On 1 January, 2018, we're changing how you authenticate users with the Jira Service Desk Cloud REST API.

Right now, the REST API supports authentication for all users. However, on 1 January, users will need to have an Atlassian Account to authenticate against the REST API.

If users on your instance are authenticating against the REST API but do not have Atlassian Accounts, you'll need to convert them to Atlassian Account. Here's how:

1. Go to Site administration > User management > Jira Service Desk > Portal only customers.
2. Select the user you want to convert, then click Convert to Atlassian Account.
3. Go to id.atlassian.com and log in with the user's email address.
4. Go to Security > API tokens.
5. Click Create API token.
6. Copy the token and use it as you would a password for basic authentication. The username is the user's email address.