Get dataset metadata

Paste your API key to the authorization field. To get an API key, Create an account and learn how to generate an API key.

General Description

This endpoint retrieves detailed metadata for a specific dataset.
Metadata includes available fields, data types, and descriptions.
Use this endpoint to understand the structure of a dataset before querying or downloading it.

Request

Endpoint

GET https://api.brightdata.com/datasets/{dataset_id}/metadata

Path Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
`dataset_id`	`string`	The unique identifier of the dataset

Headers

Header	Type	Description
`Authorization`	string	Your API key for authentication

Response

Response Example

{
    "id": "gd_l1vijqt9jfj7olije",
    "fields": {
        "name": {
            "type": "text",
            "active": true,
            "description": "The name of the company"
        },
        "url": {
            "type": "url",
            "required": true,
            "description": "The URL or web address associated with the company"
        },
        "cb_rank": {
            "type": "number",
            "description": "Crunchbase rank assigned to the company"
        }
    }
}

Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
`id`	`string`	Unique identifier for the dataset
`fields`	`object`	Contains metadata about each field in the dataset

Field Metadata

Each field in the fields object contains the following attributes:

Attribute	Type	Description
`type`	`string`	Data type of the field (e.g., `text`, `number`, `url`)
`active`	`boolean`	Indicates if the field is currently active
`required`	`boolean`	Indicates if the field is mandatory (if applicable)
`description`	`string`	Brief description of the field

Example Use Case

Fetching Dataset Metadata

To retrieve metadata for the “Crunchbase companies information” dataset:

Request

GET https://api.brightdata.com/datasets/gd_l1vijqt9jfj7olije/metadata

Response

{
    "id": "gd_l1vijqt9jfj7olije",
    "fields": {
        "name": {
            "type": "text",
            "active": true,
            "description": "The name of the company"
        },
        "url": {
            "type": "url",
            "required": true,
            "description": "The URL or web address associated with the company"
        },
        "cb_rank": {
            "type": "number",
            "description": "Crunchbase rank assigned to the company"
        }
    }
}

Troubleshooting & FAQs

Issue: “Unauthorized” response

Solution: Ensure you have included a valid API key in the request header.

Issue: “Dataset not found”

Solution: Verify that the dataset_id is correct and exists in the dataset list.

Issue: “Field missing in metadata”

Solution: Some fields may be inactive or unavailable for certain datasets.

Overview

Products

Administrative API

General Description

Request

Endpoint

Path Parameters

Headers

Response

Response Example

Response Fields

Field Metadata

Example Use Case

Fetching Dataset Metadata

Request

Response

Troubleshooting & FAQs

Issue: “Unauthorized” response

Issue: “Dataset not found”

Issue: “Field missing in metadata”

​General Description

​Request

​Endpoint

​Path Parameters

​Headers

​Response

​Response Example

​Response Fields

​Field Metadata

​Example Use Case

​Fetching Dataset Metadata

​Request

​Response

​Troubleshooting & FAQs

​Issue: “Unauthorized” response

​Issue: “Dataset not found”

​Issue: “Field missing in metadata”

​Related Documentation

General Description

Request

Endpoint

Path Parameters

Headers

Response

Response Example

Response Fields

Field Metadata

Example Use Case

Fetching Dataset Metadata

Request

Response

Troubleshooting & FAQs

Issue: “Unauthorized” response

Issue: “Dataset not found”

Issue: “Field missing in metadata”

Related Documentation