# Changes to the lifecycle stage in forms

**URL:** <https://community.hubspot.com/t/changes-to-the-lifecycle-stage-in-forms/89855>\
**Category:** Developer Announcements\
**Tags:** api, announcement\
**Created:** [September 18, 2023, 4:30pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/changes-to-the-lifecycle-stage-in-forms/89855 "2023-09-18T16:30:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dadams](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/dadams/32/21752_2.png) [@Dadams](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Dadams)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 4:30pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/changes-to-the-lifecycle-stage-in-forms/89855/1 "2023-09-18T16:30:24Z")

</div>

_Note: This post has been updated to reflect the new date that the changes will go live. The changes to the legacy v2 Forms API will now go into effect on March 19, 2024._

We’re changing how the lifecycle stage for CRM records is handled in forms. Instead of being a form field, the lifecycle stage will be included in the form settings in a new `selectedExternalOptions` field.

### What’s changing for form submissions?

The current method of including the lifecycle stage in the `lifecyclestage` form field will continue to work after this change. If a valid lifecycle stage is included in this field, it will be used for the resulting CRM record as it will override any lifecycle settings for the form. The `lifecyclestage` field will be accepted in the submission even if the field is not in the form definition.

If the `lifecyclestage` field is not included in the submission, then it will use the lifecycle stage set in the form definition. If no lifecycle stage is set up in the form definition, then it will fall back to the [default lifecycle stage for the HubSpot account](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/crm-setup/create-and-customize-lifecycle-stages).

### What’s changing for form definitions?

Forms will no longer have a `lifecyclestage` field, and will instead have the lifecycle included in a new `selectedExternalOptions` field in the form definition. Trying to create or update a form definition that includes the `lifecyclestage` field will result in a `formFieldValidationErrors` error, with the specific details including a `FIELD_HAS_EXTERNAL_OPTIONS` error.

In order for the form to set the lifecycle stage of any objects, the `selectedExternalOptions` must include entries for both contacts and companies, even if the form only includes fields for contacts or only for companies, or you will get an `INVALID_LIFECYCLE_STAGE` error. The example below sets the lifecycle for both the contact (`"objectTypeId": "0-1"`) and company (`"objectTypeId": "0-2"`) to `"marketingqualifiedlead"`:

Lifecycle stage example

```line-numbers
"selectedExternalOptions":
 [
 {
 "referenceType": "PIPELINE_STAGE",
 "objectTypeId": "0-1",
 "propertyName": "lifecyclestage",
 "id": "marketingqualifiedlead"
 },
 {
 "referenceType": "PIPELINE_STAGE",
 "objectTypeId": "0-2",
 "propertyName": "lifecyclestage",
 "id": "marketingqualifiedlead"
 }
 ]

```

Copy

Existing forms that currently have the `lifecyclestage` field will not be modified, but the form cannot be updated without removing the `lifecyclestage` field from the form. Any attempts to update the definition for a form that still include the `lifecyclestage` field will return an error.

### When is this happening?

The change to form submissions without the lifecycle stage is going into effect immediately. Existing form submissions that include the `lifecyclestage` field _will not be affected_ as the included field will continue to override the form settings.

The change to how form definitions are handled in the [beta Forms v3 API](https://developers.hubspot.com/docs/api/marketing/forms) is also going into effect immediately.

The [legacy v2 Forms API](https://legacydocs.hubspot.com/docs/methods/forms/forms_overview) will start showing the `selectedExternalOptions` property and returning an error when the `lifecyclestage` field is included on any form definitions beginning on **March 19, 2024**.

Please let us know if you have any questions by replying below.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AB35](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f04885/32.png) [@AB35](https://community.hubspot.com/u/AB35)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2023, 1:21pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/changes-to-the-lifecycle-stage-in-forms/89855/2 "2023-10-06T13:21:56Z")

</div>

“_The change to how form definitions are handled in the [beta Forms v3 API](https://developers.hubspot.com/docs/api/marketing/forms) is also going into effect immediately_.”  
What does this mean? What “change to how form definitions are handled”? Does this API have a selectedExternalOptions field too?  
“_In order for the form to set the lifecycle stage of any objects_”  
Does this mean you can set the lifecycle stage of other objects besides contacts and companies in the selectedExternalOptions?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nroussos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@nroussos](https://community.hubspot.com/u/nroussos)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 3:02pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/changes-to-the-lifecycle-stage-in-forms/89855/3 "2023-10-27T15:02:47Z")

</div>

From the connections errors we see through GravityForms it seems that you already went live with this change breaking all live integrations without prior communication 😕

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mibrenner](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/mibrenner/32/200454_2.png) [@mibrenner](https://community.hubspot.com/u/mibrenner)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2023, 1:13am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/changes-to-the-lifecycle-stage-in-forms/89855/4 "2023-10-28T01:13:27Z")

</div>

Broke our Gravity Forms integration as well 😞

```lia-code-sample
API errors returned; Lifecycle stage provided were not valid;
(
 [status] => 400
)

```