How to get the type of field (be it system field or custom field) using Jira REST API?

Question

Hi Team,

I would like to get the "field type" of a field using Jira REST API. I am trying to create/update the issues in Jira using the REST API and while am creating/updating the issues, the syntax varies depends on the type of field, for example, it varies for multi-select list field, cascading select list field, select list field or text field.

So, I would like to know the type of the particular field using REST API before even creating/updating the issue so that I can use the correct syntax accordingly. I could not find any relevant article on this. Could you please let me know if this is possible?

Thank you!
Keerthana Bhuthala.

Prince Nyeche - ELFAPP · Answer

Hi @Keerthana Bhuthala

Welcome to community! In order to know the Field type prior to creation, you will need to search the Custom Field endpoint. you can create a function to return a field type prior to creation. From the output JSON it will return the type and searcherKey, which you can use to determine what type of field you need.

Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Answer

The call that asks Jira what data the create issue will ask contains the broad description of the data it expects and the name of the class that provides the field.

See https://developer.atlassian.com/server/jira/platform/jira-rest-api-example-discovering-meta-data-for-creating-issues-6291669/