# Artefaktum - Lookup Artifact by External Key

> Artefaktum - Lookup Artifact by External Key is a paid API for AI agents from api.artefaktum.dev, paid per call via x402, $0.005/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-11-01).

Retrieves an artifact's metadata by its user-defined external key within a wallet's project, with optional freshness enforcement via max_age_seconds.

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://api.artefaktum.dev/v1/artifacts/by-external-key/smoke%2F20261031225256?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.005/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-11-01
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/artefaktum-lookup-artifact-by-external-key-0130e433
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_QXPi--x6CWz01iTs5lh3Z

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability artefaktum-lookup-artifact-by-external-key-0130e433
```

Example prompt: Fetch the artifact stored under the external key 'smoke/20261031225256' in my Artefaktum project — only return it if it was updated within the last 3600 seconds.

## When to prefer this

Use this endpoint when you already know the user-defined external key under which an artifact was stored (e.g. a slash-separated path like 'smoke/20261031225256') and want to avoid storing or tracking internal artifact IDs. Prefer this over the by-ID endpoint when your workflow manages artifacts by human-readable or system-generated keys. The max_age_seconds parameter makes it ideal for cache-busting scenarios where stale artifacts should be treated as missing.

## Known failure modes

- 404 Not Found: no artifact stored under the given external_key in the specified project
- 404 Not Found: artifact exists but is older than max_age_seconds
- 402 Payment Required: wallet has insufficient USDC balance to cover $0.005 call fee
- 400 Bad Request: missing required project_id query parameter
- 403 Forbidden: wallet does not own the project referenced by project_id
- 500 Internal Server Error: upstream storage failure

## How this service works

Look up an artifact by the external_key it was stored under (your own name for it, slashes allowed), in one of the wallet's projects. max_age_seconds turns an artifact older than that into a 404, for caching. Returns the artifact. Costs $0.005 in USDC. No signup: a wallet's first payment creates its account and a default project; the same wallet later reaches the same files.

## Output

Returns an artifact object containing title, description, tags, metadata, status, expiry date, and latest version details (filename, content type, size, sha256). Returns a 404 if no artifact exists for the given external key, or if the artifact is older than max_age_seconds when that parameter is supplied.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
 "required": [
  "input"
 ],
 "properties": {
  "input": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type",
    "method",
    "pathParams"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string",
     "const": "http"
    },
    "method": {
     "enum": [
      "GET"
     ],
     "type": "string"
    },
    "pathParams": {
     "type": "object",
     "required": [
      "external_key"
     ],
     "properties": {
      "external_key": {
       "type": "string"
      }
     },
     "additionalProperties": false
    },
    "queryParams": {
     "type": "object",
     "required": [
      "project_id"
     ],
     "properties": {
      "project_id": {
       "type": "string"
      },
      "max_age_seconds": {
       "type": "string"
      }
     }
    }
   },
   "additionalProperties": false
  },
  "output": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string",
     "const": "json"
    },
    "example": {
     "type": "object"
    }
   }
  }
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/artefaktum-lookup-artifact-by-external-key-0130e433/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from api.artefaktum.dev](https://www.zero.xyz/host/api.artefaktum.dev/llms.txt)