> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cocoondata.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# <access-service>/api/v1/items/{itemId}/ancestry

## URL structure&#x20;

```text theme={null}
https://access-service.xy-company.com/api/v1/items/{itemId}/ancestry
```

where `{itemId}` is the ID of a Secure Object or collection.

## Supported methods and overview&#x20;

* `GET` - used to retrieve a list of information about the ancestral [collections](/3.2/api/creating-files-and-folders.md#collection) of a specified [Secure Object](/3.2/api/creating-files-and-folders.md#secure-object) or collection (i.e. [item](/3.2/api/creating-files-and-folders.md#item)), based on the item's ID.

> [!NOTE]
>
> This method takes no parameters.

## Detailed description&#x20;

This API endpoint retrieves a list of information about the ancestral collections of a specified Secure Object or collection, using this item's ID.

The item's ID can be obtained by calling the [\<access-service>/api/v1/items](/3.2/api/access-service-api-v1-items.md) API endpoint, which retrieves a list of information associated with Secure Objects and collections that can be filtered using various 'search' criteria.

The collections are ordered in the list (returned in the response) from the root location (whose ID is `0`) first, through to the immediate parent collection.

## Supported roles and conditions&#x20;

This API endpoint supports the following Covata user roles (as described in the [Covata Platform Administrator's Guide](/3.2/admin.md)) and conditions:

* [Originator](/3.2/admin-org/administering-users-within-an-organisation.md#originator-role) - a Covata user with this role can call this endpoint on an item they own.
* **Originator**, [Collaborator](/3.2/admin-org/administering-users-within-an-organisation.md#collaborator-role) and [Ad hoc](/3.2/admin-org/administering-users-within-an-organisation.md#adhoc-role) - a Covata user with any of these roles can call this endpoint on an item they are a collaborator on.

The Covata Platform's resources available to one of these Covata users (above) is determined by the access token passed in the [header](/3.2/api/access-service-api-v1-items-itemid-ancestry.md#access-service-api-v1-items-itemid-ancestry-required-headers) of requests to this endpoint.

## Required headers&#x20;

The appropriate access token as the `Bearer` token:

* `Authorization: Bearer a1b2c3d4-e5f6-g7h8-i9j0-k1l2m3n4o5p6`

## Returns&#x20;

A JSON-formatted response containing an array of elements, each of which contains the following members:

* **id** - .
* **name** - .
* **parentId** - .

  **Example (response from ...):**


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