How can I add bugs to a subtask?

[Nancy Stankovich]

I have subtasks that fall under stories, and the subtasks are tested and have bugs, but we can't create a sub work item (bug) for a subtask. Is it possible to somehow set this up?

[Mikael Sandberg]

Short answer is no, subtasks cannot have a subtask. The way you can associate a test to a subtask is to use link work items.

[John Funk]

Hi Nancy,

You cannot add sub-tasks to sub-tasks. There is no way to go to that level in Jira. You can create a Bug sub-task work type and have it under a Level 0 work type like Bug or Story, but not under another sub-task. 

[Mykenna Cepek]

This documentation might help clarify how the Jira work item hierarchy is structured:

https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/guides/issues/overview#what-is-jira-work%20item-hierarchy

[Gor Greyan]

Hi @Nancy Stankovich

Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Jira’s native issue types are restricted to a 3-level hierarchy. Sub-tasks are the bottom level, and Jira doesn’t allow creating any children under them, regardless of issue type.

I think you can do this with this solution.

If you want the bug to “live” within the same context as the subtask, go to the parent Story, create a Sub-task type, and set it as Issue Type  Bug. You can also do with automation, when, for example, your sub-task is resolved with exact resolution( If you want, I will help with this)