# How to retrieve active ingredients and DCB records

Distinguish active-ingredient text from canonical ingredients and retrieve DCB records using approved IaBula identifiers.

Canonical: https://iabula.com/docs/en/guides/obter-principio-ativo

## Start with the meaning of the data

A record may contain active-ingredient text from its source. That appears in MedicationSummary.active_ingredient_text when available. It is not an identifier, a chemical structure or a guarantee that a linked ActiveIngredient exists.

## Use an approved canonical UUID

If your integration has an ActiveIngredient UUID from an approved link, retrieve GET /v1/ingredients/{id}. The response includes name, dcbs and evidence. Do not reuse a medication ID as an ingredient ID. V1 has no ingredient name search.

```bash
curl --fail-with-body "$IABULA_API_BASE/v1/ingredients/$IABULA_INGREDIENT_ID" \
  --header "X-API-Key: $IABULA_API_KEY"
```

## Do not turn missing links into claims

Without a canonical UUID, retain text as text and indicate that no structured link is available. A 404 describes absence in the queried catalog. DCB records supply denominations; they do not authorize clinical, equivalence or substitution inferences.

- [Ingredients and the DCB schema](https://iabula.com/docs/en/ingredients)
- [Sources and evidence](https://iabula.com/docs/en/provenance)

## Resources

- [OpenAPI JSON](https://iabula.com/openapi.json)
- [Swagger](https://iabula.com/docs/swagger)
- [Documentation index](https://iabula.com/llms.txt)