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Add or remove request participants with Jira Automation

By Kayabyte · Updated 5 November 2026

Short answer: In an Edit work item action, open More options and use the advanced JSON field with update: { "update": { "Request participants": [ { "add": { "id": "{{issue.assignee.accountId}}" } } ] } }. Use remove to take someone off. Don’t use fields unless you mean it, because fields replaces the whole list. The field takes account IDs, so Automation can’t add a person from an email address without looking them up first.

Disclosure: I make Group Participants, a Jira Service Management app, mentioned at the end. Nothing before that section needs an app.

What was tested: I ran the same payloads against the Jira and Jira Service Management REST APIs on a test site on 4 November 2026 and read back the field each time. I didn’t run them inside an Automation rule. The Automation form comes from Atlassian’s guide to advanced field editing and a Community answer from an admin who got remove working in a rule, so try each rule on one request first.

Add one person

Atlassian’s own example adds the last commenter:

{
  "update": {
    "Request participants": [
      { "add": { "id": "{{issue.comments.last.author.accountId}}" } }
    ]
  }
}

Swap the smart value for whoever you need, such as {{issue.assignee.accountId}}. Atlassian says field names are case insensitive here. If two fields share the name, use the custom field ID instead.

Remove one person

{
  "update": {
    "Request participants": [
      { "remove": { "id": "{{issue.assignee.accountId}}" } }
    ]
  }
}

Add several people

Repeat the object. In my test, the other people on the request stayed where they were.

{
  "update": {
    "Request participants": [
      { "add": { "id": "ACCOUNT_ID_1" } },
      { "add": { "id": "ACCOUNT_ID_2" } }
    ]
  }
}

Copy people from another user field

Atlassian’s article on participants and Automation gives this for a multi-user picker such as Approvers. It adds a comma between entries with {{^last}}:

{"update": { "Request participants": [ {{#issue.Approvers}}{"add": {"id":"{{accountId}}"}}{{^last}},{{/}}{{/}} ] } }

The article doesn’t say what happens when the source field is empty, so test that case. Without JSON, it says to use Copy from or the Add to existing values option to append rather than replace.

Why fields wiped your list

Atlassian says fields is a shortcut for update with set. So this replaces everyone:

{ "fields": { "Request participants": [ { "id": "ACCOUNT_ID_1" } ] } }

On my test request with five participants, the REST version of this left one. If people vanish after a rule runs, look for this first. Atlassian also says the same field should never be in both update and fields.

The other route: a web request

Jira Service Management has its own endpoint, which you can call with the Send web request action:

In my test, adding kept the people already there, and someone already on the list caused no error. It takes a list in one call, which suits a list you built earlier in the rule. It returned 404 on a work item with no request type, so it only works on real requests. You have to authenticate the call yourself, which the Edit action doesn’t need.

Adding by email address

The field takes account IDs, not addresses. Atlassian’s article gives the workaround: store the addresses in a variable, split them, branch over the list, call the user search API for each address, and add {{webResponse.body.accountId}}. I haven’t tested that inside a rule. See also this thread on adding by email.

Questions admins often run into

Who was just added? There’s no simple smart value for it. {{fieldChange}} gives the before and after lists, and a long Community thread shows how awkward comparing them gets, especially when several people are added at once.

Does this email them? Atlassian says each person added gets an email, which matters when a rule adds a lot of people. See why bulk adding floods inboxes.

How do I keep agents or the reporter off the list? See stop agents or the reporter ending up as participants.

Can I add a group? Not directly. The field holds people, and Automation has no simple way to turn a group into its members. See how to add a group as request participants.

Why does the search box find nobody? That’s a different problem, usually a permission. See JSM agent can’t find a customer in Request participants.

If your rule is really a team list

Rules like these often hold a list of a team’s people, which someone has to edit when the team changes. Group Participants is the app I make for that: you point a rule at a Jira group, and its members become participants on new requests of that type. It can also keep open requests in step through an optional hourly sync, which is off by default.

It’s on the Atlassian Marketplace.

FAQ

What JSON adds a request participant in Jira Automation? { "update": { "Request participants": [ { "add": { "id": "ACCOUNT_ID" } } ] } } in the advanced field of an Edit work item action.

How do I remove a request participant with Automation? The same JSON with remove in place of add.

Why did my rule remove the other participants? You probably used fields, which replaces the list. Use update with add.

Can Automation add a participant by email address? Not directly. The field needs an account ID, so look the person up first.

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