ServiceNow API Incident number is uniq per instance or not?

[SandeshB6470533]

I’ve integrated the ServiceNow Incident API and am receiving the same incident number with different sys_id values. Could anyone clarify if the incident number is unique per instance?

API: #https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/xanadu-api-reference/page/integrate/inbound-rest/concept/c_TableA...

[Abhay Kumar1]

@SandeshB6470533 In ServiceNow, the Incident number (number field) is unique per instance, but the sys_id is a unique identifier for each individual record in the table, including duplicates created due to cloning or integrations.

If you are querying different ServiceNow instances (e.g., Production, Test, or Dev), each instance might have the same incident number but with a different sys_id. This is because incidents are often copied during the cloning process, retaining their original number values but being assigned new sys_id values in the target instance.

[Runjay Patel · Accepted solution]

Hi @SandeshB6470533 ,

Number is auto generated field on each instance but if some make changes on that then it will accept , so there might be a chance that same number can be found for two different records. Instead of using number you can use sys id for identification. You can pass sys id to third party system for reference along with number.

Please access the solution if it helped you.