Resolve a Jira Cloud user's accountId (never username/userKey) before assigning issues or referencing users
domain: atlassian.com · 6 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Usernames/userKeys were removed from the Jira Cloud API by the GDPR privacy migration (completed 2019-04-29); accountId is the only supported user identifier.
GET https://your-domain.atlassian.net/rest/api/3/user/search?query=<name or email> and read accountId from each result. Auth: Basic (email:API token) or OAuth Bearer.
User objects have no name/key fields; accountId is required/non-nullable. displayName, avatarUrls, accountType remain; emailAddress/timeZone/locale appear only per the target user's privacy settings.
For assignment pickers, use the assignable-search variant of user search (scoped to project/issue) rather than plain /user/search.
Use the accountId in issue operations, e.g. assignee: {"accountId": "..."} on create/edit.
Official docs: https://developer.atlassian.com/cloud/jira/platform/deprecation-notice-user-privacy-api-migration-guide/
Known gotchas
Any example using ?username= is stale — username lookups were fully removed in 2019.
Code reading user.name for identity breaks; use accountId for identity, displayName only for display.
Don't assume emailAddress is present in /user/search responses — it's privacy-setting dependent.
JQL cannot reference username/userkey values; assignee/reporter clauses must use accountId-based values or functions.
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