Read all objects

Weaviate provides the necessary APIs to iterate through all your data. This is useful when you want to manually copy/migrate your data (and vector embeddings) from one place to another.

This is done with the help of the after operator, also called the cursor API.

Iterator

The new API clients (currently supported by the Python Client v4), encapsulate this functionality as an Iterator.

Read object properties and ids

The following code iterates through all objects, providing the properties and id for each object.

Python Client v4

collection = client.collections.get("WineReview")

for item in collection.iterator():
    print(item.uuid, item.properties)

  API docs

Python Client v3

# STEP 1 - Prepare a helper function to iterate through data in batches
def get_batch_with_cursor(collection_name, batch_size, cursor=None):
    # First prepare the query to run through data
    query = (
        client.query.get(
            collection_name,         # update with your collection name
            ["title", "description"] # update with the required properties
        )
        .with_additional(["id"])
        .with_limit(batch_size)
    )

    # Fetch the next set of results
    if cursor is not None:
        result = query.with_after(cursor).do()
    # Fetch the first set of results
    else:
        result = query.do()

    return result["data"]["Get"][collection_name]

# STEP 2 - Iterate through the data
cursor = None
while True:
    # Get the next batch of objects
    next_batch = get_batch_with_cursor("CollectionName", 100, cursor)

    # Break the loop if empty – we are done
    if len(next_batch) == 0:
        break

    # Here is your next batch of objects
    print(next_batch)

    # Move the cursor to the last returned uuid
    cursor=next_batch[-1]["_additional"]["id"]

  API docs  Deprecated (v3)

JS/TS Client v3

const myCollection = client.collections.get("WineReview");

for await (let item of myCollection.iterator()) {
  console.log(item.uuid, item.properties);
}

  API docs

JS/TS Client v2

// STEP 1 - Prepare a helper function to iterate through data in batches
async function getBatchWithCursor(
  collectionName: string,
  batchSize: number,
  cursor: string
): Promise<any[]> {
  // First prepare the query to run through data
  const query = client.graphql.get()
    .withClassName(collectionName)
    .withFields('title description _additional { id }')
    .withLimit(batchSize);

    if (cursor) {
    // Fetch the next set of results
    let result = await query.withAfter(cursor).do();
    return result.data.Get[collectionName];
  } else {
    // Fetch the first set of results
    let result = await query.do();
    return result.data.Get[collectionName];
  }
}

// STEP 2 - Iterate through the data
let cursor = null;

// Batch import all objects to the target instance
while (true) {
  // Get Request next batch of objects
  let nextBatch = await getBatchWithCursor('CollectionName', 100, cursor);

  // Break the loop if empty – we are done
  if (nextBatch.length === 0)
    break;

  // Here is your next batch of objects
  console.log(JSON.stringify(nextBatch));

  // Move the cursor to the last returned uuid
  cursor = nextBatch.at(-1)['_additional']['id'];
}

Java

import io.weaviate.client.Config;
import io.weaviate.client.WeaviateAuthClient;
import io.weaviate.client.WeaviateClient;

String scheme = "https";
String host = "WEAVIATE_INSTANCE_URL"; // Replace with your Weaviate URL
String apiKey = "YOUR-WEAVIATE-API-KEY"; // If auth enabled. Replace with your Weaviate instance API key.

try {
  WeaviateClient sourceClient = WeaviateAuthClient.apiKey(new Config(scheme, host), apiKey);
} catch (AuthException e) {
  // handle error in case of authorization problems
  throw new RuntimeException(e);
}

int batchSize = 20;
String className = "WineReview";
String[] classProperties = new String[]{"title"};

private Result<GraphQLResponse> getBatchWithCursor(WeaviateClient client,
  String className, String[] properties, int batchSize, String cursor) {
  Get query = client.graphQL().get()
    .withClassName(className)
    // Optionally retrieve the vector embedding by adding `vector` to the _additional fields
    .withFields(Stream.concat(Arrays.stream(properties), Stream.of("_additional { id vector }"))
      .map(prop -> Field.builder().name(prop).build())
      .toArray(Field[]::new)
    )
    .withLimit(batchSize);

  if (cursor != null) {
    return query.withAfter(cursor).run();
  }
  return query.run();
}

private List<Map<String, Object>> getProperties(GraphQLResponse result, String className, String[] classProperties) {
  Object get = ((Map<?, ?>) result.getData()).get("Get");
  Object clazz = ((Map<?, ?>) get).get(className);
  List<?> objects = (List<?>) clazz;
  List<Map<String, Object>> res = new ArrayList<>();
  for (Object obj : objects) {
    Map<String, Object> objProps = new HashMap<>();
    for (String prop: classProperties) {
      Object propValue = ((Map<?, ?>) obj).get(prop);
      objProps.put(prop, propValue);
    }
    Object additional = ((Map<?, ?>) obj).get("_additional");
    Object id = ((Map<?, ?>) additional).get("id");
    objProps.put("id", id);
    Object vector = ((Map<?, ?>) additional).get("vector");
    objProps.put("vector", vector);
    res.add(objProps);
  }
  return res;
}

private int getObjectsCount(GraphQLResponse result, String className) {
  Object get = ((Map<?, ?>) result.getData()).get("Get");
  Object clazz = ((Map<?, ?>) get).get(className);
  List<?> objects = (List<?>) clazz;
  return objects.size();
}

  API docs

Go

"github.com/weaviate/weaviate-go-client/v4/weaviate"
"github.com/weaviate/weaviate-go-client/v4/weaviate/auth"
"github.com/weaviate/weaviate-go-client/v4/weaviate/graphql"
"github.com/weaviate/weaviate/entities/models"

sourceClient, err := weaviate.NewClient(weaviate.Config{
  Scheme: "https",
  Host:   "WEAVIATE_INSTANCE_URL", // Replace WEAVIATE_INSTANCE_URL with your instance URL
  AuthConfig: auth.ApiKey{
  	Value: "YOUR-WEAVIATE-API-KEY", // If auth enabled. Replace with your Weaviate instance API key.
  },
})
if err != nil {
  // handle error
  panic(err)
}

batchSize := 20
className := "WineReview"
classProperties := []string{"title"}

getBatchWithCursor := func(client weaviate.Client,
  className string, classProperties []string, batchSize int, cursor string) (*models.GraphQLResponse, error) {
  fields := []graphql.Field{}
  for _, prop := range classProperties {
  	fields = append(fields, graphql.Field{Name: prop})
  }
  fields = append(fields, graphql.Field{Name: "_additional { id vector }"})

  get := client.GraphQL().Get().
  	WithClassName(className).
  	// Optionally retrieve the vector embedding by adding `vector` to the _additional fields
  	WithFields(fields...).
  	WithLimit(batchSize)

  if cursor != "" {
  	return get.WithAfter(cursor).Do(context.Background())
  }
  return get.Do(context.Background())
}

  API docs

Read all objects including vectors

Read through all data including the vectors. (Also applicable where named vectors are used.)

Python Client v4

collection = client.collections.get("WineReview")

for item in collection.iterator(
    include_vector=True  # If using named vectors, you can specify ones to include e.g. ['title', 'body'], or True to include all
):
    print(item.properties)
    print(item.vector)

  API docs

Python Client v3

# STEP 1 - Prepare a helper function to iterate through data in batches
def get_batch_with_cursor(collection_name, batch_size, cursor=None):
    # First prepare the query to run through data
    query = (
        client.query.get(
            collection_name,         # update with your collection name
            ["title", "description"] # update with the required properties
        )
        .with_additional(["id vector"])
        .with_limit(batch_size)
    )

    # Fetch the next set of results
    if cursor is not None:
        result = query.with_after(cursor).do()
    # Fetch the first set of results
    else:
        result = query.do()

    return result["data"]["Get"][collection_name]

# STEP 2 - Iterate through the data
cursor = None
while True:
    # Get the next batch of objects
    next_batch = get_batch_with_cursor("CollectionName", 100, cursor)

    # Break the loop if empty – we are done
    if len(next_batch) == 0:
        break

    # Here is your next batch of objects
    print(next_batch)

    # Move the cursor to the last returned uuid
    cursor=next_batch[-1]["_additional"]["id"]

  API docs  Deprecated (v3)

JS/TS Client v3

const myCollection = client.collections.get("WineReview");

for await (let item of myCollection.iterator({
    includeVector: true
  })) {
    console.log(item.uuid, item.properties);
    console.log(item.vectors);
}

  API docs

JS/TS Client v2

// STEP 1 - Prepare a helper function to iterate through data in batches
async function getBatchWithCursor(
  collectionName: string,
  batchSize: number,
  cursor: string
): Promise<any[]> {
  const query = client.graphql.get()
    .withClassName(collectionName)
    .withFields('title description _additional { id vector }')
    .withLimit(batchSize);

  if (cursor) {
    let result = await query.withAfter(cursor).do();
    return result.data.Get[collectionName];
  } else {
    let result = await query.do();
    return result.data.Get[collectionName];
  }
}

// STEP 2 - Iterate through the data
let cursor = null;

while (true) {
  // Request the next batch of objects
  let nextBatch = await getBatchWithCursor('CollectionName', 100, cursor);

  // Break the loop if empty – we are done
  if (nextBatch.length === 0)
    break;

  // Here is your next batch of objects
  console.log(JSON.stringify(nextBatch));

  // Move the cursor to the last returned uuid
  cursor = nextBatch.at(-1)['_additional']['id'];
}

Read all objects - Multi-tenant collections

Iterate through all tenants and read data for each.

Multi-tenancy

For classes where multi-tenancy is enabled, you need to specify the tenant name when reading or creating objects. See Manage data: multi-tenancy operations for details.

Python Client v4

multi_collection = client.collections.get("WineReviewMT")

# Get a list of tenants
tenants = multi_collection.tenants.get()

# Iterate through tenants
for tenant_name in tenants.keys():
    # Iterate through objects within each tenant
    for item in multi_collection.with_tenant(tenant_name).iterator():
        print(f"{tenant_name}: {item.properties}")

  API docs

Python Client v3

# STEP 1 - Prepare a helper function to iterate through data in batches
def get_batch_with_cursor(collection_name, tenant_name, batch_size, cursor):
    # First prepare the query to run through data
    query = (
        client.query.get(
            collection_name,         # update with your collection name
            ["title", "description"] # update with the required properties
        )
        .with_tenant(tenant_name)     # tenant name goes here
        .with_additional(["id"])
        .with_limit(batch_size)
    )

    # Fetch the next set of results
    if cursor is not None:
        result = query.with_after(cursor).do()
    # Fetch the first set of results
    else:
        result = query.do()

    return result["data"]["Get"]["MultiTenancyCollection"]

# Get Tenants
tenants = client.schema.get_class_tenants(
    class_name="MultiTenancyCollection"  # The class from which the tenants will be retrieved
)

# STEP 2 - Iterate through Tenants
for tenant in tenants:
    # Reset the cursor to the beginning
    cursor = None
    while True:
        # Get the next batch of objects
        next_batch = get_batch_with_cursor("MultiTenancyCollection", tenant.name, 100, cursor)

        # Break the loop if empty – we are done
        if len(next_batch) == 0:
            break

        # Here is your next batch of objects
        print(next_batch)

        # Move the cursor to the last returned uuid
        cursor=next_batch[-1]["_additional"]["id"]

  API docs  Deprecated (v3)

JS/TS Client v3

const multiCollection = client.collections.get("WineReviewMT");

const tenants = await multiCollection.tenants.get()

for (let tenantName in tenants) {
  for await (let item of multiCollection.withTenant(tenantName).iterator()) {
    console.log(`${tenantName}:`, item.properties);
  }
}

  API docs

JS/TS Client v2

// STEP 1 - Prepare a helper function to iterate through data in batches
async function getBatchWithCursor(
  collectionName: string,
  tenantName: string,
  batchSize: number,
  cursor: string,
): Promise<any[]> {
  const query = client.graphql.get()
    .withClassName(collectionName)
    .withTenant(tenantName)
    .withFields('title description _additional { id }')
    .withLimit(batchSize);

  if (cursor) {
    let result = await query.withAfter(cursor).do();
    return result.data.Get[collectionName];
  } else {
    let result = await query.do();
    return result.data.Get[collectionName];
  }
}

// Get Tenants
let tenants = await client.schema
.tenantsGetter('MultiTenancyClass')
.do();

// STEP 2 - Iterate through Tenants
for await (const tenant of tenants) {
  // For each tenant, reset the cursor to the beginning
  let cursor = null;
  
  while (true) {
    // Request the next batch of objects
    let nextBatch = await getBatchWithCursor('MultiTenancyClass', tenant.name, 100, cursor);
    
    // Break the loop if empty – we are done
    if (nextBatch.length === 0)
    break;
  
    // Here is your next batch of objects
    console.log(JSON.stringify(nextBatch));
    
    // Move the cursor to the last returned uuid
    cursor = nextBatch.at(-1)['_additional']['id'];
  }
}

Related pages

• Connect to Weaviate
• How-to: Read objects
• References: GraphQL - Additional Operators
• Manage data: multi-tenancy operations

Questions and feedback

If you have any questions or feedback, let us know in the user forum.

• Technical questions
• Documentation feedback