Learn how the creator_user_name field works in the Databricks Jobs REST API when creating jobs, transferring ownership, and triggering runs. Get clarity on which user’s email appears based on different scenarios.
Table of Contents
Question
A data engineer, User A, has promoted a pipeline to production by using the REST API to programmatically create several jobs. A DevOps engineer, User B, has configured an external orchestration tool to trigger job runs through the REST API. Both users authorized the REST API calls using their personal access tokens.
A workspace admin, User C, inherits responsibility for managing this pipeline. User C uses the Databricks Jobs UI to take “Owner” privileges of each job. Jobs continue to be triggered using the credentials and tooling configured by User B.
An application has been configured to collect and parse run information returned by the REST API. Which statement describes the value returned in the creator_user_name field?
A. Once User C takes “Owner” privileges, their email address will appear in this field; prior to this, User A’s email address will appear in this field.
B. User B’s email address will always appear in this field, as their credentials are always used to trigger the run.
C. User A’s email address will always appear in this field, as they still own the underlying notebooks.
D. Once User C takes “Owner” privileges, their email address will appear in this field; prior to this, User B’s email address will appear in this field.
E. User C will only ever appear in this field if they manually trigger the job, otherwise it will indicate User B.
Answer
B. User B’s email address will always appear in this field, as their credentials are always used to trigger the run.
Explanation
When a job run is triggered via the REST API, the creator_user_name field in the run information will contain the email address of the user whose personal access token was used to make the API request, regardless of who created or owns the job.
In this scenario:
- User A initially created the jobs using the REST API, so their email was the creator_user_name at that point.
- User B configured an external tool to trigger the job runs using their own personal access token. So once User B started triggering runs, their email began showing up as the creator_user_name.
- Even though User C later took ownership of the jobs in the Databricks Jobs UI, this does not impact the creator_user_name field. Since User B’s tool and token are still being used to trigger the runs via the API, User B’s email continues to show up as the creator_user_name.
The creator_user_name reflects who triggered that specific run, not who created or owns the job. Changing job ownership in the UI has no effect on this API response field.
To summarize:
- The original job creator’s email (User A) does not persist in the creator_user_name field
- The new job owner’s email (User C) will not appear just from taking ownership
- The user whose token triggers the run (User B) will always be listed as the creator_user_name for API-triggered runs
So in this case, User B’s email address is the one that will consistently appear in the creator_user_name field for all job runs, since their token is used to trigger the runs through the external tool.
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