Automation: Checking if user is existing request participant before adding

[Steve Rhodes]

I have a strange "bug" with my JSM automation. It fails to pass the JQL condition which is looking for the last person to comment in the request participants field, unless there is already a value (anyone) in the Request Participants field. It basically fails the condition if RP is empty. Its checking like so:

 "Request participants" not in ({{issue.comments.last.author.accountId}})

and looks like this in the automation:

The audit log suggests that the issue didnt match the JQL (the actor is Automation for Jira and it runs everything else, and there is no issue level security).

JQL Condition 28/03/2025, 16:26:37

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The following issues did not match the condition:

SUPPORT-12345

• the issue didn't match the specified JQL (most likely)
• the chosen rule actor doesn't have permissions (or issue security level permissions) to view the issue
• the issue was deleted or wasn't indexed by Jira yet (in rare circumstances)

We recommend using the 'Issue fields condition' for more consistent results.

As I mentioned above, if there is already a user in the Request Participants field, then this works and passes the JQL. Am I missing something here?

(My workaround in the automation is to temporarily add a service account as RP, pass the JQL condition and then remove it after, which is hella clunky).

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @Steve Rhodes 

Have you tried adding a check if the Request Participants field is empty also in the condition:

"Request participants" NOT IN ( {{issue.comments.last.author.accountId}} )
 OR "Request participants" IS EMPTY

Kind regards,
Bill

[Steve Rhodes]

Thanks for the reply Bill. That worked. I feel a bit of a fool for not trying this myself earlier. It should just work with the NOT IN operator but forcing it to pass by checking to see if its empty of course works too.