Create, copy, and update a Jenkins job via config.xml over the REST API
domain: www.jenkins.io · 6 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Authenticate with HTTP Basic auth using user:API-token (token from JENKINS_URL/me/security). If using a session cookie instead, first GET JENKINS_URL/crumbIssuer/api/json and read crumbRequestField/crumb - API-token auth skips this.
Create a job by POSTing its config.xml: curl -X POST -u user:APITOKEN -H "Content-Type: application/xml" --data-binary @config.xml "JENKINS_URL/createItem?name=my-new-job"
Copy an existing job instead of posting XML: curl -X POST -u user:APITOKEN "JENKINS_URL/createItem?name=my-copy&mode=copy&from=existing-job-name"
Fetch a job's live config: curl -u user:APITOKEN "JENKINS_URL/job/my-job/config.xml" (GET).
Update that config: curl -X POST -u user:APITOKEN -H "Content-Type: application/xml" --data-binary @updated-config.xml "JENKINS_URL/job/my-job/config.xml"
For a job inside a folder, add a job segment per folder level: JENKINS_URL/job/<folder>/job/<job-name>/config.xml, and create inside it via JENKINS_URL/job/<folder>/createItem?name=.... Docs: https://www.jenkins.io/doc/book/using/remote-access-api/
Known gotchas
POSTs made with a session cookie need the crumb header named by crumbRequestField (do not hardcode 'Jenkins-Crumb'); POSTs authenticated with an API token are exempt from CSRF crumbs entirely.
Jenkins returns 403, not 401, on missing/bad auth - credentials must be sent preemptively on the first request.
Historically /createItem?mode=copy failed if no Content-Type header was sent at all even though a copy has no XML body (JENKINS-31235) - sending any Content-Type is a safe workaround.
Jobs nested in folders 404 on the flat /job/<name>/... path; every folder level needs its own /job/<segment>/ prefix.
The POSTed body must be valid UTF-8-encoded XML - malformed config.xml is rejected rather than partially applied.
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