How to validate that Assignee is NOT a specific user

[Asier Vadillo]

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to set up a workflow transition validation in Jira Cloud using only native functionalities.

The Goal: I want to prevent a transition from happening if:

1. The Assignee field is empty (Unassigned).

2. The Assignee is a specific user (e.g., a "Team" bot or a specific individual).

Thanks beforehand!

[Laura Campbell]

HI @Asier Vadillo , you can do this easily by adding a rule (I'm assuming Company managed project)

In the new workflow tool, click on Rule on the top

To prevent that someone transitions the issue if the assignee is blank, you'll need to add a rule to Validate a field. You can easily select in the drop downs the value, and the field, and then a custom error message.

To prevent specific users from transitioning, you can also easily do it with the option to restrict the transition when a field is a specific value.

Another way to do it would be to create a rule "Restrict who can move a work item"

[Gor Greyan]

Hi @Asier Vadillo

Thanks for the question.

Am I right that you want to set a validator on the transition, where the screen is being displayed, or do you want to set a restriction, if the assignee is empty or not a Bot, the transition is not being displayed at all?

[Asier Vadillo]

Hi @Gor Greyan ,

I want a validator, to notify people that the assignee must not be the bot. If it is not possible I will use the approach @Laura Campbell defined in the comment above.

Thanks for the answer!

[Gor Greyan]

Hi @Asier Vadillo

Great, I saw it.

Thank you, too.

[Asier Vadillo]

Hi @Gor Greyan

I assume it is not possible to make a validator?

[Gor Greyan]

Dear @Asier Vadillo

Yes, via the Validator, this isn’t possible with native Jira Cloud functionality. Built-in validators can check if a field is empty or required, but they don’t support validating against a specific user.

For your use case, the only way to enforce this is via Automation (send back to the previous status) or by using any third-party apps, like ScriptRunner.