How to add an attachment to Jira Cloud work items using the REST API

Platform Notice: Cloud Only - This article only applies to Atlassian apps on the cloud platform.

Summary

This article covers adding attachments to a Jira work item via the REST API endpoint.

Solution

Option 1: Using the command line:

curl --location --request POST 'https://your-domain.atlassian.net/rest/api/3/issue/TEST-123/attachments' -u 'email@example.com:<api_token>' -H 'X-Atlassian-Token: no-check' --form 'file=@"myfile.txt"'

Option 2: Using GUI-based tools (Postman)

This can also be achieved using any GUI tools of your preference. Here is an example of how to perform the same operation using the POSTMAN tool.

  • Ensure to include Content-Type and X-Atlassian-Token under the Headers tab with the shared values.

    • Content-Type = multipart/form-data

    • X-Atlassian-Token = no-check

  • Ensure that you include a key named file and type File to select a file from the system, or Text to access files using absolute path/reference under the Body tab.

    image of Postman form-data tab with the file property and its value highlighted

When adding attachments via the REST API endpoint to a Jira work item, if the payload or body isn't formatted well, the following error is thrown: 415 Unsupported Media Type.

Keep in mind the permission limitations that might be associated with the file based on its location on the local machine.

Updated on May 9, 2025

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