Help with Nested JQL query

[Riyas Khareem]

I am using a label "2026_Approved" to my epics.

I have set a filter like this, 

project = PROJ AND labels = 2026_Approved 

and saved as 2026filter1

Now I want to retrieve the child tickets from the filter. 

So used this query,

project = PROJ AND issuetype in (Story, Defect) AND parent in (filter = "2026filter1") but getting the error

Expecting ')' or ',' but got '='. (line 1, character 73)

 Tried Rovo no luck.

Appreciate your help. Thanks in advance. 

[Riyas Khareem · Accepted solution]

I finally managed to get the child tickets visible in the Jira plan. 

Here is how:

Using Script Runner's enhanced search capabilities, I utilized the issueFunction in issuesInEpics("filter=11111") and saved as a new filter.

Note that "filter=11111" is my first filter that I am using to retrieve the epics that has a specific label(2026_Approved).  

Then, in the first filter, I updated the JQL to combine the saved filter with an OR join.

project = PROJ AND labels = 2026_Approved OR filter = 2026filter1 ORDER BY issuetype ASC

This means that whenever new epics are labeled and added, their related child tickets are automatically included in the plan.

It keeps everything perfectly up to date without any manual effort on my part.

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Riyas Khareem 

Jira doesn't natively support what you want to do. A third party app would be required. Are you willing to consider an app?

What do you need to do with the output? Depending on that we may be able to suggest an alternative that doesn't require an app.

[Riyas Khareem]

@Trudy Claspill as I develop my Jira plan, I intend to leverage the labels that the product team adds when they create epics for our project roadmap.

My goal is to set up the plan so that it dynamically retrieves all child tickets associated with these labels.

This way, whenever new epics are labeled and added, their related child tickets are automatically included in the plan, keeping everything up to date without manual intervention.  Hope this clarifies. 

[Trudy Claspill]

Thank you for that additional information @Riyas Khareem .

So you truly need this to be output from a filter.

In that case you will need a third party app to construct a filter to achieve your requirement.

@Bartek Szajkowski _ Orbiscend OU mentioned their app.

There are other apps that also provide more functions that can be used within JQL.

From Adaptavist there is Enhanced Search.

From Appfire there is JQL Search Extensions.

There are other apps that might provide the same functionality. The above two are the ones with which I am familiar.

[Bartek Szajkowski _ Orbiscend OU]

Dear @Trudy Claspill 

Thank you for mentioning our app.
I hope you’ll have an opportunity to explore also our app in the near future and become familiar with it. I would truly appreciate it.

Greetings

[Thiago Wenceslau -Appfire-]

Hello @Riyas Khareem

I’m Thiago, a support engineer at Appfire.

If you are considering third-party apps, JQL Search Extensions (JQLSE) have an out-of-the-box solution for your case.

Using the Extended Search feature, you could simply use the filter you saved in a nested search, like this:

issue in childrenOfIssuesInQuery("filter = YourCustomFilter")

The childrenOfIssuesInQuery function will retrieve all children issues from the nested query. You could also filter the results by adding additional criteria just like a normal JQL search.

Please contact our support if you have any other questions about this.

Best regards, Appfire support team.

[Bartek Szajkowski _ Orbiscend OU]

Dear @Riyas Khareem 

Thanks for your request - I'm Bartek from Orbiscend OU (JQL Argon app provider).

If you are open for third-party app, I would like to recommend to try our JQL Argon app, available on Marketplace (now still for free)  JQL Argon  

JQL Argon can solves this directly.

The JQL error happens because parent in (filter = "...") is not valid native JQL syntax — Jira doesn't support filter references inside parent in ()

 Argon's childrenOf() function accepts a full JQL query as its argument, so you can skip the saved filter entirely and write it in one clean query:

issue in childrenOf("project = PROJ AND labels = 2026_Approved")

This returns all child tickets (Stories, Defects, Sub-tasks, etc.) of any epic/issue labeled 2026_Approved in PROJ.

If you want to limit to Stories and Defects only, please check:

issue in childrenOf("project = PROJ AND labels = 2026_Approved") AND issuetype in (Story, Defect)

I hope you will find my prompt useful.

Greetings

Bartek from Orbiscend OU

[Riyas Khareem]

Getting an error when trying to use "Unable to find JQL function children of"

I am using Jira in Cloud Instance. 

[Bartek Szajkowski _ Orbiscend OU]

Dear @Riyas Khareem 

You need to instal JQL Argon app from Marketplace - above code base and works only with app JQL Argon.

Greetings

Bartek