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Rename a user attribute, change its key, its options, its default or whether the statement exports carry it, and return it as it now stands. Pass at least one of name, key, options, default or exported — a call with none of them has nothing to update. Sending the values the attribute already has changes nothing, so the same call can be sent twice. options is the attribute’s whole list, not an addition to it: read the attribute’s current options with list_user_attributes first. An option left out is removed and its value cleared from every person who held it, as when an option is removed in the Qobra web app. An option cannot be renamed here — a new label is a new option, and the people holding the old one lose that value. Removing the option the default names also takes the default off. A new key changes how Qobra’s public API and Excel imports address the attribute. The scopes and statements reading the attribute follow a rename. An attribute’s type, description and uniqueness cannot be changed after it is created. To change a person’s value, use update_user_attribute_values. The call is refused when:
  • key, options or default is passed for an attribute synced from an integration, which takes them from the source.
  • default is passed for a unique attribute: everyone created afterwards would start with the same value.
  • options is passed for an attribute that is not a picklist or a multipicklist.
  • the new key is already carried by another attribute, is one of the keys the public API serves every user under, or normalizes to nothing.
  • default does not match the attribute’s type or is not one of its options, or is an empty string on a bool attribute, whose default is always true or false.
Requires write permission on company settings > user attributes. Available only where the Qobra write tools beta is enabled. Every write is recorded in the audit trail as the Qobra MCP agent.
Example arguments

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Parameters

Body

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string
required
Id of the attribute to update — the id list_user_attributes returns, or the one create_user_attribute just returned. Never a name or a key.
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string
New display name of the attribute. Omit to leave the current name as it is.
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string
New stable key of the attribute: the identifier the public API and an Excel import address it by. Lowercase and underscore-separated, and unique across the company’s attributes; id, email, status, name, role, currency and calculation_currency are taken by the public API. Omit to leave the current key as it is.
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string[]
For a picklist or a multipicklist attribute, the complete list of the labels people choose from, in order — not only the new ones. A label already offered is kept, a new one is added, and one left out is removed, which clears it from every person holding it. Omit to leave the options as they are.
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string | number | boolean | string[]
The value people created from now on start with, typed to match the attribute: text for string, a number for float/amount/percentage, true/false for bool, an ISO date (2026-03-14) for date, one label out of the options for picklist, a list of labels for multipicklist. People already in Qobra keep their values. Pass an empty string to take the default off — except on a bool attribute, whose default is always true or false. Omit to leave the current default as it is.
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boolean
Whether the attribute is a column of the statement exports — the only export it applies to: the users export always carries every attribute. Omit to leave it as it is.

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Response

Body

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object
The attribute as it now stands, its active options included — the same row list_user_attributes returns.