diff --git a/src/plugins/discover/public/application/angular/doc_table/components/table_row.ts b/src/plugins/discover/public/application/angular/doc_table/components/table_row.ts
index 17f3199b75b15b..e45f18606e3fc4 100644
--- a/src/plugins/discover/public/application/angular/doc_table/components/table_row.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/discover/public/application/angular/doc_table/components/table_row.ts
@@ -18,20 +18,15 @@
  */
 
 import { find, template } from 'lodash';
-import { stringify } from 'query-string';
 import $ from 'jquery';
-import rison from 'rison-node';
-import '../../doc_viewer';
-
 import openRowHtml from './table_row/open.html';
 import detailsHtml from './table_row/details.html';
-
-import { dispatchRenderComplete, url } from '../../../../../../kibana_utils/public';
+import { dispatchRenderComplete } from '../../../../../../kibana_utils/public';
 import { DOC_HIDE_TIME_COLUMN_SETTING } from '../../../../../common';
 import cellTemplateHtml from '../components/table_row/cell.html';
 import truncateByHeightTemplateHtml from '../components/table_row/truncate_by_height.html';
-import { esFilters } from '../../../../../../data/public';
 import { getServices } from '../../../../kibana_services';
+import { getContextUrl } from '../../../helpers/get_context_url';
 
 const TAGS_WITH_WS = />\s+</g;
 
@@ -115,25 +110,12 @@ export function createTableRowDirective($compile: ng.ICompileService) {
       };
 
       $scope.getContextAppHref = () => {
-        const globalFilters: any = getServices().filterManager.getGlobalFilters();
-        const appFilters: any = getServices().filterManager.getAppFilters();
-
-        const hash = stringify(
-          url.encodeQuery({
-            _g: rison.encode({
-              filters: globalFilters || [],
-            }),
-            _a: rison.encode({
-              columns: $scope.columns,
-              filters: (appFilters || []).map(esFilters.disableFilter),
-            }),
-          }),
-          { encode: false, sort: false }
+        return getContextUrl(
+          $scope.row._id,
+          $scope.indexPattern.id,
+          $scope.columns,
+          getServices().filterManager
         );
-
-        return `#/context/${encodeURIComponent($scope.indexPattern.id)}/${encodeURIComponent(
-          $scope.row._id
-        )}?${hash}`;
       };
 
       // create a tr element that lists the value for each *column*
diff --git a/src/plugins/discover/public/application/helpers/get_context_url.test.ts b/src/plugins/discover/public/application/helpers/get_context_url.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..481ea6b1a5b4f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/discover/public/application/helpers/get_context_url.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch B.V. licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+import { getContextUrl } from './get_context_url';
+import { FilterManager } from '../../../../data/public/query/filter_manager';
+const filterManager = ({
+  getGlobalFilters: () => [],
+  getAppFilters: () => [],
+} as unknown) as FilterManager;
+
+describe('Get context url', () => {
+  test('returning a valid context url', async () => {
+    const url = await getContextUrl('docId', 'ipId', ['test1', 'test2'], filterManager);
+    expect(url).toMatchInlineSnapshot(
+      `"#/context/ipId/docId?_g=(filters:!())&_a=(columns:!(test1,test2),filters:!())"`
+    );
+  });
+
+  test('returning a valid context url when docId contains whitespace', async () => {
+    const url = await getContextUrl('doc Id', 'ipId', ['test1', 'test2'], filterManager);
+    expect(url).toMatchInlineSnapshot(
+      `"#/context/ipId/doc%20Id?_g=(filters:!())&_a=(columns:!(test1,test2),filters:!())"`
+    );
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/plugins/discover/public/application/helpers/get_context_url.tsx b/src/plugins/discover/public/application/helpers/get_context_url.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..b159341cbe28d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/plugins/discover/public/application/helpers/get_context_url.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch B.V. licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+import { stringify } from 'query-string';
+import rison from 'rison-node';
+import { url } from '../../../../kibana_utils/common';
+import { esFilters, FilterManager } from '../../../../data/public';
+
+/**
+ * Helper function to generate an URL to a document in Discover's context view
+ */
+export function getContextUrl(
+  documentId: string,
+  indexPatternId: string,
+  columns: string[],
+  filterManager: FilterManager
+) {
+  const globalFilters = filterManager.getGlobalFilters();
+  const appFilters = filterManager.getAppFilters();
+
+  const hash = stringify(
+    url.encodeQuery({
+      _g: rison.encode({
+        filters: globalFilters || [],
+      }),
+      _a: rison.encode({
+        columns,
+        filters: (appFilters || []).map(esFilters.disableFilter),
+      }),
+    }),
+    { encode: false, sort: false }
+  );
+
+  return `#/context/${encodeURIComponent(indexPatternId)}/${encodeURIComponent(
+    documentId
+  )}?${hash}`;
+}