> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hanko.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Access user data from your backend

> Learn how to access Hanko user data in your backend code.

<div class="hidden">
  **Hanko User Data Retrieval Guide**:

  **About Hanko**:

  Hanko is a modern open source authentication solution and the fastest way you integrate passkeys, 2FA, SSO, and more—with full control over your data. Move between self-hosted and Hanko Cloud anytime. No lock-in. Just Auth how it should be: secure, user friendly, and fully yours.

  **What This Guide Covers**: This guide demonstrates how to retrieve user data from Hanko in backend environments, including validating sessions, extracting information from JWTs, and using the Admin API.

  **Key Technologies**:

  * JWT (JSON Web Tokens)
  * Hanko Admin API

  **Prerequisites**:

  * Active Hanko project with configured API URL
  * Basic understanding of JavaScript/TypeScript
  * Admin API access (for Admin API features - Pro/Enterprise plans only)

  **Tasks You'll Complete**:

  * Validate user sessions and extract JWT claims
  * Fetch comprehensive user data using the Hanko Admin API
  * Implement proper authentication checks in your application
</div>

## Get user data from the session cookie

The [`/sessions/validate`](/api-reference/public/session-management/validate-a-session-1) endpoint allows you to extract user claims from the JWT token.

```js theme={null}
// Checks the validity of the current session and returns the user claims
const validateSession = async (sessionToken) => {
    const apiUrl = process.env.HANKO_API;
    const options = {
        method: "POST",
        headers: {
            "Content-Type": "application/json",
        },
        body: JSON.stringify({
            session_token: sessionToken
        }),
    };

    const response = await fetch(`${apiUrl}/sessions/validate`, options);

    return response.json();
};

const sessionToken = ""; // Get the session token, this depends on your framework you use.
const sessionStatus = await validateSession(sessionToken);
console.log("user data:", sessionStatus);
// Example output:
// {
//   is_valid: true,
//   claims: {
//     subject: "123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000",
//     session_id: "789abc",
//     expiration: "2025-04-25T12:00:00Z",
//     email: { address: "user@example.com", is_primary: true, is_verified: true },
//     custom_field: "value"
//   }
// }
```

<Note>
  You can refer to the [User Metadata guide](/guides/user-data/user-metadata) for details on managing
  user metadata included in the JWT payload. For information on customizing session tokens with metadata, see the
  [Session Token Customization guide](/guides/session-management#session-token-customization).
</Note>

## Get user data using the Hanko Admin API

The [Hanko Admin API](/api-reference/admin) provides comprehensive access to user status, management capabilities, metrics, and more. This example focuses on
retrieving data for a specific user.
To fetch data for a specific user, make a request to the [`/users/{id}`](https://docs.hanko.io/api-reference/admin/user-management/get-a-user-by-id) endpoint of the Hanko Admin API, where `id` is the user ID obtained from the JWT.

<Info>
  The Hanko Admin API is available in Hanko Pro and Enterprise plans. Check out
  our [pricing page](https://hanko.io/pricing) for more information.

  You also need an API key secret to access the Hanko Admin API which can be
  generated under the `Settings  > API Keys` section of your project.
</Info>

```js theme={null}
const getUserData = async () => {
    const adminAPI = process.env.ADMIN_API;
    const adminSecret = process.env.ADMIN_SECRET;
    const options = {
        method: "GET",
        headers: {
            Authorization: `Bearer ${adminSecret}`,
        },
    };

    const response = await fetch(`${adminAPI}/users/${userID}`, options);

    return response.json();
};

const userData = await getUserData();
console.log("user data:", userData);
```