Automation basics
Understand the general concepts and best practices of automation in Atlassian cloud products.
Automation smart values - users
Check out how we use smart values in our Jira automation template library.
The following smart values are available to access and format user data when setting up a rule.
User properties
The following properties are accessible for all user smart values:
accountId: the unique ID of the user, set by Jira. It is not possible to change this ID. Learn more about converting usernames to user account IDs.
active: whether the user's account is active or not
avatarUrls: provides access to the user's avatar images in sizes 16x16, 24x24, 32x32 & 48x48
displayName: the full name in the user's profile
emailAddress: the email address in the user's profile
timeZone: the default timezone of the Atlassian Cloud site.
If a profile information is not made accessible to you, then smart values won’t return any value. For example, if the visibility of the user’s email address is set to Only you and admins in Profile and visibility, then the emailAddress smart value will not return any value.
Examples
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{{creator.displayName}}
{{comment.author.displayName}}
{{reporter.emailAddress}}
{{assignee.timeZone}}
{{assignee.accountId}}
{{assignee.avatarUrls."48x48"}}{{assignee}}
The assignee of the active issue.
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{{assignee.displayName}}{{comment.author}}
The user who adds a comment on an issue.
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{{comment.author.displayName}}{{creator}}
The user who created the active issue. It is not possible to change the creator of an issue.
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{{creator.displayName}}{{initiator}}
The user who triggered the rule.
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{{initiator.displayName}}
{{initiator.emailAddress}}
{{initiator.accountId}}
{{initiator.timeZone}}
{{initiator.locale}}{{reporter}}
The reporter of the active issue.
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{{reporter.displayName}}{{Custom field}}
To access information related to user picker custom fields, enter the field name in between {{ and }}. For example, if you have a custom field called Squad leader and you want to access the display name for that user:
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{{Squad leader.displayName}}How to mention another user
Mention a specific user
To @mention another user in an automation rule, you'll need their account ID. You can find their account ID by visiting their profile and looking at the end of the URL.
You'll then need to enter the following:
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[~accountId:their account ID]For example:
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[~accountId:557057:1d4fd7f4-bbac-4466-82ee-aaabbbccc]
// returns
@Alana GrantMention a user in a field
To @mention the person in a particular field, for example the issue's Assignee, enter the following:
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[~accountId:{{user field name.accountId}}]For example, if you have a user custom field called Squad leader and you want to mention them:
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Hi [~accountid:{{Squad leader.accountId}}], could you please assign this bug to someone on your team?
//returns
Hi @Alana Grant, could you please assign this bug to someone on your team?Mention a user in Slack
You can build automation rules that mention people and send direct messages to people in Slack. Learn more about using automation with Slack.
Entity Properties
Entity properties are arbitrary key/value pairs that can be set for a user in Jira. Users have 2 types of entity properties available:
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{{reporter.properties}}
// e.g. if 'financeAccountId' is an entity property set
// programmatically by another app
{{reporter.properties.financeAccountId}}Entity properties can be set via API calls using the /rest/api/3/user/properties REST API. Note that this is not the same as the legacy User Properties feature found in Settings > User management > Show details > Edit Jira properties.
There’s also the Set entity property action that project admins can set via the rule builder UI, rather than having to interact with the API.
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