Issue with Jira changelog inconsistencies using REST API with Jira Cloud

[Scott Napolitan]

I'm seeing issues with Jira REST API when trying to get changelogs for multiple issues.  I'm using REST API v3 with changelog endpoint (/rest/api/3/issue/" & issueKey & "/changelog").

I've implemented pagination code using nextPageToken It seems to work for some issues but not all.  For some issues I see over 1,000 transitions, which tells me pagination is in fact working.  But for others it seems I'm not getting all the transitions as I can look at the issue through the UI and see that there were changes made after the last transition I get back from the API (e.g. the current status of the issue is closed but I see no transition for that in the changelog I get back from the API.).  

Is this a known issue?  Hopefully someone can help with this because I've been pulling my hair out over this for several hours and can't find a reason for or solution to this problem.

[Scott Napolitan · Accepted solution]

I figured the solution to this myself with help from this blog post.  https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Power-BI-Community-Blog/Token-based-pagination-In-Power-Query/ba-p/4352472 

The issue was with my pagination code not handling the last page properly.  I have fixed it and now everything looks correct.

[Ajay _view26_]

Hi @Scott Napolitan 

Hi Scott! This is a known and widely reported issue with the Jira Cloud changelog API.

There are two separate problems likely occurring:

The changelog endpoint itself has gaps: The /rest/api/3/issue/{key}/changelog endpoint with nextPageToken pagination has known inconsistencies where certain transitions (especially older ones or those made by automated systems) may not appear. This is a confirmed Atlassian bug tracked in their issue tracker. 

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-94632

Dynamic data during pagination: Because changelogs are live data, if an issue is modified while you're paginating through its history, the cursor-based token can skip or duplicate entries. For issues with 1000+ transitions, this is particularly problematic.

[Scott Napolitan]

Thank you for your response @Ajay _view26_  My case definitely falls into the first bucket as the issues I'm seeing missing transitions for are old and haven't been updated in weeks or months.  

I looked at https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-94632 and it's not clear to me whether this issue has been addressed or not.  The bug says Resolved-Fixed.  However I still see the problem.  Can you confirmed whether or not this bug has been fixed or closed - wont fix?  As of right now, from what I'm seeing it has not been fixed.

[Scott Napolitan]

Also @Ajay _view26_ is that the bug you meant to post for this issue?  It appears to be a bug for pagination in general and not specific to the changelog endpoint?