How Did You Get Started with Scripting and Automation?

[Chris Rainey]

I apologize in advance if this isn't the best group for this kind of discussion.

TLDR: I’d love to hear how you got started with scripting and automation.

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I’ve been working as an Atlassian admin for a few years and it feels like learning scripting or automation is the next step I need to take to grow my skillset. A huge part of what attracts me to it is the potential to eliminate repetitive work. I'm the only Atlassian Admin at my organization so I'm constantly looking for ways to make things more efficient as I am constantly dealing with time/bandwidth constraints. I'm sure there are probably a lot of tasks I could automate if I had the skills to do so. Personally, I’m also interested in eventually moving more toward development/engineering, so scripting feels like a natural bridge between where I am now and where I’d like to go.

The challenge is that getting started feels overwhelming. I see things about Groovy or ScriptRunner or Python or JavaScript and then there's Forge and REST APIs and now MCP Servers and Rovo Dev and its CLI.

I’m curious about how others approached this. How did you first get into scripting/automation? Was there a specific problem that forced you to learn? Did you start with a particular language? Did you have a mentor? Did you learn through side projects or did you learn at work?

Did you also see learning this as a giant mountain that you weren't sure how to climb?

Was learning scripting even a stepping stone on your journey?

I'd really enjoy hearing your stories.

[John Funk]

Hey @Chris Rainey  - Good discussion. My days with Automation go back to when it was a separate app provided by a Marketplace vendor. But here's the dirty little secret - I don't really know scripting. I am not a developer and have not dabbled much in that area. So I first tried ScriptRunner and found out it was not for me. No offense my Adaptavist friends, but didn't have time to get more groovy. 

So, I quickly switch to the Automation for Jira no-code app and fell in love with it. There was probably no one happier than me when Atlassian acquired the tool as I was a big fan. Even today, it is the tool I use most often week in and week out. Now, I have added skills to use Smart Values and get my "coding" fix that way. Still don't use ScriptRunner, though there are instances where the query functions would REALLY come in handy. But I accomplish the task via other routes and keep moving forward. 

[Chris Rainey]

Hey John! Thanks for your insights and thanks for teaching me something new. I had no idea Automation for Jira was a standalone thing at first.

[Charlie Misonne]

Hi Chris!

I think it's something you learn gradually.

Personally, I already knew java which helped for Groovy and shell scripting which was needed to manage server and DC versions of Altassian products. So I'm not the best example.

Some projects forced me into using scripting even more. Mainly data migration projects where I had to extract data from other systems and transform them into something that could be pushed Jira or Confluence.

If you want to use scripts with the Atlassian Cloud ecosystem the first thing to understand is REST APIs. Maybe you already know but I worked with people not familiar with the concept.
What is a HTTP request, what are the different methods, authentication options, formatting JSON, providing headers, ...

The REST API is also used in Forge or Scriptrunner Cloud scripts. So it's a key component to start programming in the ecosystem.
After that you can think about using external scripts in any language you like. Python is probably a good option and faster than regular shell scripts.

Forge might be the ultimate goal. It will allow you to create plugins to be used inside the products.
This is actual software development using JavaScript and React.
Atlassian has good tutorials to get started.
You can even use Rovo Studio to create a Jira app.

AI lowered the bar to scripting. But I think it remains important to understand what your scripts and apps are doing.

[Chris Rainey]

Hi Charlie!

Thank you for your insights!

I'm glad you mentioned data migrations, that's something I neglected to mention. I'm finding myself starting to work on integrations where I'm passing data to and from Jira and while I'm able to navigate my way through Jira automation and webhooks, I'd love to leverage more API.

I've scratched the surface with REST API and have enjoyed learning it so far so thanks for the call out that REST API is key - especially since I'd eventually like to dive into Forge.

And thank you for the tutorials! I'll definitely check those out.