diff --git a/src/caoscrawler/identifiable.py b/src/caoscrawler/identifiable.py
index 5b2b215263b0edc7817c18ad9eecf85ad648f10f..0db566bf34e62d09553a4890ceb7bab4375079f2 100644
--- a/src/caoscrawler/identifiable.py
+++ b/src/caoscrawler/identifiable.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 import caosdb as db
 from datetime import datetime
+import json
 from hashlib import sha256
 from typing import Union
 
@@ -127,3 +128,10 @@ class Identifiable():
             return True
         else:
             return False
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        pstring = json.dumps(self.properties)
+        return (f"{self.__class__.__name__} for RT {self.record_type}: id={self.record_id}; "
+                f"name={self.name}\n\tpath={self.path}\n"
+                f"\tproperties:\n{pstring}\n"
+                f"\tbackrefs:\n{self.backrefs}")
diff --git a/unittests/test_identifiable.py b/unittests/test_identifiable.py
index c06ef0ec4b0ab7a91e0397884d95a9e496240df2..d1bc275f3e99c3a023441d0bb4356aef96ed6cdc 100644
--- a/unittests/test_identifiable.py
+++ b/unittests/test_identifiable.py
@@ -65,6 +65,11 @@ def test_name():
         Identifiable(properties={"Name": 'li'})
 
 
+def test_repr():
+    # only test that something meaningful is returned
+    assert 'properties'  str(Identifiable(name="A", record_type="B"))
+
+
 def test_equality():
     assert Identifiable(
         record_id=12, properties={"a": 0}) == Identifiable(record_id=12, properties={"a": 1})