Action Rules

An action rule lets you extend YouTrack with actions that can be applied as commands or accessed directly from the Show more menu of an issue, article, comment, or attachment.

Action rules are available for the following YouTrack entities:

Issues
Articles
Issue comments
Article comments
Issue attachments
Article attachments

When you create an action rule, additional settings let you specify how the rule will be triggered.

Setting	Description
Action	Stores the command that is used to run the workflow rule.
User input	Enables the option to require additional input from the user.
Object type	Stores the type of object expected from the user.
Label	Stores the custom description for the user input dropdown and for the Apply Command dialog.

You then define the initial criteria for updating issues in the Prerequisites section, and specify which updates to apply in the Actions section.

Action rules support a specific set of properties that define how the rule is executed.

For reference on JavaScript-based action rules, see Developer Portal.

Sample Action Rule

Here's a workflow rule that lets a user postpone the due date for a purchase request that is overdue and add a comment automatically.

This sample action rule behaves in the following way:

Rule Triggers

The rule is configured to be triggered in the following situations:

Setting	Description
Rule name	The name that is assigned to the rule, Postpone overdue requests, is shown in the action menu for single issues. When a user selects this option from the menu, the actions that are described in this rule are applied to the selected issue.
Action	The postpone action can be applied as a command to issues when needed.
User input	The toggle is disabled which means that this action rule will not require any additional input from the user.

Rule Prerequisites

This rule doesn't have any additional preconditions. The option to apply the custom action is available in any issue that belongs to a project where the workflow rule is active.

Rule Actions

Whenever a user applies the custom action to an issue, the workflow automatically applies the following changes:

Action	Description
Remove a Tag	This action block is configured with the following settings: Issue: Use the current issue Tag: overdue This removes the overdue tag from the current issue.
Update the Value in a Field	This action block is configured with the following settings: Issue: Use the current issue Field: Due Date Mode: set To: the rule is triggered The setting that stores the time offset from the specified date is set to +1w. This action updates the value for the Due Date to a date one week from the current date.
Add a Comment	This action block is configured with the following settings: Issue: Use the current issue Comment text: We need more time to investigate. Author: Use the current user This action adds a comment with the specified text to the current issue.

Action

Description

Remove a Tag

This action block is configured with the following settings:

Issue: Use the current issue
Tag: overdue

This removes the overdue tag from the current issue.

Update the Value in a Field

This action block is configured with the following settings:

Issue: Use the current issue
Field: Due Date
Mode: set
To: the rule is triggered
The setting that stores the time offset from the specified date is set to +1w.

This action updates the value for the Due Date to a date one week from the current date.

Add a Comment

This action block is configured with the following settings:

Issue: Use the current issue
Comment text: We need more time to investigate.
Author: Use the current user

This action adds a comment with the specified text to the current issue.

This rule enables a command that automatically assigns issues to the current user. This command can be applied to one or more issues at once.

      const entities = require('@jetbrains/youtrack-scripting-api/entities');

      exports.rule = entities.Issue.action({
        title: 'Take this issue!',
        command: 'take',
        guard: (ctx) => {
          return ctx.issue.isReported;
        },
        action: (ctx) => {
          ctx.issue.fields.Assignee = ctx.currentUser;
        },

        requirements: {
          Assignee: {
            type: entities.User.fieldType
          }
        }
      });
    

The components that define this action rule are as follows:

As usual, the script starts with a require statement that references the entities module in the workflow API.
The exports.rule property uses the Issue.action method to export the script that follows the declaration as an action rule.

The body of the rule itself contains definitions for the following properties:

Property	Description
title	A human-readable title. The title is used as the label for the command in the Apply Command dialog and the item in the list of available actions in the Show more menu of the issue. If this property is not set, the list of actions shows the value from the `command` property.
command	The text that is used for the custom command. When this command is applied to one or more issues, the actions that are defined in this rule are executed. Commands are defined server-wide, which means that you cannot have two action rules with the same command even when these rules are attached to different projects.
guard	The condition that determines when the action rule is enabled. If the guard condition is not met, the custom command cannot be applied to an issue. The command is not suggested in the Apply Command dialog, and its title is not visible in the Show more menu of the issue.
action	The changes that should be applied to each of the issues that are selected when the command is applied. This action is executed separately for each issue. The changes are made on behalf of the user who applies the command. In this example, we assign all the selected issues to the current user.
requirements	The list of entities that are required for the rule to execute without errors. This property ensures that rules can be attached to projects safely. In this example, we only require that there is an Assignee field that stores a `user` type in the projects to which the rule is attached. If this field is absent, an error is shown in the Workflows list. The rule cannot be enabled until the required field is attached.

For samples of action rules for entities other than issues, see the API reference for the corresponding entity.

To learn more about writing workflows in JavaScript, please check out the documentation in our Developer Portal.

Action Rules with User Input

You can require additional data from the user who invokes the action rule. When such an action rule is triggered, a dialog prompts the user to provide their input.

You can distinguish action rules that require user input from other actions on the list by the ellipsis points ... after the title.

When you select the option from the Show more menu, the input dialog appears.

You can also invoke an action rule with user input using a command. In this case, the command dialog itself prompts you for the input.

User input for an action rule from the command dialog

Sample Action Rule with User Input

Here's a workflow rule that lets a user copy the selected issue to another project. The user selects the target project in the additional input dialog.

This sample action rule behaves in the following way:

Rule Triggers

The rule is configured to be triggered in the following situations:

Setting	Description
Rule name	The name that is assigned to the rule, Clone issue to another project, is shown in the action menu for single issues. When a user selects this option from the menu, the actions that are described in this rule are applied to the selected issue.
Action	The clone to project action can be applied as a command to issues when needed.
User input	The toggle is enabled which means that this action rule will require additional input from the user.
Object type	This action rule requires a project from the user.
Label	When prompted to provide the name of the target project, the user will see a dialog with a custom label. Label text: Select target project

Rule Prerequisites

This rule doesn't have any additional preconditions. The option to apply the custom action is available in any issue that belongs to a project where the workflow rule is active.

Rule Actions

Whenever a user applies the custom action to an issue, the workflow automatically applies the following changes:

Action	Description
Copy the Issue	This action block is configured with the following settings: Issue: Use the current issue Project: Use value provided by the user This action copies the current issue to the target project selected by the user.

Action

Description

Copy the Issue

This action block is configured with the following settings:

Issue: Use the current issue
Project: Use value provided by the user

This action copies the current issue to the target project selected by the user.

This rule enables a command that creates a copy of the selected issue in another project.

  var entities = require('v1/entities');

  exports.rule = entities.Issue.action({
      title: 'Clone issue to another project',
      command: 'clone to project',
      action: function (ctx) {
          const clone = ctx.issue.copy();
          clone.project = ctx.userInput;
      },
      userInput: {
          type: entities.Project,
          description: 'Select target project'
      }
  });

The components that define this action rule are as follows:

The script starts with a require statement that references the entities module in the workflow API.
The exports.rule property uses the Issue.action method to export the script that follows the declaration as an action rule.
The body of the rule itself contains definitions for the following properties:

Property	Description
title	A human-readable title. This title serves as the label for the item in the list of available actions in the Show more menu of the issue and the title of the dialog that requests user input. If this property is not set, the list of actions shows the value from the `command` property.
command	The text that is used for the custom command. When this command is applied to one or more issues, the actions that are defined in this rule are executed. Commands are defined server-wide, which means that you cannot have two action rules with the same command even when these rules are attached to different projects.
action	The changes that should be applied to each of the issues that are selected when the command is applied. This action is executed separately for each issue. The changes are made on behalf of the user who applies the command. In this example, we copy the issue to a target project selected by the user.
userInput	The input that this action rule requires from the user. In this example, the type of the expected object is `Project`. For the full list of object types that you can require as user input, see Object Types Available for User Input. In the sample rule, we also set a custom description for the user input dropdown and for the Apply Command dialog. The user input dropdown: The command dialog: An action rule can only require one object from the user.

Object Types Available for User Input

Here is the complete list of object types that you can require from the user in an action rule:

Field.dateTimeType
Field.dateType
Field.integerType
Field.floatType
Field.periodType
Field.stringType
Build
EnumField
Issue
IssueTag
OwnedField
Project
ProjectVersion
User
UserGroup

Last modified: 07 February 2025