diff --git a/.rubocop.yml b/.rubocop.yml
index f7996f0af4..f6d7e9fd6b 100644
--- a/.rubocop.yml
+++ b/.rubocop.yml
@@ -35,3 +35,7 @@ RSpec/MultipleExpectations:
 RSpec/ExpectActual:
   Exclude:
     - 'spec/routing/**'
+
+RSpec/DescribeClass:
+  Exclude:
+    - 'spec/requests/**'
diff --git a/.rubocop_todo.yml b/.rubocop_todo.yml
index bd12e4cd0c..650abeb9da 100644
--- a/.rubocop_todo.yml
+++ b/.rubocop_todo.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # This configuration was generated by
 # `rubocop --auto-gen-config`
-# on 2019-06-04 08:56:27 -0500 using RuboCop version 0.65.0.
+# on 2019-09-05 13:08:27 -0500 using RuboCop version 0.65.0.
 # The point is for the user to remove these configuration records
 # one by one as the offenses are removed from the code base.
 # Note that changes in the inspected code, or installation of new
@@ -23,13 +23,20 @@ Lint/MissingCopEnableDirective:
   Exclude:
     - 'spec/dor/update_marc_record_service_spec.rb'
 
+# Offense count: 2
+# Cop supports --auto-correct.
+# Configuration parameters: AllowUnusedKeywordArguments, IgnoreEmptyMethods.
+Lint/UnusedMethodArgument:
+  Exclude:
+    - 'app/services/public_desc_metadata_service.rb'
+
 # Offense count: 2
 Lint/UriEscapeUnescape:
   Exclude:
     - 'app/controllers/sdr_controller.rb'
     - 'spec/controllers/sdr_controller_spec.rb'
 
-# Offense count: 22
+# Offense count: 23
 Metrics/AbcSize:
   Max: 91
 
@@ -38,7 +45,7 @@ Metrics/AbcSize:
 Metrics/ClassLength:
   Max: 124
 
-# Offense count: 4
+# Offense count: 5
 Metrics/CyclomaticComplexity:
   Max: 11
 
@@ -47,7 +54,7 @@ Metrics/CyclomaticComplexity:
 Metrics/MethodLength:
   Max: 43
 
-# Offense count: 3
+# Offense count: 4
 Metrics/PerceivedComplexity:
   Max: 11
 
@@ -166,7 +173,7 @@ RSpec/InstanceVariable:
     - 'spec/services/cleanup_reset_service_spec.rb'
     - 'spec/services/registration_service_spec.rb'
 
-# Offense count: 39
+# Offense count: 41
 # Configuration parameters: EnforcedStyle.
 # SupportedStyles: have_received, receive
 RSpec/MessageSpies:
@@ -357,7 +364,7 @@ Style/StringLiterals:
     - 'spec/rails_helper.rb'
     - 'spec/spec_helper.rb'
 
-# Offense count: 4
+# Offense count: 6
 # Cop supports --auto-correct.
 # Configuration parameters: .
 # SupportedStyles: percent, brackets
diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index f35722314a..d41e20e91c 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ gem 'honeybadger'
 gem 'okcomputer'
 
 gem 'faraday'
+gem 'jbuilder'
 gem 'jwt'
 gem 'marc'
 gem 'rest-client'
@@ -36,6 +37,8 @@ gem 'uuidtools', '~> 2.1.4'
 
 # DLSS/domain-specific dependencies
 gem 'dor-services', '~> 7.0'
+gem 'dry-struct'
+gem 'dry-types'
 
 group :test, :development do
   gem 'coveralls', '~> 0.8', require: false
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 43848f0077..a79e3a828a 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -173,6 +173,11 @@ GEM
       dry-initializer (~> 3.0)
       dry-logic (~> 1.0)
       dry-types (~> 1.0)
+    dry-struct (1.0.0)
+      dry-core (~> 0.4, >= 0.4.3)
+      dry-equalizer (~> 0.2)
+      dry-types (~> 1.0)
+      ice_nine (~> 0.11)
     dry-types (1.1.1)
       concurrent-ruby (~> 1.0)
       dry-container (~> 0.3)
@@ -205,8 +210,11 @@ GEM
       domain_name (~> 0.5)
     i18n (1.6.0)
       concurrent-ruby (~> 1.0)
+    ice_nine (0.11.2)
     iso-639 (0.2.8)
     jaro_winkler (1.5.3)
+    jbuilder (2.9.1)
+      activesupport (>= 4.2.0)
     json (2.2.0)
     jwt (2.2.1)
     link_header (0.0.8)
@@ -448,9 +456,12 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   coveralls (~> 0.8)
   dlss-capistrano
   dor-services (~> 7.0)
+  dry-struct
+  dry-types
   equivalent-xml
   faraday
   honeybadger
+  jbuilder
   jwt
   listen (~> 3.0.5)
   marc
diff --git a/app/controllers/content_controller.rb b/app/controllers/content_controller.rb
index a7dedac0a0..2857bdad09 100644
--- a/app/controllers/content_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/content_controller.rb
@@ -2,13 +2,9 @@
 
 # API to retrieve file listings and file content from the DOR workspace
 class ContentController < ApplicationController
-  rescue_from ActionController::MissingFile do
-    render status: :not_found
-  end
-
   def read
     location = druid_tools.find(:content, params[:path])
-    return render status: :not_found unless location
+    return not_found(location) unless location
 
     send_file location
   end
@@ -16,7 +12,7 @@ def read
   def list
     location = druid_tools.content_dir(false)
 
-    raise ActionController::MissingFile, location unless Dir.exist? location
+    return not_found(location) unless Dir.exist? location
 
     render json: {
       items: Dir.glob(File.join(location, '**', '*')).map do |file|
@@ -32,6 +28,10 @@ def list
 
   private
 
+  def not_found(location)
+    render status: :not_found, plain: "Unable to locate file #{location}"
+  end
+
   def druid_tools
     DruidTools::Druid.new(params[:id], Settings.content.content_base_dir)
   end
diff --git a/app/controllers/objects_controller.rb b/app/controllers/objects_controller.rb
index b9ca3b22c8..e02fa218ad 100644
--- a/app/controllers/objects_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/objects_controller.rb
@@ -46,6 +46,10 @@ def update
     head :no_content
   end
 
+  def show
+    render json: Cocina::Mapper.build(@item)
+  end
+
   def publish
     PublishMetadataService.publish(@item)
     head :created
diff --git a/app/controllers/queries_controller.rb b/app/controllers/queries_controller.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..15796ee505
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/controllers/queries_controller.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+# Responds to queries about objects
+class QueriesController < ApplicationController
+  before_action :load_item, only: [:collections]
+
+  # Returns a list of collections this object is in.
+  def collections
+    # If we move to Valkyrie this can be find_inverse_references_by
+    @collections = @item.collections.map { |collection| Cocina::Mapper.build(collection) }
+  end
+end
diff --git a/app/models/cocina/dro.rb b/app/models/cocina/dro.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1ade40cef5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/models/cocina/dro.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+module Cocina
+  # A digital repository object.  See https://github.com/sul-dlss-labs/taco/blob/master/maps/DRO.json
+  class DRO < Dry::Struct
+    attribute :externalIdentifier, Types::Strict::String
+    attribute :type, Types::Strict::String
+    attribute :label, Types::Strict::String
+
+    def as_json(*)
+      {
+        externalIdentifier: externalIdentifier,
+        type: type,
+        label: label
+      }
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/app/models/cocina/types.rb b/app/models/cocina/types.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..01c5cdbb72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/models/cocina/types.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+module Cocina
+  # This defines the data types supported by the model
+  module Types
+    include Dry.Types()
+  end
+end
diff --git a/app/services/cocina/mapper.rb b/app/services/cocina/mapper.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cae3e3a5f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/services/cocina/mapper.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+module Cocina
+  # Maps Dor::Items to Cocina objects
+  class Mapper
+    def self.build(item)
+      new(item).build
+    end
+
+    def initialize(item)
+      @item = item
+    end
+
+    def build
+      Cocina::DRO.new(externalIdentifier: item.pid,
+                      type: type,
+                      label: item.label)
+    end
+
+    private
+
+    attr_reader :item
+
+    # @todo This should have more speicific type such as found in identityMetadata.objectType
+    def type
+      case item
+      when Dor::Item
+        'object'
+      when Dor::Collection
+        'collection'
+      else
+        raise "Unknown type for #{item.class}"
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/app/services/public_desc_metadata_service.rb b/app/services/public_desc_metadata_service.rb
index 1a9a88f583..1cd4f91e76 100644
--- a/app/services/public_desc_metadata_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/public_desc_metadata_service.rb
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ def doc
   end
 
   # @return [String] Public descriptive medatada XML
-  def to_xml(include_access_conditions: true)
+  def to_xml(include_access_conditions: true, prefixes: nil, template: nil)
     ng_xml(include_access_conditions: include_access_conditions).to_xml
   end
 
diff --git a/app/views/queries/collections.json.jbuilder b/app/views/queries/collections.json.jbuilder
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..30b5f07fde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/views/queries/collections.json.jbuilder
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+json.collections @collections, :externalIdentifier
diff --git a/config/routes.rb b/config/routes.rb
index d19ee63b6a..918c870937 100644
--- a/config/routes.rb
+++ b/config/routes.rb
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
       get 'catkey', to: 'marcxml#catkey'
     end
 
-    resources :objects, only: [:create, :update] do
+    resources :objects, only: [:create, :update, :show] do
       member do
         post 'publish'
         post 'update_embargo'
@@ -33,6 +33,12 @@
         get 'contents/*path', to: 'content#read', format: false, as: :read_content
       end
 
+      resource :query, only: [], defaults: { format: :json } do
+        collection do
+          get 'collections'
+        end
+      end
+
       resource :workspace, only: [:create, :destroy]
 
       resources :metadata, only: [] do
diff --git a/spec/requests/collections_for_object_spec.rb b/spec/requests/collections_for_object_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..492d6f69f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/requests/collections_for_object_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require 'rails_helper'
+
+RSpec.describe 'Get the object' do
+  let(:payload) { { sub: 'argo' } }
+  let(:jwt) { JWT.encode(payload, Settings.dor.hmac_secret, 'HS256') }
+  let(:basic_auth) { ActionController::HttpAuthentication::Basic.encode_credentials(user, password) }
+  let(:object) { instance_double(Dor::Item, collections: [collection]) }
+  let(:collection_id) { 'druid:999123' }
+  let(:collection) do
+    Dor::Collection.new(pid: collection_id, label: 'collection #1')
+  end
+
+  before do
+    allow(Dor).to receive(:find).and_return(object)
+  end
+
+  describe 'as used by WAS crawl seed registration' do
+    it 'returns (at a minimum) the identifiers of the collections ' do
+      get '/v1/objects/druid:mk420bs7601/query/collections',
+          headers: { 'X-Auth' => "Bearer #{jwt}" }
+      expect(response).to be_successful
+      expect(response.body).to eq '{"collections":[{"externalIdentifier":"druid:999123"}]}'
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/requests/show_object_spec.rb b/spec/requests/show_object_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d2c57c9320
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/requests/show_object_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require 'rails_helper'
+
+RSpec.describe 'Get the object' do
+  let(:payload) { { sub: 'argo' } }
+  let(:jwt) { JWT.encode(payload, Settings.dor.hmac_secret, 'HS256') }
+  let(:basic_auth) { ActionController::HttpAuthentication::Basic.encode_credentials(user, password) }
+  let(:object) { Dor::Item.new(pid: 'druid:1234') }
+
+  before do
+    allow(Dor).to receive(:find).and_return(object)
+  end
+
+  context 'when the object exists' do
+    before do
+      object.descMetadata.title_info.main_title = 'Hello'
+      object.label = 'foo'
+    end
+
+    it 'returns the object' do
+      get '/v1/objects/druid:mk420bs7601',
+          headers: { 'X-Auth' => "Bearer #{jwt}" }
+      expect(response).to be_successful
+      expect(response.body).to eq '{"externalIdentifier":"druid:1234","type":"object","label":"foo"}'
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe 'as used by WAS crawl seed registration' do
+    # In this case it's necessary that the URL for the crawl be in the label field
+    # and the collection id is passed
+
+    let(:collection_id) { 'druid:999123' }
+    let(:collection) { instance_double(Dor::Collection, is_a?: true, new_record?: false, pid: collection_id) }
+
+    before do
+      # Stubbing out the internals of ActiveFedora here:
+      allow(Dor::Collection).to receive(:find).and_return([collection])
+
+      object.descMetadata.title_info.main_title = 'Hello'
+      object.label = 'foo'
+      object.collection_ids = [collection_id]
+    end
+
+    it 'returns minimally the label (url) and collection id' do
+      get '/v1/objects/druid:mk420bs7601',
+          headers: { 'X-Auth' => "Bearer #{jwt}" }
+      expect(response).to be_successful
+      expect(response.body).to eq '{"externalIdentifier":"druid:1234","type":"object","label":"foo"}'
+    end
+  end
+end