# Find One

**Find One** node is designed to retrieve a single specific record from a database based on a given query. It's analogous to finding a particular piece of information that matches specified conditions.

This node is particularly useful when you need to fetch a unique record or when you're certain that only one record matches your criteria. If multiple records match the query, only the first matching record will be returned.

### Properties Panel

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="156"></th><th width="351"></th><th></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Field</strong></td><td><strong>Description</strong></td><td><strong>Required</strong></td></tr><tr><td>Node name</td><td><a href="../../node-name">Node Name</a></td><td>true</td></tr><tr><td>Database collection</td><td>Database collection in which you want to find that specific information</td><td>true</td></tr><tr><td>Query</td><td>Query to identify which documents needs to be modified</td><td>false</td></tr><tr><td>Projection</td><td>Specifies which fields to include or exclude in the result</td><td>false</td></tr></tbody></table>

### Usage

1. Select the database collection you want to search.
2. Define your query to match the desired record. For example: `{ "user_id": { "$eq" : "12345" } }`
3. (Optional) Specify a projection to include only relevant fields. For example: `{ "name": 1, "email": 1, "_id": 0 }`

### Returns

`result` - The matching document from the database. If no document matches the query, this will be `null`. You can access this using Magical Autocomplete (e.g. `$.<node_name>.result`) in any node below this node.

### Example

Let's say you want to find a user by their email address and retrieve only their name and age:

1. Set Database Collection to `users`
2. Set Query to `{ "email": {"$eq": "user@example.com" } }`
3. Set Projection to `{ "name": 1, "age": 1, "_id": 0 }`

This will return a result like:

```
{
  "name": "John Doe",
  "age": 30
}
```

### Best Practices

* Ensure your query is specific enough to return only one document, or be prepared to handle cases where the first matching document may not be the one you want.
* Use indexing on frequently queried fields to improve performance.
* Be cautious with projections to avoid exposing sensitive data.