--- title: "Data API Access object" description: "How to read the `access` object returned with every Data API response — requested modes, publisher signals, and the resulting access decision." --- # Data API Access object Every [Data API](/docs/data-api) response includes an `access` object. It describes what your request asked for, the publisher and page signals Iframely found for the URL, and the resulting access decision Iframely made for each content type. Use `access` to understand why content was or wasn't returned, and to make your own decisions about how to use the returned content. > Some decisions cannot be formalized by Iframely. For example, Iframely does not attempt to interpret free-form comments from publishers in their `robots.txt`. See [publisher explanation](/docs/content-policy) for how processing modes, publisher signals, and controls affect content availability. See [Data API content](/docs/content) for what `entities`, `excerpt`, and `fulltext` contain. ## API example ```json "access": { "requested": { "modes": ["assist"], "use": "reference" }, "signals": { "license": { "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en", "name": "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International", "common_name": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "type": "CC" }, "robots.txt": { "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/robots.txt", "status": 200, "sitemap": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/rest.php/site/v1/sitemap/0", "updated_at": "2026-09-16T15:33:44.130Z" }, "directives": { "max-image-preview": "standard" } }, "decision": { "meta": { "iframely_default": true, "supported_by": ["license"], "allowed": true }, "links": { "iframely_default": true, "supported_by": ["max-image-preview", "license"], "allowed": true }, "entities": { "iframely_default": false, "promoted_by": ["license"], "allowed": true }, "excerpt": { "iframely_default": false, "promoted_by": ["license"], "allowed": true }, "fulltext": { "iframely_default": false, "promoted_by": ["license"], "allowed": true } } } ``` ## Requested `requested` shows the processing mode and `use` value declared by your request. * `modes` — the processing mode used for the request, wrapped as a list for possible future changes. See [Processing modes](/docs/processing-modes). * `use` — the optional `use` value declared by the request. See [The `use` signal](/docs/processing-modes#the-use-signal). ## Signals `signals` contains the publisher and page signals Iframely found for the URL that are relevant to the access decision. Only detected signals are included. For example, if no recognized license is found, there will be no `license` entry. The main signal sources are: * **`robots.txt`** — the publisher's `robots.txt`, including its URL and response status. When available, it can also include a sitemap, update time, matching `Allow` rules, or publisher comment. See [RFC 9309](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9309.html), the Robots Exclusion Protocol. * **`directives`** — robots directives found on the page, see [Google's documentation](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots-meta-tag). * **`machine-features`** — AI-era signals, including [Content Signals](https://contentsignals.org/), a discovered `llms.txt`, and whether the publisher provides Markdown when requested. * **`license`** — a recognized license declared by the publisher. For example, a Creative Commons license or [RSL](https://rslstandard.org/). It can include the license URL, name, common name, and type. See [guide for publishers](/docs/content-policy) for more information about signals recognized by Iframely. These are the signals available to your application. Not every input to an access decision is represented in `signals`. For example, explicit publisher settings in the Iframely dashboard and Iframely's default policy are reflected in `decision` directly rather than exposed as signals. ## Decision `decision` contains an entry for each content type in the Data API response: `meta`, `links`, `entities`, `excerpt`, and `fulltext`. Each entry includes: * `iframely_default` — whether the content type is available for the requested mode under Iframely's default policy. * `allowed` — the final access decision. The `decision` may also include `supported_by`, `promoted_by`, or `blocked_by` lists to show what factors contributed to the decision and Iframely's interpretation of the signals. ### Iframely default processing policy ### Supporting and promoting signals When a content type is already allowed by default, a publisher or page signal that supports that access appears in `supported_by`. When a content type is not allowed by default, a publisher or page signal that promotes that access appears in `promoted_by`. For example: ```json "entities": { "iframely_default": false, "promoted_by": ["license"], "allowed": true } ``` Here, `entities` is not available for the requested mode under Iframely's default policy, but the publisher's license provides a signal that promotes it. ### Blocking signals A publisher or page signal can also block content that would otherwise be available. Such signals appear in `blocked_by`. Any single block always results in `"allowed": false`. ```json "fulltext": { "iframely_default": false, "promoted_by": ["license", "markdown"], "blocked_by": ["explicit_publisher_permissions"], "allowed": false } ``` ### Reference values The values in `supported_by`, `promoted_by`, and `blocked_by` lists identify the signals that contributed to the decision. They generally use the signal's human- and AI-readable name, such as `license`, `content-signal`, `max-snippet`, `articleBody`, or `llms.txt`. These references can generally be found in `signals` fields or elsewhere in the API response. For example, `articleBody` is nested in `entities`. When a property name is too generic on its own, the value is prefixed with the parent object, such as `directives:follow` or `robots.txt:allow`. Some decision inputs do not appear in `signals`: * `explicit_publisher_permissions` identifies an explicit permission or restriction set by the publisher in the Iframely dashboard. * Iframely's default policy is represented by `iframely_default`. This keeps `signals` focused on publisher and page signals while the `decision` object shows Iframely's interpretation. ## Error handling An `access` object is returned when Iframely fetched the original page and can make an access decision for the requested URL. If the request is blocked before that decision can be made — for example, by a `robots.txt` `Disallow` rule or an error from the origin server — the Data API returns a top-level error instead. For example: ```json { "status": 417, "error": "robots.txt disallows *: /embed/*", "code": "ROBOTS_DISALLOWED" } ``` In these cases, there is no `access` object to inspect. Check for a top-level error before processing the response.