What the plugin does

If x is true, then do y. The Automation plugin runs rules on your Redmine data, either when something happens or on a schedule.

• Escalate issues nobody touched for days, close issues that wait too long
• Repeat issues and time entries on a schedule, bring issues back on a date
• Notify people and other systems: mail, Slack, Matrix, webhooks

Anatomy of a rule

Three parts of every rule

• Trigger: when the rule is evaluated, the event of saving an entity, or a schedule
• Conditions: the filters of the entity, the same you know from the issue list
• Actions: what happens, from changing a status to calling a webhook

The more precise the conditions, the fewer records a rule touches. Test with a small scope first.

Event based or scheduled

How a rule is triggered

• Event rules run on every save of the entity and check the current state, not what changed
• Scheduled rules run at intervals in cron syntax, for example every day at 8 am
• Changes made by a rule do not trigger rules again, so there are no endless loops
• Event rules are cheaper for the server than scheduled ones, prefer them

What can be automated

Actions, a selection

• Issue fields: status, assignee, priority, tracker, due date, % done, custom values, tags, watchers
• Communication: comment, send mail, send mail by role, Slack and Matrix messages, webhook
• Create issue, create project, log time, delete attachments, delete data set
• System: rake command, shell command, Ansible playbook, stop, disable rule

Typical rules

Built in from the start

• Issue repeats: an open template issue with a schedule creates copies, for example monthly tasks, until the schedule is removed or the template is closed
• Time entry repeats and issue resubmission on a date
• Three cleanup jobs active by default under the tab Rules: unattached files, old log entries, expired tokens
• The Health Check tab links to an endpoint that reports whether the cron job runs and the bot user is set up

Who does what

• Only administrators create and manage rules, under Administration, Automation, after switching on Activate custom rules
• The automation bot is a user with administrator rights that executes the actions, you choose it in the plugin settings
• Changes, errors and scheduled runs are written to the log of the Reporting plugin

Before you start

• Identify the recurring tasks and the problem areas together with the team
• Write the rule down as a flow first, then build it with narrow conditions
• A rule that creates something needs a condition that stops being true after the first run
• Requires the Reporting plugin, both are part of the Enterprise+ bundle