Automation - Linking to a linked work item's own linked work items

[Thomas Brennan]

I feel this should be simple but I can't get my head around a working solution. 

Currently we link work items, sometimes through automation, within a project. What I want is an automation running that, once a work item has been linked, will then link and other links in those work items to that first work item.

For example, currently we have an automation within a project that matches a specific field with any other items and then links those to it. What I would want is for it to then find if those linked cases have any other links and also link these in to the trigger item.

[Marc - Devoteam]

Hi @Thomas Brennan 

This is not simple and could/will lead to loops.

Example.

You have issue A and link this to B and B has links to C and D, but D is also already linked to B, then you will get a loop.

But if you have an extra custom field that you specify as in you example, you could try to use a lookup and then branch over the found items and link them to the trigger issue.

You might even need to create other variables and use web request to the API to get all the information or even make put requests to link the items togethe.

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Thomas Brennan -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Adding to the suggestions from @Marc - Devoteam ...

Without seeing the exact scenario you are trying to solve and your current rule, it may be difficult to make suggestions on how to proceed.

Specifically, what problem are you trying to solve with this type of linking?

Until we know those...

What you describe is often very risky to implement with automation rules.  Work item linking has no limit or referential integrity checking, and so:

• nothing prevents cross-linking work items, leading to cycles back to the start
• there are no limits on the number of links
• some link types are not detected by the built-in rule features (because they are implemented in code, such as with JPD "delivery tickets")

Thus a rule using JQL or linking information could greatly exceed the capacity of automation service limits by count, endless loops, or the amount of processing per hour.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Taliah15]

That sounds like a smart way to keep all related work items connected seamlessly! Automating the linking of links will definitely save time and create a more comprehensive network of work items. It might require a recursive or multi-step automation to pull in those extra links—worth exploring!