Simple Issue Language

What is SIL

Simple Issue Language™ (SIL™) is an easy-to-learn scripting language used by Power Scripts for Jira Cloud and other apps. It lets you customize Jira deeply without needing to understand Jira's internal complexity.

Why choose SIL

Fast implementation	You can quickly create custom workflows and automations.
Shields you from Jira internals	There’s no need to understand Jira's complex API.
Version consistency	Scripts work reliably across Jira updates.
Extensibility	Create reusable functions and handle numerous custom fields.
Cost-effective	Provides a single scripting solution that can replace multiple specialized apps.
Environment portability	Easily move workflows from test to production environments.
Flexibility	Scripts can be quickly adapted and modified on the fly.

On this page: 1 What is SIL 2 Why choose SIL 3 Key SIL components 3.1 Jira standard variables 3.2 Functions 4 SIL example script In this section: Getting started with SIL SIL reference guide SIL Functions library

On this page: 1 What is SIL 2 Why choose SIL 3 Key SIL components 3.1 Jira standard variables 3.2 Functions 4 SIL example script In this section: Getting started with SIL SIL reference guide SIL Functions library

Key SIL components

Jira standard variables

SIL provides a list of standard variables that you can use to change issues fields.

For example, to change the issue description, you can use the standard variable description:

description = "Issue description";

Learn more about standard variables here.

Functions

SIL comes with a library of standard functions to use in scripts. There are functions for handling arrays, strings, and dates, and there are specific app functions.

Learn more about SIL functions here.

SIL example script

To get a taste of what a SIL script looks like and does, here's an example that assigns an administrator as both assignee and reporter, sets various issue fields including description and due date, handles custom fields with conditional logic, creates a new issue, and automatically transitions the original issue to a new workflow state.

string k;
assignee = "admin"; 
reporter = assignee;
description = "some description";
dueDate = currentDate() + "1d";

// Custom fields
if(isNull(cfnumber)){
    cfnumber = 1;
} else {
    cfnumber = cfnumber + 1;
}

// Create issue routine
k = createIssue("TSTP", "", issueType, "auto-created issue");
%k%.votes = %k%.votes + 1;

// Autotransition
autotransition(721, key);

Let's explore SIL together, building your knowledge step by step through practical examples and clear explanations.