--- name: hs-crypto-view-key-details title: Viewing details about a root key or a standard key description: IBM Cloud® Hyper Protect Crypto Services. last-updated: 2026-07-01 --- > ## Documentation Index > The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/hs-crypto?format=markdown > The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt > Use these files to discover more information as needed. # Viewing details about a root key or a standard key {: #view-key-details} IBM Cloud® Hyper Protect Crypto Services is deprecated. As of 28 March 2026, you can't create new instances, and access to free instances will be removed. Existing premium plan instances are supported until 28 March 2027. Any instances that still exist on that date will be deleted. {: deprecated} You can retrieve the general characteristics of a single encryption key by using IBM Cloud® Hyper Protect Crypto Services. {: shortdesc} Retrieving a root key or a standard key requires a _Writer_ or _Manager_ access policy, but you might need a way to view only the details about a root key or a standard key, such as the transition history or configuration, without retrieving the key itself. If you have _Reader_ access permissions, you can use the Hyper Protect Crypto Services key management API to retrieve only metadata about a root key or a standard key. ## Viewing key details with the UI {: #view-key-details-ui} {: ui} You can view details about a specific key with the UI by completing the following steps: 1. [Log in to the UI](https://cloud.ibm.com/login){: external}. 2. Go to **Menu** > **Resource list** to view a list of your resources. 3. From your IBM Cloud resource list, select your provisioned instance of Hyper Protect Crypto Services. 4. On the **KMS keys** page, use the **Keys** table to browse the keys in your service. 5. Click the **Actions** icon ![Actions icon](../icons/action-menu-icon.svg "Actions") to open a list of options for a specific key. 6. From the options menu, click **View key details** to view the details of the key. ## Viewing key details with the key management service API {: #view-key-details-api} {: api} To view detailed information about a specific root key or a standard key, you can make a `GET` call to the following endpoint. ``` https://.api..hs-crypto.appdomain.cloud/api/v2/keys//metadata ``` {: codeblock} 1. [Retrieve your authentication credentials to work with keys in the service](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/hs-crypto?topic=hs-crypto-set-up-kms-api&format=markdown). 2. Retrieve the ID of the key that you would like to inspect. The ID value is used to access detailed information about the key. You can find the ID for a key in your service instance by [retrieving a list of your keys](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/hs-crypto?topic=hs-crypto-view-keys&format=markdown), or by accessing the UI. 3. Get details about the key by running the following cURL command. ```sh curl -X GET \ 'https://.api..hs-crypto.appdomain.cloud/api/v2/keys//metadata' \ -H 'accept: application/vnd.ibm.kms.key+json' \ -H 'authorization: Bearer ' \ -H 'bluemix-instance: ' \ -H 'x-kms-key-ring: ' \ -H 'correlation-id: ' ``` {: codeblock} Replace the variables in the example request according to the following table. | Variable | Description | | --- | --- | | `region` | **Required.** The region abbreviation, such as `us-south` or `eu-de`, that represents the geographic area where your Hyper Protect Crypto Services instance resides. For more information, see [Regional service endpoints](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/hs-crypto?topic=hs-crypto-regions&format=markdown#service-endpoints). | | `key_ID_or_alias` | **Required.** The identifier or alias for the key that you want to inspect. | | `IAM_token` | **Required.** Your IBM Cloud access token. Include the full contents of the `IAM` token, including the Bearer value, in the cURL request. For more information, see [Retrieving an access token](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/hs-crypto?topic=hs-crypto-retrieve-access-token&format=markdown). | | `instance_ID` | **Required.** The unique identifier that is assigned to your Hyper Protect Crypto Services instance. For more information, see [Retrieving an instance ID](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/hs-crypto?topic=hs-crypto-retrieve-instance-ID&format=markdown). | | `key_ring_ID` | **Optional.** The unique identifier of the key ring that the key belongs to. If unspecified, Hyper Protect Crypto Services will search for the key in every key ring that is associated with the specified instance. Therefore, it is suggested to specify the key ring ID for a more optimized request. \n \n Note: The key ring ID of keys that are created without an `x-kms-key-ring` header is: default. For more information, see [Managing key rings](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/hs-crypto?topic=hs-crypto-managing-key-rings&format=markdown). | | `correlation_ID` | The unique identifier that is used to track and correlate transactions. | {: caption="Describes the variables needed to view details about a key with the API" caption-side="bottom"} A successful `GET api/v2/keys//metadata` response returns details about your key. The following JSON object shows an example returned value for a standard key. ```json { "metadata": { "collectionType": "application/vnd.ibm.kms.key+json", "collectionTotal": 1 }, "resources": [ { "type": "application/vnd.ibm.kms.key+json", "id": "02fd6835-6001-4482-a892-13bd2085f75d", "name": "test-standard-key", "state": 1, "extractable": true, "crn": "crn:v1:bluemix:public:hs-crypto:us-south:a/f047b55a3362ac06afad8a3f2f5586ea:12e8c9c2-a162-472d-b7d6-8b9a86b815a6:key:02fd6835-6001-4482-a892-13bd2085f75d", "imported": false, "creationDate": "2020-03-12T03:50:12Z", "createdBy": "...", "algorithmType": "AES", "algorithmMetadata": { "bitLength": "256", "mode": "CBC_PAD" }, "algorithmBitSize": 256, "algorithmMode": "CBC_PAD", "lastUpdateDate": "2020-03-12T03:50:12Z", "dualAuthDelete": { "enabled": false }, "deleted": false } ] } ``` {: screen} Need to retrieve the `payload` value for a standard key? To learn more, see [Retrieving a root key or a standard key](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/hs-crypto?topic=hs-crypto-retrieve-key&format=markdown). {: tip} For a detailed description of the response parameters, see the Hyper Protect Crypto Services key management [REST API reference doc](https://cloud.ibm.com/apidocs/hs-crypto){: external}.