Use Smart Commits

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Smart Commits allow repository committers to process Jira Software Server issues using special commands in your commit messages.

You can:

  • comment on issues
  • record time tracking information against issues
  • transition issues to any status defined in the Jira Software project's workflow.

A single Smart Commit command cannot span more than one line (you cannot use carriage returns in the commit message), but you can add multiple commands to the same line, or multiple commands on separate lines. See this example below.

Smart Commits work with Bitbucket Data Center and Server 4.2+ and Jira Software Server 7.1+.

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Smart Commit commands

The basic command line syntax for a Smart Commit message is:

<ignored text> <ISSUE_KEY> <ignored text> #<COMMAND> <optional COMMAND_ARGUMENTS>

Any text between the issue key and the Smart Commit command is ignored.

There are three Smart Commit commands you can use in your commit messages:

Comment

Description
Adds a comment to a Jira Software issue.
Syntax<ignored text> ISSUE_KEY <ignored text> #comment <comment_string>
Example
JRA-34 #comment corrected indent issue
Notes
  • The committer's email address must match the email address of a single Jira Software user with permission to comment and view the issues in that particular project.

Time

DescriptionRecords time tracking information against an issue.
Syntax<ignored text> ISSUE_KEY <ignored text> #time <value>w <value>d <value>h <value>m <comment_string>
Example
JRA-34 #time 1w 2d 4h 30m Total work logged
Notes

This example records 1 week, 2 days, 4 hours and 30 minutes against the issue, and adds the comment 'Total work logged' in the Work Log tab of the issue.

  • Each value for w, d, h and m can be a decimal number.
  • The committer's email address must match the email address of a single Jira Software user with permission to log work on an issue.
  • Your system administrator must have enabled time tracking on your Jira Software instance.

Workflow transitions

Description
Transitions a Jira Software issue to a particular workflow state.
Syntax<ignored text> ISSUE_KEY <ignored text> #<transition_name> <comment_string>
Example
JRA-090 #close Fixed this today
Notes

This example executes the close issue workflow transition for the issue and adds the comment 'Fixed this today' to the issue. Note that the comment is added automatically without needing to use the #comment command.

You can see the custom commands available for use with Smart Commits by visiting the Jira Software issue and seeing its available workflow transitions:

  1. Open an issue in the project.
  2. Click View Workflow (near the issue's Status).

The Smart Commit only considers the part of a transition name before the first space. So, for a transition name such as finish work, then specifying #finish is sufficient. You must use hyphens to replace spaces when ambiguity can arise over transition names, for example: #finish-work.

If a workflow has two valid transitions, such as:

  • Start Progress
  • Start Review

A Smart Commit with the action #start is ambiguous because it could mean either of the two transitions. To specify one of these two transitions, fully qualify the transition you want by using either #start-review or #start-progress.

  • When you resolve an issue with the #resolve command, you cannot set the Resolution field with Smart Commits.
  • If you want to add a comment during the transition, the transition must have a screen associated with it.
  • The committer's email address must match the email address of a single Jira Software user with the appropriate project permissions to transition issues.

Advanced examples

Multiple commands over multiple lines on a single issue

Syntax


<ISSUE_KEY> #<COMMAND_1> <optional COMMAND_1_ARGUMENTS> #<COMMAND_2> <optional COMMAND_2_ARGUMENTS> ... #<COMMAND_n> <optional COMMAND_n_ARGUMENTS>


Commit message

JRA-123 #comment Imagine that this is a really, and I mean really, long comment #time 2d 5h

Result
Adds the comment 'This is a really, and I' (but drops the rest of the comment) and logs 2 days and 5 hours of work against issue JRA-123.

Multiple commands on a single issue

Syntax


<ISSUE_KEY> #<COMMAND_1> <optional COMMAND_1_ARGUMENTS> #<COMMAND_2> <optional COMMAND_2_ARGUMENTS> ... #<COMMAND_n> <optional COMMAND_n_ARGUMENTS>


Commit message

JRA-123 #time 2d 5h #comment Task completed ahead of schedule #resolve

Result
Logs 2 days and 5 hours of work against issue JRA-123, adds the comment 'Task completed ahead of schedule', and resolves the issue.

A single command on multiple issues

Syntax


<ISSUE_KEY1> <ISSUE_KEY2> <ISSUE_KEY3> #<COMMAND> <optional COMMAND_ARGUMENTS> etc 


Commit message

JRA-123 JRA-234 JRA-345 #resolve

Result
Resolves issues JRA-123, JRA-234 and JRA-345. Multiple issue keys must be separated by whitespace or commas.

Multiple commands on multiple issues

Syntax


<ISSUE_KEY1> <ISSUE_KEY2> ... <ISSUE_KEYn> #<COMMAND_1> <optional COMMAND_1_ARGUMENTS> #<COMMAND_2> <optional COMMAND_2_ARGUMENTS> ... #<COMMAND_n> <optional COMMAND_n_ARGUMENTS>


Commit message

JRA-123 JRA-234 JRA-345 #resolve #time 2d 5h #comment Task completed ahead of schedule

Result
Logs 2 days and 5 hours of work against issues JRA-123, JRA-234 and JRA-345, adds the comment 'Task completed ahead of schedule' to all three issues, and resolves all three issues. Multiple issue keys must be separated by whitespace or commas.


Get Smart Commits working

Smart Commits work with Bitbucket 4.2+ and Jira Software Server 7.1+.

To get Smart Commits working for Jira Software and Bitbucket:

  1. Create an application link between Jira Software and Bitbucket. See Linking Bitbucket Server with Jira.
  2. Enable smart commits in Jira Software. See Enabling DVCS Smart Commits.

Some limitations of Smart Commits:

  • Smart Commits only support the default Jira Software issue key format (that is, two or more uppercase letters, followed by a hyphen and the issue number, for example BAM-123).
  • Smart Commits don't provide for field-level updates in Jira Software issues.

  • Note that elevated access rights in Jira Software Server can result from the way that Git (and Mercurial) allow commits to be attributed to a user other than the user pushing a change to the repository. If this seems like a risk for your situation, then you should consider disabling Smart Commits on the Jira Software Server instance.

Last modified on May 31, 2023

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