Overview
Issue Autopilot for Jira lets you define issue templates that are created automatically on a schedule — so your team never has to manually create the same Jira issue twice.
Common use cases include:
- Weekly standups and team syncs
- Sprint retrospectives every two weeks
- Monthly team reviews and reporting tasks
- Quarterly planning and OKR sessions
- Daily bug triage (weekdays only)
- Incident postmortems and compliance checklists
📅 Flexible Scheduling
Daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and quarterly — with weekend skipping and day-of-month control.
👥 Round-Robin Assignees
Rotate issue ownership across a team automatically, one person per run.
🔁 Duplicate Prevention
Optionally skip creation if an open issue with the same summary already exists.
🗂 Template Groups
Organise templates by team or function and filter the list instantly.
⚙️ Custom Fields
Set any Jira custom field — Story Points, Sprint, custom selects — per template.
📋 Run History
A full log of every issue created, skipped, or failed — manual and scheduled.
Getting Started
After installing the app, open it from the Jira project sidebar or the Apps menu. If this is your first time, you will see the Starter Templates screen — a set of pre-built templates you can use straight away.
Using a starter template
- Find the starter template that matches your use case (e.g. Weekly Standup).
- Click Use Template. The create modal opens pre-filled with sensible defaults.
- Select your Project and Issue Type from the dropdowns.
- Adjust the schedule, assignee, or any other fields as needed.
- Click Create Template. The template is now active and will run automatically.
Creating a template from scratch
- Click + New Template in the top-right corner.
- Fill in the required fields: Template Name, Project, Issue Type, and Summary.
- Configure the schedule frequency and any advanced options.
- Click Create Template.
Use the Run Now button on any template to create an issue immediately and verify everything is set up correctly before the first scheduled run.
Creating Templates
Issue Details
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Template Name | Yes | A label for this template shown in the app. Not visible in Jira issues. |
| Group | No | Assign a group (e.g. "Engineering", "Operations") to organise templates and enable group filtering on the main screen. |
| Project | Yes | The Jira project where issues will be created. |
| Issue Type | Yes | The issue type (Task, Story, Bug, Sub-task, etc.). Available types are loaded from the selected project. |
| Summary | Yes |
The issue title. Supports date placeholders:{{date}} → today's date (YYYY-MM-DD){{date+7}} → 7 days from today{{date-3}} → 3 days ago
|
| Description | No | Plain-text description added to each created issue. |
| Priority | No | Defaults to Medium. Options: Highest, High, Medium, Low, Lowest. |
| Labels | No | Comma-separated list of labels applied to each created issue (e.g. recurring,standup). |
| Components | No | One or more project components. Options are loaded from the selected project. |
| Due Date | No | Enable to set a due date a fixed number of days after creation. 0 = same day, 7 = one week. |
| Add to active sprint | No | Automatically moves the created issue into the project's currently active sprint. |
| Prevent duplicates | No | Skips creation if an open issue with the same summary already exists in the project. |
Assignees
Choose from two assignee modes:
- Single assignee — The same person is assigned to every created issue. Search for a user by name.
- Round-robin rotation — Add a pool of users. Each run assigns the issue to the next person in the list, cycling back to the first after the last person. Use the ↑ ↓ buttons to set the rotation order, and Remove to take someone out.
Custom Fields
The Custom Fields section lets you set any Jira custom field that isn't covered by the standard options above.
- Click + Add Custom Field.
- Select the field from the dropdown (all custom fields in your Jira instance are listed).
- Enter the value in the text box.
| Field Type | How to enter the value | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Number (e.g. Story Points) | Enter a plain number | 5 |
| Select / Option | Enter the option name as plain text | In Progress |
| Object (e.g. Sprint) | Enter JSON with the field's required keys | {"id": 42} |
| Array / Multi-select | Enter a JSON array of values | ["value1","value2"] |
| Text | Enter the text directly | My custom value |
Custom field IDs (e.g. customfield_10016) and their accepted values are
defined by your Jira configuration. If a value is rejected, check the field's configuration
in Jira's field settings or contact your Jira administrator.
Scheduling
Issues are created automatically at midnight UTC on the days matching your configured schedule. Enable or disable a template at any time using the Active toggle — paused templates are skipped during scheduled runs but can still be triggered manually with Run Now.
Frequencies
| Frequency | Configuration | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Daily | Optional: skip weekends | Runs every day, or every weekday if "Skip weekends" is enabled. |
| Weekly | Day of week | Runs once per week on the selected day (e.g. every Monday). |
| Bi-weekly | Day of week | Runs every two weeks on the selected day. The two-week cycle is anchored when you first save the template — the first run is the next matching weekday, then every 14 days. |
| Monthly | Day of month (1–28) | Runs once per month on the selected day. Capped at day 28 to ensure the date exists in every month. |
| Quarterly | Month in quarter + Day of month |
Runs once every three months. Choose which month of the quarter: • 1st month → Jan · Apr · Jul · Oct • 2nd month → Feb · May · Aug · Nov • 3rd month → Mar · Jun · Sep · Dec |
Advanced Features
Template Groups
Give any template a Group name (e.g. "Engineering", "Marketing", "Operations") to organise your template list. Once two or more groups exist, a Filter by group dropdown appears above the table so you can focus on one team's templates at a time.
Subtasks
When the selected issue type is a Sub-task, a Parent Issue section appears. Choose how the parent is resolved at run time:
-
Static issue key — Enter a fixed Jira issue key (e.g.
DEV-42). Every run creates a sub-task under that same issue. -
Most recent issue with label — Enter a label (e.g.
recurring-parent). At run time, the app finds the most recently created open issue in the project carrying that label and creates the sub-task under it. Tag whichever issue should receive sub-tasks with that label directly in Jira.
If no open issue with the specified label is found at run time, the scheduled run will fail for that template and an error will be shown in the app. Make sure at least one labelled parent issue is always open in the project.
Duplicate Prevention
Enable Prevent duplicates to skip issue creation if an open issue with the same summary already exists in the project. This is useful when a template runs frequently but the previous issue may not have been resolved yet.
The check uses a contains match on the summary, so it is most reliable when
your summary includes a dynamic date placeholder like {{date}}
(e.g. Weekly Standup – 2024-01-15) to make each run's summary unique.
Run History
The Run History table at the bottom of the app shows the last 200 runs across all templates, newest first. Each entry shows:
- Template — which template triggered the run
- Time — when the run occurred
- Source — Manual (Run Now button) or Scheduled (automatic)
- Result — the created issue key, Skipped (duplicate found), or Failed
Use Clear history to remove all entries. This does not affect templates or any issues already created.
If a scheduled run fails, a warning banner also appears at the top of the app listing each affected template and the error reason. Click Dismiss to clear the banner once you have addressed the issue.
Frequently Asked Questions
What time do scheduled issues get created?
Issues are created at midnight UTC on the scheduled day. The exact minute may vary slightly depending on Atlassian's scheduled task execution. If your team is in a different time zone, account for the UTC offset when choosing your schedule day.
Can I run a template immediately without waiting for the schedule?
Yes. Click Run Now on any template row to create an issue immediately. This is useful for testing a new template or creating an issue outside the normal cycle. The run is recorded in the Run History log with source "Manual".
What happens if I pause a template?
Paused templates are skipped during scheduled runs. They can still be triggered manually using Run Now. Toggle a template back to Active at any time to resume automatic scheduling.
Can I use date placeholders in the description as well as the summary?
Date placeholders ({{date}}, {{date+N}}, {{date-N}})
are currently supported in the Summary field only.
How does bi-weekly scheduling work? When will my first run be?
When you save a bi-weekly template for the first time, today's date is recorded as the cycle anchor. The first run occurs on the next matching weekday on or after that date, then every 14 days. For example, if you save on a Wednesday and set the day to Friday, the first run is that Friday, then two Fridays later, and so on.
Does the app work with Jira company-managed and team-managed projects?
The app works with company-managed (classic) projects. Some features — such as components and sprint assignment — may not be available in team-managed (next-gen) projects depending on your Jira configuration.
Who can create and edit templates?
Templates are managed by Jira users who have access to the app. Issues created by the scheduled trigger run with app-level permissions (as the app), so the app must have permission to create issues in the target project. Issues created via Run Now run as the currently logged-in user.
What data does the app store?
The app stores template configurations and run history in Atlassian's Forge KV Store, which is scoped to your Jira site. No data is sent to external servers. See the Privacy Policy for full details.
Can I clone or copy an existing template?
Yes. Open a template for editing and click Clone in the modal footer. A copy is created with the name "Copy of [original name]". You can then edit the clone independently.
How many templates can I create?
There is no hard limit on the number of templates. Run History is capped at the 200 most recent entries.
Support
If you run into an issue, have a feature request, or just want to say hello, reach out through any of the channels below.
- Email: support@autoworkstudios.com
- Atlassian Marketplace: Use the Get support link on the listing page
Check the Run History table and the error banner at the top of the app — they usually contain the exact reason a scheduled run failed, which speeds up diagnosis.