# GET /api/v2/work-item-links/{work_item_link}

Read a work item link

- MCP id: work-item-links.show
- Scope: api:read:project_management
- Permission: project_management::view_backlog
- Rate cost: 1 unit, read bucket.
- Cache-Control: private, no-store

Returns one link on its own terms.

There is no work item in this path, so `direction` is always `forward` and `relationship` is the forward label; read the link through `work-items/{work_item}/links` to see it from one end's point of view. The summary and detail views are identical on this resource. Links are hard-deleted, and deleting either work item deletes the link with it, so a gone link is simply 404 and `trashed` is not an accepted parameter. Reading additionally requires `project_management::manage_work_items` on the source work item.

## Parameters
- work_item_link (integer, path): The WorkItemLink's numeric id.
- view (string, optional): Which field set to render.
- X-Request-Id (header, optional): A correlation id of your own. It is recorded in our logs next to the server's request id but never returned: the response header always carries the server's id. A value that does not match the pattern is discarded silently, never rejected.
- If-None-Match (header, optional): The ETag a read is conditional on. A match is answered 304 with no body.

## Response 200
- id (integer, required): Unique identifier.
- source_work_item_id (integer, required): Work item the link points away from. On a link created through `POST work-items/{work_item}/links` this is always the work item named in the path.
- target_work_item_id (integer, required): Work item the link points at. Always in the same project as the source.
- link_type (string, required): The relationship, stored from the source item's point of view: `blocks`, `clones`, `duplicates`, `merged_into`, `causes`, `relates_to` or `split_to`. Only `relates_to` is symmetric.
- created_by (integer or null, required, server-assigned): User who created the link, or `null` where that account has since been deleted. Resolve it with `GET /api/v2/users/{user}`; it is not includable.
- created_at (timestamp (YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssZ), required): Creation timestamp.
- updated_at (timestamp (YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssZ), required): Last-write timestamp; use for incremental sync.
- direction (string, required): Which way this link points relative to the work item you asked about: `forward` when that item is the source, `inverse` when it is the target. On the flat `GET work-item-links/{work_item_link}` there is no work item in the path, so the link is read on its own terms and this is always `forward`.
- relationship (string, required): The relationship in words, from the point of view of the work item you asked about: `blocks` from the source end, `is blocked by` from the target end. Always in English: the API pins the locale.
- source_work_item (Ref or WorkItemSummary, required): Work item the link points away from.
- target_work_item (Ref or WorkItemSummary, required): Work item the link points at.
- links (WorkItemLinkLinks, required)
  - self (url, required): The canonical URI of this record.

## Errors
- 403 forbidden-by-policy | insufficient-permission | insufficient-token-scope: Forbidden.
- 304 : Not modified.
- 400 idempotency-key-required | invalid-cursor | invalid-query-parameter | malformed-request | unsupported-parameter: Bad request.
- 401 token-expired | unauthenticated: Unauthenticated.
- 404 endpoint-not-found | resource-not-found: Not found.
- 406 not-acceptable: Not acceptable.
- 429 rate-limit-exceeded: Too many requests.
- 500 internal-error: Server error.
- 503 tenant-unavailable: Service unavailable.

## Example
```bash
curl -G \
  'https://<your-url>/api/v2/work-item-links/1' \
  --data-urlencode 'include=source_work_item,target_work_item' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json'
```