Use 'Send Slack message' action in Automation to send a Slack direct message from Jira Service Management Cloud

Summary

JSM automation offers a built-in Send direct message on Slack action, but you can also send a DM with the more flexible Send Slack message action (covered here) when you need custom targeting via the Slack API.

Solution

We are setting up an automation rule that sends a direct message in Slack to the reporter when a comment is made on a work item.

• Trigger an automation rule when a comment is made on a work item

• Retrieve the email address of the work item's reporter and use the Slack API to obtain the Slack user ID associated with that email address.

• Use the obtained Slack user ID to send a direct message to the target user via a Slack bot.

Slack app prerequisites

Setting up the Slack App

• Create a Slack app (from api.slack.com/apps).

• Add the users:read and users:read.email OAuth scopes.

• Install the app in your workspace to issue the OAuth token used later in the "Send web request" action.

Obtaining the Slack Webhook URL

• Creating an Incoming Webhook: From the Incoming Webhooks setting in Slack, specify a desired destination channel for posts. (Initially, you can use the default #general channel. The configuration to send DMs to each user will be done later.)

• Copy the generated Incoming Webhook URL. Later, we will paste this URL into the [Webhook URL] field of the "Send Slack Message" action in automation.

  • Reference: Use Slack with Automation.

Detailed Setup Instructions

(Optional) Add the action "Log action."

• In the Log message, include the following smart value (this is to retrieve the reporter's email address):

  retrieve the reporter's email address

  Reporter's email address: {{issue.reporter.emailAddress}}

  Add the action "Send web request" and set each field as follows:

• [Web Request URL]:

  Web Request URL

  https://slack.com/api/users.lookupByEmail?email={{issue.reporter.emailAddress}}

• [HTTP method]: GET

• [Web request body]: Empty

• [Delay execution of subsequent rule actions until we've received a response for this web request]: Checked

• [Headers (optional)]

  • Key: Authorization

  • Value: Bearer <OAuth access token obtained from the Preparation>

• In the Log message, include the following smart value (this is to retrieve the reporter user's Slack ID):

  Slack ID

  Slack ID: {{webResponse.body.user.id}}

Add the action "Send Slack message" and set each field as follows:

• [Webhook URL]: Enter the Incoming Webhook URL obtained during the Preparation.

• [Message]: Here, we mention the reporter in a direct message and include a link to the work item as well as an added comment. (You can customize this as you wish.)

  Slack message body

  <@{{webResponse.body.user.id}}> - Ticket: <{{issue.url}}|{{issue.summary}}> - Comment: {{issue.comment.last.body}}

• [Send message as Automation user]: Checked

• [Channel or user]: @{{webResponse.body.user.id}}

After setting these up, the automation rule should look like the following:

Trigger the rule (for example, add a comment on a test work item) and confirm the reporter receives the Slack DM; if not, check that the reporter's email resolves to a Slack user ID (the users:read.email scope) in the automation audit log.