How to identify when a watcher was added to a Jira Data Center issue

Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian apps on the Data Center platform.

Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.

*Except Fisheye and Crucible

Summary

The content on this page relates to platforms which are not supported. Consequently, Atlassian Support cannot guarantee providing any support for it. Please be aware that this material is provided for your information only and using it is done so at your own risk.

In Jira Data Center, you can find any watcher who has been added to a Jira issue. You can search the issue's history to find the date of that change. The following solution helps you to find all watchers of a specific issue using the database.

Solution

To use the following database query, you will need to replace

  • <PROJECT_KEY> with the project key

  • <ISSUE_NUM> with the issue number

SELECT concat(project.pkey,'-',jiraissue.issuenum) AS pkey_issuenum, app_user.user_key, app_user.lower_user_name, userassociation.created FROM userassociation JOIN app_user ON userassociation.source_name = app_user.user_key JOIN jiraissue ON jiraissue.ID = userassociation.SINK_NODE_ID JOIN project ON project.id = jiraissue.PROJECT WHERE jiraissue.id = userassociation.sink_node_id AND userassociation.association_type='WatchIssue' AND userassociation.sink_node_entity ='Issue' AND jiraissue.id = (select id from jiraissue where project in (select id from project where pkey = '<PROJECT_KEY>') and issuenum = <ISSUE_NUM>) ORDER BY app_user.user_key ASC;

Updated on September 26, 2025

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