Automation Issue: Custom Field Not Storing Branch Name

[Ben Wilbers]

Hi Jira Community,

I’m hoping someone here can help with an issue we’re encountering with an automation rule in JIRA. We’ve set up an automation that should capture the name of a branch when it is created and store this value in a custom field within the linked JIRA issue. This step is crucial for us, as we need to use this variable outside of the initial automation, specifically in a webhook integration.

The automation rule appears to run smoothly—each time it’s triggered, the audit log shows that the rule has succeeded.

However, the result is always an empty variable in the custom field. This is causing us some headaches, as the empty value leads to a failure (422) in the webhook.

It’s frustrating because the webhook integration is a key part of our process, and without the branch name being stored correctly, we can’t move forward.

Has anyone else encountered a similar issue, or could provide guidance on how to resolve this?

Thanks so much in advance for any insights or advice!

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @Ben Wilbers 

When a variable is created within an automation rule, that only exists within the scope of that rule's execution.  It is not available to other rule executions.

I believe the only workaround for your scenario would be to store the value, either in a specific issue's custom field (by branching to it) or in a project entity property for later use in the other rule.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Ben Wilbers]

I've created a custom (read only) text field which works. Thank you @Bill Sheboy

[Max - SwiftSprint dev]

Hi @Ben Wilbers ,

in the documentation https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/jira-smart-values-development/  I can see that {{createdBranch}} Smart Value is used in Bitbucket, Gitlab, etc. 

For Jira Trigger they have {{branch.name}}. Could you please try to use {{branch.name}} instead of {{createdBranch.name}}?

[Ben Wilbers]

@Max - SwiftSprint dev I've tried to use {{branch.name}} instead of {{createdBranch.name}}, to no avail.