The client_id field is now included in all API responses that describe a GitHub App. We are shifting to use the client ID as the primary identifier for an app, as client IDs are globally unique while application IDs and names are not.
Historically GitHub has used the app_name (aka slug) or the app_id (a database ID) to identify applications in our APIs. However, the app name is not immutable and the app ID is not sufficiently globally unique. We are gradually moving all App-related APIs to support the use of the client_id of an application as their primary identifier instead of the name or database ID – this was first seen in our change to support using the client ID to mint JWTs used for installation tokens.
We are making this change to prepare for upcoming features that allow programmatic management of applications in your enterprise. This additional data will make it easier to find the client ID of an application that you are interested in.
For more information about how to get application information, see our REST API documentation.