace="__default__",
    limit=2,
    pagination_token="Tm90aGluZyB0byBzZWUgaGVyZQo="
)

const nextResults = await index.fetchByMetadata({
  filter: { genre: { $eq: 'Action/Adventure' } },
  namespace: '__default__',
  limit: 2,
  paginationToken: 'Tm90aGluZyB0byBzZWUgaGVyZQo='
});

FetchByMetadataResponse nextPage = index.fetchByMetadata(
    "__default__", filter, 2, "Tm90aGluZyB0byBzZWUgaGVyZQo=");

paginationToken := "Tm90aGluZyB0byBzZWUgaGVyZQo="
nextRes, err := idxConnection.FetchVectorsByMetadata(ctx, &pinecone.FetchVectorsByMetadataRequest{
    Filter:          filter,
    Namespace:       &namespace,
    Limit:           &limit,
    PaginationToken: &paginationToken,
})

curl -X POST "https://$INDEX_HOST/vectors/fetch_by_metadata" \
  -H "Api-Key: $PINECONE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-Pinecone-Api-Version: 2026-07" \
  -d '{
    "namespace": "__default__",
    "filter": {"genre": {"$eq": "Action/Adventure"}},
    "limit": 2,
    "paginationToken": "Tm90aGluZyB0byBzZWUgaGVyZQo="
  }'

When there are more results available, the response includes a pagination object with a next token. When there are no more results, the response doesn’t include a pagination object.

Fetch limits

Fetch by ID limits

Metric	Limit
Max IDs per request	1000 IDs
Max request size	N/A
Max request rate	100 requests per second per index

Fetch by metadata limits

Metric	Limit
Max records per response	10,000 records
Max response size	4 MB
Max request rate	5 requests per second per namespace

To retrieve more than 10,000 matching records, paginate through results using the paginationToken parameter. See Fetch records by metadata.

Data freshness

Pinecone is eventually consistent, so there can be a slight delay before new or changed records are visible to queries. You can view index stats to check data freshness.

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Legacy

Fetch vectors from a legacy vector index

Fetch records by ID

Fetch records by metadata

Fetch limits

Fetch by ID limits

Fetch by metadata limits

Data freshness

​Fetch records by ID

​Fetch records by metadata

​Fetch limits

​Fetch by ID limits

​Fetch by metadata limits

​Data freshness

Fetch records by ID

Fetch records by metadata

Fetch limits

Fetch by ID limits

Fetch by metadata limits

Data freshness