NCBI GEO (Gene Expression Omnibus) via E-utilities

Base URLs

Important: The database name is gds

The Entrez database for GEO is gds (not geo). It contains all GEO record types: GDS datasets, GSE series, GPL platforms, GSM samples. Filter by type using [ETYP] in the search term.

Key Endpoints

eSearch — Search GEO

GET /esearch.fcgi?db=gds&term={query}&retmode=json&retmax={n}

Parameters:

• db=gds (required)
• term — search query with field tags
• retmax — max results (default 20)
• retstart — offset for pagination
• retmode=json — get JSON response
• usehistory=y — store results server-side for large queries
• api_key — NCBI API key (optional, raises rate limit)

Entry type filters ([ETYP])

• gds[ETYP] — curated GEO DataSets
• gse[ETYP] — GEO Series (most common, use this by default)
• gpl[ETYP] — platforms
• gsm[ETYP] — samples

Other field tags

• [Organism] — e.g. "Homo sapiens"[Organism]
• [PDAT] — publication date
• [Title] — title search
• Boolean: AND, OR, NOT (uppercase)

Example — cancer GSE series in human:

/esearch.fcgi?db=gds&term=cancer+AND+gse[ETYP]+AND+"Homo+sapiens"[Organism]&retmax=10&retmode=json

Response:

{
  "esearchresult": {
    "count": "15432",
    "retmax": "10",
    "idlist": ["200012345", "200067890"],
    "querytranslation": "cancer AND gse[ETYP]"
  }
}

The IDs returned are numeric UIDs (not accession numbers). For GSE records: UID = 200000000 + GSE_number.

eSummary — Get metadata for UIDs

GET /esummary.fcgi?db=gds&id={uid_list}&retmode=json

Key response fields per record:

• Accession — e.g. "GSE12345"
• title, summary
• taxon — organism
• entrytype — "GDS", "GSE", "GPL", "GSM"
• gdstype — e.g. "Expression profiling by array"
• n_samples — sample count
• pubmedids — linked PubMed IDs
• PDAT — publication date
• Samples — array of sample objects
• FTPLink — data download path

Example:

/esummary.fcgi?db=gds&id=200012345&retmode=json

GEO Direct Query — Full records by accession

GET https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc={accession}&form={format}&view={detail}

Parameters:

• acc — GEO accession (GSE12345, GDS1234, GPL570, GSM12345)
• targ — self, gsm (samples), gpl (platform), gse (series)
• form — text (SOFT format), xml (MINiML), html
• view — quick, brief, full, data

Example — series metadata in SOFT:

acc.cgi?acc=GSE53757&targ=self&form=text&view=brief

Note: acc.cgi does not return JSON. Use eSearch + eSummary for JSON results. Use acc.cgi when you need full SOFT/MINiML records.

eLink — Cross-reference with other NCBI databases

GET /elink.fcgi?dbfrom=gds&db=pubmed&id={uid}&retmode=json

Practical Workflow

For most queries, use this two-step approach:

1. eSearch to find UIDs matching the query
2. eSummary to get metadata for those UIDs

This gives you JSON throughout.

Important Notes

• GDS records are mostly frozen — NCBI stopped curating new GDS. Use gse[ETYP] for comprehensive results.
• eFetch has limited support for the gds database. Use eSummary for metadata or acc.cgi for full records.
• URL-encode spaces as + and quotes as %22.

Rate Limits

• Without API key: 3 requests/second
• With API key: 10 requests/second (free registration at ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/account/settings)
• Include &email=user@example.com as a courtesy
• For large result sets, use the History server (usehistory=y then pass WebEnv and query_key to eSummary)