diff --git a/.rubocop_todo.yml b/.rubocop_todo.yml
index 3df1861055..b931ca3bb4 100644
--- a/.rubocop_todo.yml
+++ b/.rubocop_todo.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # This configuration was generated by
 # `rubocop --auto-gen-config`
-# on 2019-04-24 09:41:45 -0500 using RuboCop version 0.65.0.
+# on 2019-04-26 16:20:32 -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
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ Lint/UriEscapeUnescape:
 
 # Offense count: 19
 Metrics/AbcSize:
-  Max: 119
+  Max: 118
 
 # Offense count: 2
 # Configuration parameters: CountComments.
@@ -113,10 +113,11 @@ RSpec/ContextWording:
     - 'spec/services/registration_service_spec.rb'
     - 'spec/services/version_service_spec.rb'
 
-# Offense count: 1
+# Offense count: 2
 RSpec/DescribeClass:
   Exclude:
     - 'spec/requests/about_spec.rb'
+    - 'spec/requests/metadata_refresh.rb'
 
 # Offense count: 32
 # Cop supports --auto-correct.
@@ -167,7 +168,7 @@ RSpec/ExpectInHook:
     - 'spec/services/publish_metadata_service_spec.rb'
     - 'spec/services/registration_service_spec.rb'
 
-# Offense count: 139
+# Offense count: 123
 # Configuration parameters: AssignmentOnly.
 RSpec/InstanceVariable:
   Exclude:
@@ -189,7 +190,7 @@ RSpec/MessageSpies:
     - 'spec/services/registration_service_spec.rb'
     - 'spec/services/version_service_spec.rb'
 
-# Offense count: 75
+# Offense count: 76
 # Configuration parameters: AggregateFailuresByDefault.
 RSpec/MultipleExpectations:
   Max: 8
@@ -232,7 +233,7 @@ RSpec/SubjectStub:
   Exclude:
     - 'spec/dor/update_marc_record_service_spec.rb'
 
-# Offense count: 12
+# Offense count: 11
 # Configuration parameters: IgnoreNameless, IgnoreSymbolicNames.
 RSpec/VerifiedDoubles:
   Exclude:
diff --git a/app/controllers/metadata_refresh_controller.rb b/app/controllers/metadata_refresh_controller.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..70bdb560b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/controllers/metadata_refresh_controller.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+# Gets the catkey or barcode from identityMetadata and returns the catalog info
+class MetadataRefreshController < ApplicationController
+  before_action :load_item
+
+  def refresh
+    status = RefreshMetadataAction.run(@item)
+    @item.save if status
+  end
+end
diff --git a/app/services/refresh_metadata_action.rb b/app/services/refresh_metadata_action.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4ccb994ad3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/services/refresh_metadata_action.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+# Look into identityMetadata for compliant ids and use them to fetch
+# descriptive metadata from Symphony.  Put the fetched value in the descMetadata
+class RefreshMetadataAction
+  def self.run(object)
+    new(object).run(object.descMetadata)
+  end
+
+  def initialize(object)
+    @object = object
+  end
+
+  # Returns nil if it didn't retrieve anything
+  def run(datastream)
+    content = fetch_datastream
+    return nil if content.nil?
+
+    datastream.dsLabel = 'Descriptive Metadata'
+    datastream.ng_xml = Nokogiri::XML(content)
+    datastream.ng_xml.normalize_text!
+    datastream.content = datastream.ng_xml.to_xml
+  end
+
+  private
+
+  def fetch_datastream
+    candidates = @object.identityMetadata.otherId.collect(&:to_s)
+    metadata_id = Dor::MetadataService.resolvable(candidates).first
+    metadata_id.nil? ? nil : Dor::MetadataService.fetch(metadata_id.to_s)
+  end
+end
diff --git a/config/routes.rb b/config/routes.rb
index 06287db996..873ceca02b 100644
--- a/config/routes.rb
+++ b/config/routes.rb
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@
         post 'release_tags'
         post 'apo_workflows/:wf_name', action: 'apo_workflows'
 
+        post 'refresh_metadata', to: 'metadata_refresh#refresh'
+
         get 'contents', to: 'content#list'
         get 'contents/*path', to: 'content#read', format: false, as: :read_content
       end
diff --git a/spec/requests/metadata_refresh.rb b/spec/requests/metadata_refresh.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..987f860d95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/requests/metadata_refresh.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require 'rails_helper'
+
+RSpec.describe 'Refresh metadata' do
+  let(:user) { Settings.DOR.SERVICE_USER }
+  let(:password) { Settings.DOR.SERVICE_PASSWORD }
+  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)
+    allow(RefreshMetadataAction).to receive(:run)
+    allow(object).to receive(:save)
+  end
+
+  it 'updates the metadata and saves the changes' do
+    post '/v1/objects/druid:mk420bs7601/refresh_metadata',
+         headers: { 'Authorization' => basic_auth }
+    expect(response).to be_successful
+    expect(RefreshMetadataAction).to have_received(:run).with(object)
+    expect(object).to have_received(:save)
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/services/refresh_metadata_action_spec.rb b/spec/services/refresh_metadata_action_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..853c99b18d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/services/refresh_metadata_action_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require 'spec_helper'
+
+RSpec.describe RefreshMetadataAction do
+  subject(:refresh) { described_class.run(item) }
+
+  let(:item) { Dor::Item.new }
+
+  before do
+    allow(item.identityMetadata).to receive(:otherId).and_return(['catkey:123'])
+    allow(Dor::MetadataService).to receive(:fetch).and_return('<xml/>')
+  end
+
+  it 'gets the data an puts it in descMetadata' do
+    refresh
+    expect(item.descMetadata.content).to eq '<xml/>'
+  end
+end