# Returns a specific document type based on the ID

`GET /api/configuration/document-types/{documentTypeId}`

- **Success:** `200 OK`
- **Products:** Operator (`FOH`)
- **Features:** Front of House Generic Access (`FOHGENERIC`)

HTML version: [Returns a specific document type based on the ID](https://support.gladstonesoftware.cloud/reference/configuration/returns-a-specific-document-type-based-on-the-id)

## Overview

Reads a single document type by its id — the name, key and flags behind an id you already hold, typically one recorded against a member's document.

An id that does not exist returns `404` with the plain-text body `GetDocumentType could not find the id {id}`. That is the same shape of message the medical condition type endpoints return as a `400`, so do not assume a shared convention across Gladstone configuration reads.

If you need more than one type, prefer [Returns all document types](returns-all-document-types.md): fetching the whole list once costs no more than fetching one type and saves you the round trips. Both endpoints can return data up to six hours old after a document type changes.

Ids are assigned per tenant and are not portable between environments. Where you need to recognise a specific type in code, match on `key` rather than `id` — `DDMandate` is the one key the platform itself behaves differently for.

## Endpoint

`GET {base_url}/api/configuration/document-types/{documentTypeId}`

`{base_url}` is the environment URL issued to your integration. See [Authenticating with Gladstone APIs](../../guides/authenticating-with-gladstone-apis.md).

## Path parameters

| Name | Type | Required | Description |
|------|------|----------|-------------|
| `documentTypeId` | integer (int32) | Yes | The id of the document type to read, as returned in the `id` field of [Returns all document types](returns-all-document-types.md) or recorded against a member's document. Must parse as a 32-bit integer; a non-numeric value is rejected before the request is processed. An id that does not exist returns `404`. |

## Sample request

```bash title="cURL"
curl -X GET '{base_url}/api/configuration/document-types/{documentTypeId}' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {accessToken}' \
  -H 'X-Use-SSO: true'
```

## Response fields

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `id` | integer (int32) | The id you supplied, echoed back. This is the value to send as `documentTypeId` when uploading or creating a document for a member. Unique within the tenant only. |
| `key` | string | A short stable code for the type, maximum 55 characters and never null. This — not `id` or `name` — is what platform logic recognises: uploading a document against a type with key `DDMandate` also creates a Direct Debit mandate. Not enforced unique, so treat a duplicate as a configuration error rather than assuming one match. |
| `name` | string | The type's display name, and the field the API treats as its identity: required, at most 255 characters, and **unique across document types**. This is the value operators see when filing a document, and it is the untranslated base text — document types carry per-language translations elsewhere in the platform, but this endpoint neither returns nor applies them. |
| `description` | string | A longer explanation of what the type is for, up to 500 characters. Optional, so `null` where the operator supplied none. Distinct from `name`: `name` is the unique label, this is free-text detail with no uniqueness constraint. |
| `isSensitive` | boolean | Marks the type as holding sensitive personal data, and acts as a floor rather than a default. Upload a document against a type with this set and the document's own sensitivity is forced true even if the request asked for false — an individual document can be more sensitive than its type, never less. |
| `isAttachment` | boolean | Whether documents of this type are treated as email attachment content. |
| `isSystem` | boolean | Whether Gladstone supplied the type rather than the operator. `true` types are locked: [Updates a document type](updates-a-document-type.md) returns `409` with `Document Type ID {id} cannot be changed because it is system`, and [Deletes a document type](deletes-a-document-type.md) returns `409` with `The documentType ID {id} is system.` Check this before offering the record as editable. |

## Sample response

```json title="200 OK"
{
  "id": 12345,
  "key": "string",
  "name": "string",
  "description": "string",
  "isSensitive": true,
  "isAttachment": true,
  "isSystem": true
}
```

## Errors

| Status | Meaning | When |
|--------|---------|------|
| `404` | Not found | No document type exists with that id. The body is the plain string `GetDocumentType could not find the id {id}`, with your id interpolated. |
| `500` | Internal server error | An unexpected server-side failure reading the record. The response has no body. |