How to bypass Github Copilot authentication errors within a workflow transition?

Hi @Viswanathan Ramachandran

Thank you for the answer!

Regarding switching to Service Credentials: when I am prompted to connect Github Copilot to my Jira space, the only option is to connect to my logged in Github account, and there is no opportunity to use a PAT.

If I set up an automation with a custom prompt (to review the PR), the agent instead creates a new PR, and tries to immediately review that PR (which is basically empty), instead of reviewing the attached PR that was created by the Agent in the previous step.

Do you know how to get past these limitations?

hi @Martin HADOBAS 

The issue boils down to two distinct problems:

• OAuth token handling on background transitions, and
• Default agent behaviour in Jira Automation.

Because the native Copilot app uses user-delegated OAuth 2.0 (no PAT option), background transitions fail without an active user session.

• Log into Jira as an Admin in an incognito window, log into GitHub using a dedicated GitHub Bot Account (create one if don't have one), and authorise the connection. This sets a persistent workspace-level default runner so background triggers stop asking for individual user logins.

By default, the transition action defaults to its primary instruction set

• In your Jira Automation rule, explicitly tell Copilot not to create a new PR and pass the linked PR using smart values, ex: 

Do NOT create a new pull request or branch. 

Target the existing pull request linked to this issue:
PR URL: {{issue.development.pullrequests.url}}

Review the code in that PR against the issue description and leave inline PR comments.

Alternative: You can also skip Jira for the review step entirely and enable Automatic Review on New Pull Requests directly inside GitHub Repository Settings.

Okay makes sense. Unfortunately we cannot use Bot accounts in my org, so I probably have to rely on the Jira Automation rules then for this.

Seemingly the Rovo Code Agent works a lot better, but that is of no use if my org is using Github and Copilot. :/

Thank you for your help!

It is definitely a tough when organisational policies restrict bot accounts, as Atlassian's user-delegated OAuth model for GitHub Copilot inherently struggles with unattended background transitions.

If you ever decide to try a pure GitHub-centric approach in the future, you can bypass Jira's background triggers entirely by using GitHub Actions + Copilot CLI/API tied to an org-approved GitHub App, or by relying on GitHub's native auto-reviews while letting the standard GitHub for Jira integration handle the status syncs.

Good luck with your setup, and feel free to reach out if you need help tweaking your Jira Automation rules down the road!