# API names and unique IDs

> Find API names for custom objects and fields, and unique IDs for records used in lookups and CSV imports.

## API names

When you create custom objects and fields, each object and field is assigned an API name. The API name is used in the endpoint that lets you interact with that item using the Rippling platform API. The API name also serves as a unique identifier for each object and field in Rippling.

You may need to reference the API name to uniquely identify a field if you've customized its display name.

Standard permission to the object is required to view the API names for an object and its fields.

In **Catalog**, the object's **Overview** tab shows the object API name. The **Fields** tab has an **API name** column for each field. You cannot change the API name of [default fields](https://developer.rippling.com/documentation/rippling-platform/custom-objects/fields#default-fields).

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## Unique IDs for records

When you import records via CSV, you must supply a unique ID for the record used in each lookup field rather than the display name. This prevents incorrect mapping due to identically named entities.

For employees, you can use an ID or email address. For the other types of records, you must provide an ID.

| Object | ID type | Description | How to retrieve it |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Employee | Rippling System ID | The Rippling-generated unique ID for the employee or contractor | [GET List workers](https://developer.rippling.com/documentation/rest-api/reference/list-workers). Use the worker `id`. This is the same value as Role ID in Rippling. Example: `583fd9d08c324319bdf1dd3b` |
| Employee | Email | A personal or work email address stored in Rippling for the employee or contractor | [GET List workers](https://developer.rippling.com/documentation/rest-api/reference/list-workers). Use `work_email` or `personal_email`. You can filter the list by `work_email` |
| Department | Rippling System ID | The Rippling-generated unique ID for the department | [GET List departments](https://developer.rippling.com/documentation/rest-api/reference/list-departments). Use the department `id`. Example: `583fd18a8c324339bdf18deb` |
| Team | Rippling System ID | The Rippling-generated unique ID for the team | [GET List teams](https://developer.rippling.com/documentation/rest-api/reference/list-teams). Use the team `id` |
| Custom object | Rippling System ID | The Rippling-generated unique ID for the record | [GET List custom object records](https://developer.rippling.com/documentation/rest-api/guides/customobjects#records). Use the record `id`. Example: `0191be17-7e82-7559-a3c6-95fd4e932104`. The ID is also a [default field](https://developer.rippling.com/documentation/rippling-platform/custom-objects/fields#default-fields) on every custom object. You need the object’s `api_name` first from [GET List custom objects](https://developer.rippling.com/documentation/rest-api/guides/customobjects#objects) |
| Custom object | External ID | The ID for the record in an external system. This can be useful if you want to be able to tie this record back to the other system | [GET List custom object records](https://developer.rippling.com/documentation/rest-api/guides/customobjects#records) (`external_id`), or [GET Retrieve a specific custom object record by its external\_id](https://developer.rippling.com/documentation/rest-api/reference/get-custom-objects-custom-object-api-name-records-by-external-id) |

## See also

-   [Lookups](https://developer.rippling.com/documentation/rippling-platform/custom-objects/lookups) for which Rippling objects you can use in lookup fields.
-   [Custom Objects API guide](https://developer.rippling.com/documentation/rest-api/guides/customobjects).

Source: https://developer.rippling.com/documentation/rippling-platform/custom-objects/api-names-and-ids

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://developer.rippling.com/llms.txt). Public pages have a Markdown version at the same URL with .md added.