Rovo intermittently says it can’t access Jira issue details when run from Automation

[Peter M]

We’re using Jira Cloud Automation with the built-in Rovo action to generate release note summaries and write them into a custom field on Jira work items.

This has been working reliably for several weeks, but recently we’ve started seeing an intermittent issue where Rovo writes a system message instead of a generated summary, for example:

“I’m unable to access the details of the Jira work item at the provided URL. Please provide the description or relevant details from the ticket…”

A few important details:

• This happens both when the automation runs automatically and when it’s run manually.

• The Jira issues involved are accessible to the user running the rule and don’t have permission restrictions.

• The same issue can fail on one run and succeed on an immediate retry with no changes made.

• When it succeeds, Rovo generates the correct release note using the same instructions.

Because the automation runs successfully and retrying often works, this looks like Rovo occasionally being unable to read the Jira item, rather than a problem with the automation configuration itself.

Has anyone else seen this behavior recently with Rovo in Jira Automation?
Is this a known issue or recent change?

[Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_ · Accepted solution]

Hi @Peter M 

The Atlassian Team has been working on Rovo being able to read and update Custom fields recently so that's maybe where the problems are coming from?

@Jensen Fleming could you check this out?

[Jensen Fleming]

Hey @Rebekka Heilmann _viadee_ and @Peter M -- I don't think this is related to custom fields work, but does sound like an issue with url being read in the automation. Can you open a support ticket and we can log in and take a look? 

[Dr Valeri Colon _Connect Centric_]

@Peter M Yes—this can happen intermittently due to Rovo/Jira backend timeouts or automation context fetch failures (not your permissions), which is why an immediate retry can work. As a workaround, pass key fields into the prompt (summary/description) instead of only a URL, keep threads short, and add a retry/delay in the rule. If it continues, send the Automation audit log + timestamps to Atlassian Support.