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automation update field for Children when the parent field is updated

Jack Brickey

So I think I have done this 1 million times in the past successfully and yet here I am again trying to figure out what is wrong with my JSON. I have to be doing something stupid and I'm just too close to the trees to see it so looking for some fresh eyes.

note: I have spent a lot of time researching existing Community posts and docs but still stuck.

Use case - I am setting up an automation to update the Category field in the children of an epic when that same field is updated in the epic.

Below is a screenshot of the important bit of my rule but below are the variations of the JSON I have attempted.

{
    "fields": {
        "customfield_43602”: "{{issue.parent.customfield_43602.value}}”
    }
}

{
    "fields": {
        "customfield_43602”: {"{{issue.parent.customfield_43602.value}}” }
    }
}

{
    "fields": {
        "customfield_43602”: {"value": "{{issue.parent.customfield_43602}}” }
    }
}

I have verified via log action that {{issue.parent.customfield_43602.value}} yields the desired value.

Update: One thing I noted is that given that this is an Atlassian locked field I checked on the type and it is shown as "Unknown". While it certainly has the behavior of a Single select it may require a different JSON syntax? Will explore...

image (5).png

Accepted answers

Maciej Dudziak _Forgappify_

Hi @Jack Brickey

This is something that works for Single Select

{
    "fields": {
        "customfield_10044": { 
            "value" : "{{issue.parent.customfield_10044.value}}"
        }
    }
}

Cheers

Jack Brickey

So I have landed on the solution but have one error to work out but wanted to provide an update here to everyone.

So the clue came when I looked at the field type and being listed as unknown. Ultimately I tried to use "id" instead of name or value based upon this finding. So my current JSON looks like this...

{
  "fields": {
    "customfield_43602": {
      "id": "{{parentCategory}}"
    }
  }
}

where parentCategory is a variable defined as {{issue.parent.customfield_43602.id}

This WORKED! However, I do get an error that I need to understand...

image (6).png

All comments

arielei

Hey @Jack Brickey

You can copy from the parent:
Screenshot 2025-06-18 at 15.50.02.png

Jack Brickey

hi @arielei , thank you for responding. Unfortunately, not all fields are available in the drop-down selection. It can be very frustrating especially when the field is an actual system field like Category in this case. This is why I am using the advanced JSON approach and leveraging the custom field ID.

Karan Sachdev

Hey @Jack Brickey

Like you stated, this is a very common use case of automation rules.

I usually run the below endpoint to verify the operations available for a given field:

https://sitename.atlassian.net/rest/api/3/issue/%7BissueIdOrKey%7D/editmeta

If its a multi-select field that supports add, set, remove operations, the below format might help:

{

"update": {

"customfield_43602": [{

"add": { "value": "{{issue.parent.customfield_43602}}" }

}]

}

}

In case you have tried this already, I look forward to the suggestions from community experts on this.

Thanks!

Karan Sachdev

PS. Here's the document I'm referring to: https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/advanced-field-editing-using-json/#Multi-select-custom-field

Jack Brickey

thanks @Karan Sachdev , it isn't multi-select but rather single-select. Good tip on the API. I will check that out. I am quite puzzled by why my initial attemps have not worked based on my past successes. I'm sure it will be obvious once solved.

Dick

instead of

"{{issue.parent.customfield_43602}}"

I always use {{issue.parent.customfield_43602.asJsonString}}

described Here.

Maciej Dudziak _Forgappify_

Hi @Jack Brickey

This is something that works for Single Select

{
    "fields": {
        "customfield_10044": { 
            "value" : "{{issue.parent.customfield_10044.value}}"
        }
    }
}

Cheers

Matthias Gaiser _K15t_

@Jack Brickey, can you share the type of the category field? You can check this endpoint for the type of all the fields: https://ecosystem.atlassian.net/rest/api/2/field (Of course with your own Jira url). If you then copy/paste that information, we might be better able to help you.

Here's an example for Jira Work Management's category field:

{
  "id": "customfield_20126",
  "key": "customfield_20126",
  "name": "Category",
  "untranslatedName": "Category",
  "custom": true,
  "orderable": true,
  "navigable": true,
  "searchable": true,
  "clauseNames":
  [
    "Category[Category]",
    "cf[20126]"
  ],
  "schema":
  {
    "type": "option",
    "custom": "com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.customfieldtypes:jwm-category",
    "customId": 20126
  }
}

Jack Brickey

So I have landed on the solution but have one error to work out but wanted to provide an update here to everyone.

So the clue came when I looked at the field type and being listed as unknown. Ultimately I tried to use "id" instead of name or value based upon this finding. So my current JSON looks like this...

{
  "fields": {
    "customfield_43602": {
      "id": "{{parentCategory}}"
    }
  }
}

where parentCategory is a variable defined as {{issue.parent.customfield_43602.id}

This WORKED! However, I do get an error that I need to understand...

image (6).png

Jack Brickey

thanks @Maciej Dudziak _Forgappify_ ,

indeed it does but was not for "Category" which is a special (?) JWM field. I found you must (?) use "id" instead of value.

Jack Brickey

Thanks @Dick , I will have to try this too!

Jack Brickey

and I just discovered this old post where the incredible @Mikael Sandberg offers the same solution. Maybe he can offer further context to understand when/why ID is required?

Matthias Gaiser _K15t_

@Jack Brickey - whenever I have these challenges, I usually get a JSON response of the issue in question via the get issue endpoint, e.g. https://YOURINSTANCE.atlassian.net/rest/api/2/issue/ISSUE-KEY.

This contains for the category field this JSON:

"customfield_10058": {
  "self": "https://YOURINSTANCE.atlassian.net/rest/api/2/customFieldOption/10387",
  "value": "first",
  "id": "10387"
}

Then I use the edit issue endpoint to update that issue and vary the content. For category, it either works with the id or the value with a payload like this:

{
  "fields": {
    "customfield_10058": {
      "value": "first"
    }
  }
}

Maybe that helps iterating the payload faster to find a solution in the future.

Mikael Sandberg

@Jack Brickey If my memory serves me correctly I believe I used this KB as a reference regarding the Category field. I had a similar automation that needed to set the category when a work item was created and at the time you could only use the ID for the value, but it looks like now you can also use the name.

Jack Brickey

@Maciej Dudziak _Forgappify_ , actually this does work and fundamentally answers my original question. What I was missing and did not initially see in your answer, due to me being heads down in using ID rather than value, was the ".value" within the smart value.

while i was simply using this...

{
    "fields": {
        "customfield_43602”: {"value": "{{issue.parent.customfield_43602}}” }
    }
}

I should have been using this...

{
    "fields": {
        "customfield_43602”: {"value": "{{issue.parent.customfield_43602.value}}” }
    }
}

that was my stupid mistake!

bravo my friend!

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