Rovo Agent with Jira Skills (Edit issue, Transition issue) works correctly in Chat mode but does not

Question

Rovo Agent with Jira Skills (Edit issue, Transition issue) works correctly in Chat mode but does not execute any actions when invoked via Jira Automation's Use agent step

Environment
Product: Jira Cloud Automation and Rovo Agents (Agent Studio)
Agent: Custom Rovo Agent with Skills enabled - Jira Edit issue, Jira Transition issue
Automation: Rule triggered on Issue created, then Use agent action

Summary of the issue
I built a Rovo Agent intended to autonomously classify a Jira ticket and directly update the ticket's custom fields (Category, Confidence Score, etc) and transition its status, without needing a separate Jira Automation rule to parse and apply the results.

The agent's instructions explicitly direct it to call the Edit issue and Transition issue actions after classifying, and these Skills are enabled and configured on the agent in Agent Studio.

When tested manually in Rovo Chat mode, the agent correctly attempts to take these actions. I can see an action card in the chat UI showing Set priority, Update labels, Add comment etc being proposed and executed.

When the exact same agent is invoked via a Jira Automation rule (Use agent action, triggered on issue creation), no field edits or status transitions occur on the ticket at all. The automation rule itself reports Success in the Audit Log, and the agent clearly ran, since I can see its text response captured in the agentResponse smart value via a debug Log action and comment step, but none of the edit issue or transition issue calls the agent is instructed to make actually take effect on the ticket.

Steps to reproduce

* Create a Rovo Agent in Agent Studio with instructions directing it to call edit issue after analysis
* Enable the Jira Edit issue and Jira Transition issue Skills on the agent
* Publish the agent
* Test in Chat mode and confirm the agent proposes or executes the edit action successfully
* Create a Jira Automation rule - Trigger is Issue created, Action is Use agent (this agent), with a prompt referencing the issue summary and description
* Save and enable the rule
* Create a new ticket to fire the trigger
* Check the Audit Log - rule shows Success, agent response is captured correctly
* Open the actual ticket - no fields have been edited, no status transition has occurred

Shalini R · Accepted Answer

It looks like the agent can execute Jira Skills in Chat mode but not when triggered via Jira Automation's "Use agent" action. If permissions and configuration are correct, this is likely a current limitation or bug. It would be helpful for Atlassian to clarify whether action-based Skills are officially supported in Automation.

Gabriela - LeanZero · Accepted Answer

Hi @Mangesh Bajirao Pangavhane, the extra rule you were trying to avoid is the only shape that works here. Nothing on your side is misconfigured. Atlassian's Rovo agent tools page states it directly: "If an agent is triggered in an automation flow, it cannot use its own tools; it can only provide a text response which can then be used in subsequent tools built into the automation flow via the {{agentResponse}} smart value."

So the Success in your audit log and the populated agentResponse are the whole of what the Use agent step does; the Edit issue and Transition issue tools don't get called at all. Chat behaves differently because a tool call there goes through the confirmation card you are clicking, and that page also says "No matter the tool, you'll be asked to confirm it."

Keep the agent as the classifier, ask it to answer as JSON, then read it with {{agentResponse.asObject}} and put the Edit work item and Transition work item actions in the rule itself.

Rovo agent tools