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Automation for Jira

Automation for Jira

Owned by Alina Kachan
Last updated: Feb 10, 2025 by Oleksandra Kravets
13 min read

 

Automation for Jira is a popular tool to get your team automated by creating additional workflows, rules, and processes.

Smart Checklist can be tightly integrated with Automation and changed by its workflow.

You can Get Automation for Jira add-on on the Marketplace.

Use Cases

Set Checklist on Issue Creation

This flow can also be achieved by the built-in Templates functionality of Smart Checklist. Visit this page for guidance.

  1. Go to Automation for Jira → Automation Rules

  2. Click Create Rule

  3. Set When: New Trigger

    1. Choose Issue created → Save

  4. Add component New Condition

  5. Set New Condition

    1. Choose JQL condition

    2. Add filter per Issue Type

      issuetype = Bug

    3. Save Condition

  6. Add component New Action

  7. Set New Action

    1. Choose Set entity property

    2. Choose Entity type: Issue

    3. Set Property Key

      •  

        com.railsware.SmartChecklist.checklist

    4. Add checklist template in Markdown formatting as the property value

    5. Save Action

  8. Save and Turn Automation On

  9. You're done! Now every time a "Bug" issue created - a proper Template will be added as a checklist.

 

Append Checklist Items on Issue Transition

This flow can also be achieved by means of the built-in functionality of Smart Checklist. Visit this page for guidance.

  1. Go to Automation for Jira → Automation Rules

  2. Click Create Rule

  3. Set When: New Trigger

    1. Choose Issue transitioned 

    2. Choose from status (e.g. Backlog) and to status (e.g. Selected for Development)

    3. Save

  4. Add component New Action

  5. Set New Action

    1. Choose Set entity property

    2. Choose Entity type: Issue

    3. Set Property Key

      •  

        com.railsware.SmartChecklist.checklist

    4. Add checklist items in Markdown formatting as the property value and add the following in the beginning: 

    {{issue.properties."com.railsware.SmartChecklist.checklist"}}

     

    image-20241227-123646.png

☝🏻NOTE: Using the “Checklists“ custom field ({{issue.fields.Checklists}}) in Automation for Jira will be not supported soon. Please, use this syntax instead: {{issue.properties."com.railsware.SmartChecklist.checklist"}}

6. Save Action

7. Save and Turn Automation On

You're done! Now every time an issue is transitioned from Backlog to Selected for Development, the proper checklist template will be appended to your issue.

 

Transition an issue to the next state when all the checklist items are completed

  1. Add trigger "When" Field Value is changed.

    1. Add "Smart Checklist Progress" field and "Edit Issue" as For operator

  2. Then Add "Compare Condition" automation block

    1. Set First Value: {{issue.Smart Checklist Progress}}

    2. Set Condition: "Exactly match regular Expression"

    3. Set Regular expression: (^$|.*Done)

  3. Then Add "Transition Issue" automation block

    1. Set "Destination status", e.g. "Done"

  4. Save the Automation Rule

Check the quick demo:

 

Add Checklists to Subtasks during New Issue creation

If you want to add checklists to automatically created subtasks - follow these steps.

  1. Choose the trigger Issue created

  2. Choose the action Create sub-tasks

  3. List subtasks you need

  4. Click Add fields  - your subtask will be converted to a separate action step

  5. Choose Same Project to be sure the sub-task is not lost

  6. Add "Checklists" custom field from Choose fields to set

  7. Then add checklist items using checklist Markup formatting. Check the detailed guide.

  8. Save and publish the Automation Rule

  9. Now when you create a Jira issue new sub-tasks will be created automatically

  10. Click on the one that contains the checklist  - see it's rendered with Smart Checklist add-on

 

Add Checklist to Service Management tickets for certain Request types (not a JIRA issue type)

☝🏻NOTE: In Service Management projects, issue types can have multiple request types. To be sure that you specify the right condition in the automation rule – check whether you want to add a Checklist to the Issue type or Request type.

Below, we’ll demonstrate how to add a checklist to the “Service Request” issue type with the “Get IT help” request type.

  1. You would need to check what issue type you have for "Get IT help" requests

  2. And then create an Automation rule for this specific issue type. 

  3. E.g. If you have a Request Type called "Get IT help" and it has "Service Request" issue type: 

  4. In Automation, you would need to create a rule that would add a checklist to all the new “Get IT help” requests of "Service Request" issue type

    1. Set Trigger. When: Issue Created

    2. Set Condition. If: Issue matches JQL 

      issuetype = "Service Request" AND "Customer Request Type" = "Get IT help"

       

      image-20241210-104935.png

    3. Set Action. Then: Set Issue Property

      com.railsware.SmartChecklist.checklist

      • And set the value of the checklist you need

Set checklist depending on a custom field value after issue creation

  1. Go to Automation for Jira → Automation Rules

  2. Click Create Rule

  3. Set When: New Trigger

    1. Choose Issue created → Save

  4. Add component New Condition

  5. Set New Condition

    1. Choose Issue fields condition

    2. Select your needed custom field

    3. Choose the condition equals

    4. Add the value of your custom field

    5. Save Condition

  6. Add component New Action

  7. Set New Action

    1. Choose Set entity property

    2. Choose Entity type: Issue

    3. Set Property Key

      •  

        com.railsware.SmartChecklist.checklist

    4. Add checklist template in Markdown formatting as the property value

    5. Save Action

  8. Save and turn the Automation Rule On

  9. You're done! Now every time an issue with a defined custom field value is created - a proper Template will be added as a checklist.

Bulk update checklists

This goes about Issues bulk update when you set a value for a field you'd like to populate to all the selected issues.

The field you’ll be populating to update checklists is “Checklists“.

Implementation instruction

Do it before running a bulk import

  1. Go to Automation for Jira → Automation Rules

  2. Click Create Rule

  3. Set When: Field value changed Change

    1. Choose Checklists → Save

  4. Add component New Action

    1. Choose Set entity property

    2. Choose Entity Type: Issue

    3. Set Property Key

      •  

        com.railsware.SmartChecklist.checklist

    4. Add the following to the Property value

      •  

    {{issue.properties."com.railsware.SmartChecklist.checklist"}}
    image-20241227-123646.png

☝🏻NOTE: Using the “Checklists“ custom field ({{issue.fields.Checklists}}) in Automation for Jira will be not supported soon. Please, use this syntax instead: {{issue.properties."com.railsware.SmartChecklist.checklist"}}

  1. Save the rule and Turn Automation On

  2. Proceed with the bulk update.

  3. Once the bulk update is completed, turn the rule off.

Make sure this rule is only enabled when you need it for the bulk update operation. Otherwise, it will constantly run the synchronization, and you don't need that as a normal checklist operation would suffer.

 

“Adding comment/creating Jira issue” when the checklist item is completed

You can set Automation to create a request in a Jira Service Management project based on the status of a single item in a checklist.

  1. Create Rule.

  2. Set Trigger → Field value changed, choose Smart Checklist Progress as a field to monitor for changes. Save.

  3. Set New condition → Issue field condition.

  4. Fill Field → Checklists, Condition → contains, set the needed Value/Field. And Save.
    Here’s how it looks:

Create a new Jira issue when all checklist items in a “source” Jira issue are completed

You can set the Automation rule to create a new Jira issue if all the checklist items at the "source" issue are marked as completed.

  1. Create Rule.

  2. Set Trigger → Field value changed, choose Smart Checklist Progress as a field to monitor for changes. Save.

  3. Set New condition → Advanced compare condition.

  4. Fill First value → {{issue.Smart Checklist Progress}}, Condition → exactly matches regular expression, Regular Expression → (^$|.*Done). Save
    Here’s how it looks:

5. Add Action → Create issue

6. Save the rule and Turn Automation On

Create a Sub-task when a checklist item is set to done/completed

You can set the Automation rule to create a sub-task (or any other issue type that is required) when a checklist item is marked as done/completed.

  1. Go to Settings → System → Automation for Jira → Automation rules.

  2. Click Create rule.

  3. Choose the trigger Field value changed, and choose Smart Checklist Progress as a field to monitor for changes. Save.

  4. Set New condition → Advanced compare condition.

  5. Fill First value → {{fieldChange.fromString}}, Condition → does not equal. Save.
    Here’s how it looks:

  6. Set New condition → Advanced compare condition.

  7. Fill First value → {{fieldChange.fromString.remove(“ - Done”).substringBefore(“/”)}}, Condition → less than, Second value → {{fieldChange.toString.remove(“ - Done”).substringBefore(“/”)}}. Save.
    Here’s how it looks:

  8. Add Action → Create issue, Project → Same project, Issue type → Sub-task (or any other), Parent issue → Current issue, fill Summary and Description.

  9. Save the rule and Turn Automation On.

 

Add Checklist Tab on Issue transition

With the Multiple Checklists feature, you can configure an Automation rule to add an existing checklist tab to the checklist when specific conditions are met. For example, when issue is transitioned from to do to in progress a relevant checklist tab (e.g., "Definition of Done") is added to the issue.

  1. Go to Project Settings → Automation → click Create rule

    image-20241220-145711.png
    Automation in Project Settings

  2. Create a trigger

2.1. Choose Issue transitioned

image-20241230-100246.png
Available triggers

2.2. Choose From status (e.g. to do ) and To status (e.g. in progress )

image-20241230-100523.png
Issue transition trigger

2.3. Save

  1. Add a Checklist Tab to a checklist

    1. Add component: Add an action

      image-20241230-100821.png
      New action

    2. Choose Set entity property

      image-20241230-101003.png
      Set entity property action

    3. Fill in the fields with the following values:

Entity type

Issue

Property Key

com.railsware.SmartChecklist.tab.<tabID>

<tabId> - should be replaced with Id of the tab

💡HINT: To get the right Id of the tab:

  1. Navigate to Manage apps > SC Settings > Checklist Tab

  2. Open Network tab in dev tool

  3. Look for /rest/railsware/1.internal/tabs request

  4. Open Preview tab

  5. Find the tab - there will be the specified id

    image-20241230-101637.png

The Tab Id will be displayed in the UI for convenience in upcoming versions. Stay tuned!

Property Value if needed

 

You can also add Checklist items in Markdown formatting 👉🏻

- Confirm client requirements are documented - Schedule a feedback session with the client - Collect and analyse client feedback - Update the issue with client feedback outcomes
image-20241230-101810.png
Set entity property with property key for the “Definition of Done” tab

  1. Save and turn the Automation Rule On.

  2. All done! 🎉

Now, whenever an issue meets the defined criteria (e.g., moving from one status to another), the automation rule automatically adds the Definition of Done checklist tab. This ensures that required tasks are always visible ✅

image-20241230-103530.png
Issue with added Definition of Done tab

Append Checklist Items to the Checklist Tab on Issue Transition

With the Multiple Checklists feature, you can configure an Automation rule to to append checklist items to the specific tab available on the Issue view. For example, when issue is transitioned from to do to in progress a relevant checklist items are added to the "Definition of Done" checklist tab.

  1. Go to Project Settings → Automation → click Create rule

    image-20241230-104119.png
    Automation in Project Settings

  2. Create a trigger

    1. Choose Issue transitioned 

      image-20241220-143342.png
      Issue transitioned trigger

    2. Choose From status (e.g. to do ) and To status (e.g. In progress )

      image-20241230-104210.png
      Statuses for the Issue transition trigger

    3. Save

  3. Define the Issue Type

    1. Add component: Add a condition

      image-20241220-143611.png
      New condition component

    2. Add a condition: JQL Condition if needed

      image-20241220-143645.png
      JQL condition

    3. Add a JQL query for defining the Issue Type if needed

      issuetype in (Bug, Story, Task)

       

      image-20241220-143725.png
      Set up JQL condition

    4. Save Condition

  4. Add a Checklist

    1. Add component: Add an action

      image-20241220-143820.png
      New action component

    2. Add an action: Set entity property

      image-20241220-143859.png
      Set entity property

    3. Fill in the fields with the following values:

Entity type

Issue

Property Key

com.railsware.SmartChecklist.tab.<tabID>

<tabId> - should be replaced with Id of the tab

💡HINT: To get the right Id of the tab:

  1. Navigate to Manage apps > SC Settings > Checklist Tab

  2. Open Network tab in dev tool

  3. Look for /rest/railsware/1.internal/tabs request

  4. Open Preview tab

  5. Find the tab - there will be the specified id

    image-20241230-101637.png

The Tab Id will be displayed in the UI for convenience in upcoming versions. Stay tuned!

Property Value

 

If you want to append Checklist Items - add the following at the beginning and Checklist items in Markdown formatting 👉🏻

{{issue.properties."com.railsware.SmartChecklist.tab.{tabID}"}}
## Definition of Done - **Code complete.** All code has been written and reviewed, and all necessary functionality has been implemented. - **Code coverage.** All code has been tested and meets the required code coverage threshold. - **Code quality.** Code has been written using the required standards, conventions, and best practices. - **Integration.** Code has been integrated into the main branch and all integration issues have been resolved. - **Security:** The software has been tested for security vulnerabilities and all issues have been resolved. - **Performance:** The software has been tested for performance and scalability, and all issues have been resolved. - **Peer review.** Code is reviewed by the peers. - **System testing.** The software has been tested end-to-end, and all system tests have passed. - **Regression testing.** All previously implemented functionality has been tested, and regression tests have been passed. - **Documentation.** All necessary documentation has been written, reviewed, and approved, including user manuals, API documentation, and system documentation. - **Acceptance testing.** The functionality has been demonstrated to the product owner or customer and has been approved. - **Deployment:** The software has been successfully deployed to the production environment, and all deployment issues have been resolved.

If you want to replace the Smart Checklist - just add Checklist items in Markdown formatting 👉🏻

## Definition of Done - **Code complete.** All code has been written and reviewed, and all necessary functionality has been implemented. - **Code coverage.** All code has been tested and meets the required code coverage threshold. - **Code quality.** Code has been written using the required standards, conventions, and best practices. - **Integration.** Code has been integrated into the main branch and all integration issues have been resolved. - **Security:** The software has been tested for security vulnerabilities and all issues have been resolved. - **Performance:** The software has been tested for performance and scalability, and all issues have been resolved. - **Peer review.** Code is reviewed by the peers. - **System testing.** The software has been tested end-to-end, and all system tests have passed. - **Regression testing.** All previously implemented functionality has been tested, and regression tests have been passed. - **Documentation.** All necessary documentation has been written, reviewed, and approved, including user manuals, API documentation, and system documentation. - **Acceptance testing.** The functionality has been demonstrated to the product owner or customer and has been approved. - **Deployment:** The software has been successfully deployed to the production environment, and all deployment issues have been resolved.
image-20241230-104731.png
Set entity property with property key for Definition of Done tab and checklist items

  1. Save and turn the Automation Rule On.

  2. You're done! 🎉

Now, whenever an issue meets the defined criteria (e.g., moving from one status to another), the automation rule automatically appends checklist items to the Definition of Done checklist tab, ensuring your team always has clear to-do items aligned with consistent standards ✅

image-20241230-105157.png
Issue with appended checklist items to Definition of Done tab on issue transition

 

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