Slack automation with Jira

Jira is the place where work lives. However, sometimes we prefer to receive our updates elsewhere.

With automation, you can filter for certain issues using JQL and then send a Slack or MS Teams message or email. In this use case, we are going to surface a list of any open issues in the sprint and send a daily Slack message so everyone can keep their finger on the pulse. You could also use it to surface blocked issues, issues about to breach SLA and tons more.

Jira and Slack logos showing how automation can connect the two products

The automation recipe

Step 1: Choose your trigger

Every rule starts with a trigger. In this case we will use the ‘Scheduled trigger’. This is a super powerful trigger that can be used in a hundred different ways. You can use Cron to specify an exact time of day to the minute. However, here, we will simply specify that this rule should run every 1 day.

Step 2: Add Lookup Issues action

This action allows you to highlight issues that you specify using JQL. This action is always coupled with another action which will then print out the results. The JQL we will use for our use case is: Sprint in openSprints() and statusCategory != Done

Step 3: Add a Slack/MS Teams action

You can add as many actions as you like to a rule. Now that the Lookup Issues action has found the issues, we want to send this list out. Choose the action that works best for you. Here, we will choose the Slack action.

You will need to use smart values within your action. Smart values allow you to access and manipulate almost any data in Jira.

To send a full list of issues (hyperlinked) in a neat list, we use the following smart value:

{{#lookupIssues}} *<{{url}}|{{key}}> {{/}}

It may look tricky for non developers but you can simply copy the smart values you need from our docs or, of course, see the full rule in action in the playground.

Step 4: Test it!

To test this rule, you can temporarily change the trigger to manual and send to a private Slack room. As ever, you can follow the breadcrumbs in your audit log.

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