A hydrated record carries a readable label beside each stored ID. A Single Select field, for example, returns the option name beside the option's ID.

Ask for it with the hydrated parameter, which is false by default. It saves the extra calls you would make to look up each label.

Example: a reporting job reads the Vendors table for a board report. Without hydration, Vendor Tier comes back as an ID. With hydration, it comes back as "Tier 1" beside the ID.

Plan Availability	All plan types. Every request counts toward the monthly API allowance: 25,000 on Team, 100,000 on Professional, 500,000 on Enterprise, custom on Signature.
Permissions	Any member with an API key. The key acts with that member's role and permissions.
Platform	API
Related Reading	Sorting and Filtering Records in the REST API Paginating API Request Results REST API Permissions API Overview: connect SmartSuite with the REST API.

What a hydrated value holds

label: the readable text, such as the option name or the member.
value: the stored ID.

Without hydration, the same field returns only the IDs.

One record

Add the query parameter hydrated=true to the GET request:

GET https://app.smartsuite.com/api/v1/applications/[tableId]/records/[recordId]/?hydrated=true

A list of records

Send "hydrated": true in the JSON body of the POST to the list endpoint. It can sit beside a sort and a filter.

POST https://app.smartsuite.com/api/v1/applications/[tableId]/records/list/

{ "hydrated": true }

The response

A hydrated field returns label and value pairs:

"sec059ca14": [
  {
    "label": "Value A",
    "value": "48fefd4c-7cea-4f0e-8a36-f3af942e652c"
  },
  {
    "label": "Value B",
    "value": "8a349f68-ecd7-4f70-85dd-e03ed08aca84"
  }
]

Note: With hydration on, first_created.by and last_updated.by return member objects instead of ID strings.

Field types that are hydrated

Single Select
Multiple Select
Status
First Created
Last Updated
Assigned To
Tags
Vote
Time Tracking Log
Checklist
Lookup

Frequently asked questions

Is hydrated a query parameter or a body parameter?

Both forms exist. A single-record GET takes hydrated=true in the URL. The list endpoint takes "hydrated": true in the JSON body.

Does a hydrated request cost more API calls?

No. It is one request, like the same request without hydration. It saves the calls you would make to look up labels.

Which fields return labels?

Single Select, Multiple Select, Status, First Created, Last Updated, Assigned To, Tags, Vote, Time Tracking Log, Checklist and Lookup.

Where are the full endpoint details?

In the SmartSuite developer documentation, on the Get Record and List Records pages.

Need more help? Ask the SmartSuite Community, where builders, administrators and the SmartSuite team answer questions about building on SmartSuite. For your account, billing or data, select the chat button in the lower-right corner of SmartSuite to reach support.

Last verified 1 Nov 2026.

Returning Hydrated Record Values from the SmartSuite API