DOCUMENTATION

How Automation Doctor Works

An overview of the architecture, what the app reads, what it never touches, and current known limitations.

What the app solves

Starting December 3, 2026, Atlassian begins billing for Automation Steps that exceed the monthly allowance of your plan — including Enterprise, which was previously unlimited. Jira does not natively show which specific automation rule is responsible for that consumption, or let you simulate a rule's cost before publishing it. Automation Doctor covers both gaps, inside Jira.

Architecture overview

Admin
  |  (1) Connects with an administrator email + API token
  v
Automation Doctor (Forge app, runs inside Atlassian's infrastructure)
  |
  |--> api.atlassian.com/automation/...           (rule definitions, public API)
  |--> {site}.atlassian.net/gateway/.../highUsageFlows   (observed usage, experimental)
  |--> standard Jira REST API (JQL, changelog, fields)    (structural estimate fallback)
  v
In-product screens: Overview, Rules, Review Priority

The three screens

Overview

Sums observed Automation Steps consumption for every automation on the site, projects month-end as a range (not a single number), and compares it against the monthly allowance the administrator configures.

Rules

Lets you pick a specific automation and simulate its consumption, using observed data when available or a structural estimate (trigger, conditions, branches, loops) when it isn't.

Review Priority

A ranking that combines total consumption, execution volume, steps per execution, and allowance share, to point at which rule to review first.

What the app never does

Never creates, edits, enables, disables, or deletes any automation rule.
Never modifies issues, fields, comments, or any project data.
Never sends notifications or interacts with end users outside the admin screen.

Data source reliability

Source	Type	Reliability
Rule definitions (Automation Rule Management API)	Public, documented	High
Observed consumption (highUsageFlows / highestUsages)	Internal Atlassian UI endpoint	Experimental — not officially supported; the app degrades gracefully (Full / Execution-only / Unavailable) and falls back to the structural estimate
Structural estimate	Computed from the rule's own definition	High for structure; depends on the quality of the parameters entered

Known limitation: the Automation Rule Management API does not yet support direct authentication from Forge/OAuth2 apps. This version authenticates with an administrator email and API token, stored in the Forge Secret Store. We track this limitation and will move to native authentication as soon as Atlassian makes it available.

Languages

Portuguese (Brazil), English (US), Spanish.

Support

Email support@app-rl.com.