How to find a Jira custom field ID (customfield_10010 / cf[10010])

Paul Clark [Redmoon Software]

Sooner or later every Jira admin needs a custom field's ID. Automation smart values, REST API payloads, CSV imports and some JQL all use the ID rather than the name. Here are five ways to find it, and some of them don't need admin rights.

The three forms of the same ID

Where	Form
REST API	customfield_10010
JQL	cf[10010]
Admin URLs	customFieldId=10010

1. From the field's admin page (Jira admins). Go to Settings → Work items → Fields, find the field and open Contexts and default value from the ••• menu. The number at the end of the page URL is the ID.

2. From a search (no admin rights needed). In the work item search, sort the results by the field and then switch to JQL. The ORDER BY clause shows cf[10010].

3. From the REST API. While logged in, open https://<your-site>.atlassian.net/rest/api/3/field and search for the field's name. Each entry has an id (customfield_10010) and clauseNames, which includes the cf[10010] JQL form.

4. For one work item. /rest/api/3/issue/ABC-123?expand=names returns a names map from each customfield_ key to its display name. This helps when two fields have the same name.

5. From the browser. Inspect the field label on a work item. The markup contains customfield_10010.

Two traps

• IDs are per site. customfield_10010 on production is not necessarily the same field on your sandbox, so look it up on each site rather than copying it from a blog post.
• Team-managed spaces create their own fields. If five team-managed spaces each have a "Severity" field, those are five fields with five IDs. Check the ID, not the name.

Tip: use cf[10010] in saved filters. If someone renames "Severity" to "Impact", a filter that matches on the name breaks, but one that uses the ID keeps working.

Contexts, screens, and why a new field doesn't appear on the create screen are covered in more detail here: Jira custom fields guide

Disclosure: I'm with Redmoon Software, a Marketplace vendor. The guide above is free and has no sign-up.