How to Mirror Comments from Parent Issue to Cloned Issues?

[borsitsb]

I want to automatically copy comments from a parent issue to all its cloned issues (issues linked with "Cloners" link type, inward direction).

Example:

• Issue RMIC-4431 (parent)
• Issue RMCAT-1076 (cloned from RMIC-4431, linked with "Cloners" type)
• When someone comments on RMIC-4431, that comment should automatically be added to RMCAT-1076

Questions

1. What's the correct way to reference the cloned issue in the "Add comment" action?
2. How do I properly filter issue links by link type name in Jira Automation?
3. Is there a working pattern for iterating over issue links and performing actions on linked issues?

Environment

• Jira Cloud
• Using project-level automation rules

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski · Accepted solution]

Hello @borsitsb 

Yep, this is doable in Jira Cloud automation  and you don’t need to “target” the cloned issue by key. The trick is to change the rule context.

What I’d do:

Set the rule to trigger on Issue commented (on the parent). Then add a Branch rule → Linked issues, pick link type Cloners and the correct direction so the branch lands on the cloned issues.

Once you’re inside that branch, Jira treats the clone as the “current issue”, so your Add comment action will automatically write to the clone(s). No special issue reference needed.

For the comment text, just reuse the trigger comment, e.g. something like: “Copied from {{triggerIssue.key}}: {{comment.body}}” 
(and add author if you want).

About filtering by link type: don’t overthink it with JQL, use the Linked issues branch settings (link type + direction). That’s the most reliable way to filter.

Iterating over links is exactly what branches are for: trigger issue → branch to related issues → run actions in that context.

One important guardrail: add a condition to avoid loops (e.g. skip if the comment author is the Automation user, or add a small marker to comment like “[mirrored]” and skip those adding as condition recognizing that this text are not in Comment Body).

Hope it help you Tailor it. Have a great Day 🤞🤠

[borsitsb]

I tried something similar, but it didn't work

The For each uses the following smart value:

{{issue.issuelinks}}

This coppied the comment to the same ticket.

My second idea was this, but this didn't find any ticket with the configure parameters.

What am I missing?

[Mikael Sandberg]

Hi @borsitsb,

Welcome to Atlassian Community!

If you look in Automation Templates you will see a rule called "When a comment is added to a linked work item → Add the comment to other work item" that you can use as your starting point. Just change the link type that the branch is looking for.

[borsitsb]

I looked up the mentioned template, but I can't find it anywhere.

[Mikael Sandberg]

See if you can find one that is called "Copy the comments from the original work item to the cloned work item", this is what it looks like and should be exactly what you are looking for:

The {{OriginalComment}} smart value in the branch is assigned {{lookupIssues.last.comments}}.

[borsitsb]

@Arkadiusz Wroblewski @Mikael Sandberg Thank you both for helping me with this case. After a few hours of trial and error, I realized project level automations won't work on a global level 😅. Apparently, my tickets reside in 2 separate projects, so I'll probably need  to setup a global, tenant level automation.

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

Glad it Worked :)