Create An Automation Rule to create child issues in epic with specific summary

[Snehal Singh]

here's the use case

1) I have to create 3 child issues in an epic. Mandate is to have it scheduled event and not the trigger based as the epic is already uploaded in jira through different system

2) Add 3 issues in an epic with summary <abc> , <pqr> and <lmn>
3) As its scheduled event , with scheduled jql - I am getting list of epics. Hence while adding these child issues, I have to  make sure I am not adding it multiple times.

Eg : If in case issue with summary abc is already present then same should not get added again.

Tried approach- 

Lookup for all child issues

Advanced compare for summary not in abc - then create abc

similarly for PQR and lmn

This is working for the first time but failing on second run onwards

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @C_ Faysal_CFcon_ 

What is the source of the content you posted?

As a reminder, posting completely bot / AI-generated content is not permitted in this community.  And when such tools are used to modify content for a post, the sources are to be described in the text.  To learn more, please carefully review the community rules of engagement / guidelines:

https://community.atlassian.com/forums/custom/page/page-id/rules-of-engagement

Indications the source of the post is bot / AI-generated are:

• The suggested rule cannot work due to the use of conditions rather than conditions within multiple if / else blocks: the rule will halt on the first condition which does not succeed 
• The structure of the content in the post 
• The mixed formatting of the post text 

Kind regards,
Bill

[C_ Faysal_CFcon_]

Hi @Snehal Singh 

if i understood your desired goal correctly:

The root cause of your issue

Your single Lookup + Advanced Compare approach works on the first run because there are 0 child issues yet. On the second run, the lookup returns existing issues, and the Advanced Compare fails to evaluate correctly because it operates on the entire result list - not per summary individually.

Recommended fix: One separate Lookup per summary

Instead of one lookup for all child issues, use three independent Lookup -> Condition -> Create blocks inside your Epic branch:

[Trigger] Scheduled
->JQL: <your Epic query>

[Branch: for each Epic]

[Lookup Issues] Name: lookupAbc
 -> JQL: parent = {{issue.key}} AND summary = "abc"
 [Condition] {{lookupAbc.size}} equals 0
 -> [Create Issue] Summary = "abc" | Parent = {{issue.key}}

[Lookup Issues] Name: lookupPqr
->JQL: parent = {{issue.key}} AND summary = "pqr"
[Condition] {{lookupPqr.size}} equals 0
->[Create Issue] Summary = "pqr" | Parent = {{issue.key}}

[Lookup Issues] Name: lookupLmn
->JQL: parent = {{issue.key}} AND summary = "lmn"
[Condition] {{lookupLmn.size}} equals 0
->[Create Issue] Summary = "lmn" | Parent = {{issue.key}}

Key points to note:

• Use summary = "abc" (exact match) not summary ~ "abc" because the ~ operator is a full-text search and can cause false positives with partial matches
• Give each Lookup a unique name (lookupAbc, lookupPqr, lookupLmn) so their results are stored independently
• {{lookupXyz.size}} equals 0 checks that no issue with that summary already exists, making the rule fully idempotent and safe to run on any schedule
• Always set the Parent field to {{issue.key}} in the Create Issue action to ensure the child issue actually lands inside the Epic

This way, each of the three summaries is checked and created independently, so a second (or tenth) run will never create duplicates.

Best 

cF

[Rune Rasmussen]

Depending on the specifics of your situation a simple solution could be to append the Summary with something to indicate that the child items has been created.
Or make a comment like "Children automatically created" and use a condition to check for it.

From the JQL documentation you should be able to filter it like this:
comment ~ "\"Children automatically created\""
https://support.atlassian.com/jira-software-cloud/docs/jql-fields/#Comment

[C_ Faysal_CFcon_]

Just a little heads-up @Snehal Singh . I fed your exact requirement into our Alchemist agent:

"Add 3 issues in an epic with summary <abc>, <pqr> and <lmn>. Scheduled event with JQL. Make sure not adding it multiple times. If issue with summary abc is already present then same should not get added again."

The core problem: as @Bill Sheboy  pointed out, you need If/Else blocks. Bare Conditions halt the entire rule on the first one that fails, so pqr and lmn never get checked. If/Else blocks let the rule continue to the next block even when the condition is false.

The pattern (per summary):

• Lookup Issues -- parent = {{issue.key}} AND summary ~ "abc" (name it lookupAbc)
• If/Else -- {{lookupAbc.size}} equals 0
• Create sub-task -- Summary: "abc"
• End If/Else

Same block for pqr and lmn with their own named lookups. The screenshot shows all three:

Possible Optimization: This should also work with a single lookup that fetches all children, then three If/Else checks against {{existingChildren.summary}} does not contain "abc", "pqr", "lmn", reducing three lookups to one.

Disclosure: I'm the developer of "Alchemist for Jira", a ScriptRunner companion. I used its Script Builder and as expected it detected that your use case doesn't need a script at all. Native Jira Automation handles it.

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @C_ Faysal_CFcon_ 

Your answer has provided some incorrect information.

There is no option to assign a Name to a Lookup Work Items action, so smart values like {{lookupAbc.size}} are not going to work. The smart value must be {{lookupIssues.size}} in all cases.

[C_ Faysal_CFcon_]

thank you @Trudy Claspill

[C_ Faysal_CFcon_]

Hi @Bill Sheboy,

Thank you for pointing this out. You are right and I apologize - I used an AI tool to help draft the response and should have disclosed that clearly from the start. 

Best, cF

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Snehal Singh 

For a question like this, context is important for the community to help.  Please post the following:

• what version of Jira are you using: Cloud, Server, or Data Center
• for Cloud, what type of project is this: company-managed, team-managed, JPD, etc.
• an image of your complete automation rule in a single image for continuity
• images of any relevant actions / conditions / branches
• an image of the audit log details showing the rule execution
• explain what is not working as expected and why you believe that to be the case 

Also for the Community Managers: this question was posted in App Central as a discussion.  Please move it to the question area for Jira or Automation.  Thank you!

Kind regards,
Bill